"My name is Bruce Irons. I'm a 44 year old professional surfer. My brother was world champion. I'm doing this for him and all my other fallen brothers."
Kauai-born surfer Bruce Irons, the best surfer in the world in 2005 if you asked anybody who’d seen him tear hell out of Teahupoo, Pipe, Indo, has made a rare public appearance after fourteen years of living in the shadows since his brother Andy’s death.
Bruce Irons in 2024 is a little heavier and jowlier, his hair longer and darker than when he owned surf media in the early 2000’s, but that deep-seated cool, his mama Danielle once described Bruce as a stealth bomber, remains firmly in place.
Speaking from a psychedelic assisted rehab joint in Cancun, Mexico, called Beond, Bruce delivers a profoundly sad confessional.
My name is Bruce Irons. I’m a 44 year old professional surfer. My brother was world champion He’s the baddest motherfucker that ever lived and I’m doing this for him and all my other fallen brothers and fucking friends who died who’ve had a fair shares of ups and downs and losses and mental health problems, you know depression and drugs came to this place in Mexico called Beond and to just see what it was about and they have the ibogaine treatment and it it’s it doesn’t matter what your current state is how bad it is how worse it is it always can get worse and there’s always someone that’s looking a little shittier but when I came to this place it’s basically with open arms, no judgment, resentment, nothing.
The staff, everybody makes you feel so good and the communication of what’s going on with, why do I feel the way I’m feeling? They explained a lot of it and the medicine from the plant that they provide really helps you go into your mind, into your vision and it’s as much work as you put in here, you will receive it in your vision and it’s uncanning on what the possibilities that you can overcome, let go of and just find that inner child again that can come up and flourish because we’re all beautiful beans of light and thank God for Mexico because the States I don’t think are their western medicine isn’t good let’s be honest the rehabs there suck my brother went to a rehab there and every single person I met my brother in that rehab including my brother died so I never was gonna do that so when I found out about this place it’s just the success rate is instead of 98% relapse, it’s 98% success.
And it’s all up to you putting in the work and just being completely honest. And you’re not going to be judged. And Tom and his staff are the most beautiful people in the world. I’ve never, ever met a group of people who never did their job so fucking good. And with all love, not one bit of fake happiness to help. That’s at this place.
So I would love to spread this word. For anybody who needs help, I’ll help you. I’ll bring you down here. Just hit me up on Instagram. I’m getting healthy and strong again. I’m going to get back in the water.
And I still have some big waves and barrels I need to get at Pipeline. And why may I maybe get back into Eddie Aikau or Pipe Masters, I still feel like I got one win in me left. Or two. One more Pipe Masters, one more Eddie. Let’s do it. I’m fucking going for it.
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still my favourite surfer
That boy has had a few too many hamsammishes I reckon.
Cut out the carbohydrates and sugar, that might help with clarity as well.
Doesn’t drug rehab messaging sound similar to religious indoctrination?
Can’t help but be skeptical of this place Bruce is at, based on that video. We all know folks who’ve been to various types of rehab for alcohol or substance addiction. With some of the things he is saying, it just doesn’t seem to be the right place for him. None the less, I’m certainly rooting for Bruce to come out of this recovered/stronger/clear-minded, etc. Still one of the greatest all time in my book.
ecclesiastitties season is coming up and seasons are turning…turn, turn, turn…
Best surfing I ever saw in real life, Bruce at Cannons, circa 99/2000
See The stars Play with Laughing Sam’s Dice. https://media3.giphy.com/me…
yawn.
can we let Andy die already?
Sounds harsh, but I think you’re making a very good point, especially for Bruce.
“I’m doing this for him and all my other fallen brothers.”
Uh, no, Bruce. They’re all dead. They’re dust now. If you think they’re your brothers, you will just follow them. It’s easy to do, and hard not to. They’re not your friends, because they were happy to have you go down with them. Friends don’t drag their friends to their own deaths.
And no they weren’t killed saving kids in Lahaina. They’re just guys who grew up on Kauai, and overdosed on drugs. Sad, but hardly heroic.
They had their demons to fight, and tragically, they lost. But that’s got nothing to do with you, Bruce. You’re a middle aged man, not a teenager, and you’re going to die just like them, unless you learn to see them as tragic object lessons in what not to do. Distance. Hard boundary. Call it what you want. But you need it.
They’re not your brothers. Do this for yourself, or you won’t be able to do it at all.
And the baddest motherfucker who ever lived, is some guy who fought his demons and survived. He might be paddling around in slop right now on a Costco soft top. But he beat death itself.
some peeps can never perfect the ‘art’ of self-medication…and feel guilty when they do. then enroll & pay a ‘clinic’ (domestic or foreign) and abandon self-trust and leave it up to some shaman. (Nothing against shaman, since I am one myself.)
And most definitely don’t make a bunch of self-absorbed dead drug addicts who left wives and kids behind, into your false Higher Power.
i couldnt agree more.
https://youtu.be/4KoiYEoWIm…
“we’re all beautiful beans of light and thank God for Mexico”
I’ll just leave that here. 🫘 🇲🇽
Rosarito beans come in three types: Original (laird) recipe, vegan, or spicy w/ jalapenos. Caution: farts cause > methane. (See cows)
Looking forward to the day when I’m walking up the beach and see Bruce flying past me in a long-running barrel only to be spat out and pulling back in and getting spat out again another 100 yards further down the beach. Come on Bruce prove me right!! I am cheering for you!!
Dim Sim offers profound and irrefutably true apologia to tomorrow: very wankered but have a hankering for another beer before bedtime. And, I stand by the assertion (mine) that Elvis: That’s The Way It Is is the best music video of all time. Disagree? What’s the best music film then?
Urgh! A Music War
watching Fantasia in a Mexican Clinic while high and attendants inserting electrodes into the brain and where ever else…it pleases THEM! https://i.imgflip.com/u18zx…
Jesus. We all choose our particular vice. Very awfully obnoxious that some choose to promise redemption (or whatevs) to those who are or may follow a similar path. Fuck off idiot. You are inconsequential. That said: I am enjoying Karl Walinger’s efforts on Goodbye Dumbo and Egyptology immensely (helped by liberal lashing of red slop and a fondness to screaming along on headphones): such that it seems it is true that the efforts of a few matter much more than the ordinary exertions of most. Point is Bruce, you had relevance when you were doing stuff that most cannot but being in rehab places your firmly in the firmament of the ordinary. Soz mate, long way up from here.
You have a point. Bruce has the misfortune of lasting long enough to appear ordinary, somewhat helpless .
Those guys are probably the last generation of the live fast pro surfers. Unfortunately the same personality trait that enables them to throw themselves over the ledge also promotes ingesting copious amounts of drink and drugs.
PTSD is not a personality trait.
Something happened to the Irons brothers, long before we had heard of them. I don’t know what.
They had great athletic talent.
Yeah, being numb inside will help you go over the ledge. There’s no doubt about that. The problem is, it takes a lot to stay numb, and you can only surf so many hours in a day, even with sponsorships.
One day, you find yourself in a hotel room alone at night, and all the shit inside your head starts coming out. It takes constant effort to stay numb.
Drugs and alcohol offer temporary relief.
Then they kill you or destroy your life without actually killing you right away.
For me, it was an ER visit after faceplanting and flipping 3 times (I was told) downhill mountain biking. Nasty TBI, but I got lucky in other ways. And when I could think straight again, I looked into treatment for my PTSD. Seeking bigger and bigger adrenaline rushes because I couldn’t feel anything else, was going to kill me. That crash could easily have killed me or paralyzed me. I got a reprieve, and I was grateful for the chance to use it.
I am the same adventurous person now, but my judgment and gut feelings are infinitely better. You don’t HAVE to be numb to go over the ledge.
Yeah, it is a little harder when you’re not self-destructive. But then, I have the benefit of still being here, in one piece, to make the decision.
(Yeah, my disqus name is a dark joke.)
Would love to see Bruce make a comeback he’s an incredibly talented surfer and one of my all time favorites. That said, right now he looks like he drank some of that potion that turned shrek into a human.
Well shoot boy you know there really is more to life than surfen , until you figure that out I don’t see much help for ya son.
This.
You don’t win an adult battle, with the mentality of a 12 year old.
“My name is Bruce and I’m a professional surfer” is not productive when “and I’m a drug addict” is the important point here.
Bruce seems really desperate. Really hope it helps him. Mexico is not exactly a great place to get clean for an addict.
Yeah he should be in the US where we already won the war on drugs and there are none available to use 🫡
Mexico is a lot of things you’re completely unaware of.
Do we know if that chest is shaved, waxed or plucked? Doesn’t matter, I’d still do him. It’s Bruce FFS
I would like to think these unorthodox treatment programmes can help addicts get off drugs, but unfortunately Bruce sounds like a desperate drug addict trying something/anything to get off drugs before he ends up dead, like his brother.
I hope he gets the help he clearly needs, not necessarily to return to competitive surfing, but to live a healthy life without drugs. Buena suerte –
In 2013 I lived in a duplex next to an ibogaine nurse in Rosarito. Americans were spending thousands of dollars to send their opiate addicted family members for the weeklong treatment and the success rates are real. She had no reason to sell it to me.
There are an unfortunate number of attention seeking clowns in these comments who are seeking attention by accusing Bruce of seeking attention after avoiding it for like 14 years… But Bruce has a reason for using his social media following to send a message. You won’t see a commercial asking you to “ask your doctor about Ibogaine today!!!” because it’s a root from Africa and getting people off pills is the opposite of what pharmaceutical companies want.
It’s a life changing treatment for many people, and he’s reaching out to a very mentally ill audience (Americans) with a message that has been concealed from us and outlawed.
When he says his brother was the baddest mf that ever lived I’m guessing he thinks this is a positive?
Yes..I’ve felt like a bean of lite 2…or.was it the pscylociben??.🙏
Frijole.
If you have to do drugs to get off drugs are you off drugs? Asking for a friend.