Mikey and Jamie get wrapped up, as snatched by
GoPro.
Hawaiian superstar Jamie O’Brien records
heart-stopping POV footage of near-death collision with other
surfer: “I almost died first wave! My worst wipeout at
Pipeline!”
By Derek Rielly
"Lucky to be alive," says Jamie.
The almost-forty year old Jamie O’Brien has snatched a
breathtaking POV sequence after a “near-death” collision with
underground Hawaiian shredder Mikey Bruneau at ten-foot
Pipe.
The 2003 Pipe Master, who is 190 pounds of rock hard muscle with
40 pounds of sturdy protective fat, and who once told me, “A big
gut helps you breathe bigger and better” and who leaves no muffin
unbuttered says, “I almost died first wave! So gnarly!”
Jamie paddles in early on his nine-foot foamie before Bruneau, a
former Pipe Trials winner, joins in the fun.
Vid is cued up. Hit play.
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Come and get it! Oowee!
Insane! Man beats hell out of palm tree
before getting swamped by tsunami!
By Derek Rielly
From the anything-for-a-viral-video
department…
Tsunami, tsunami, tsunami.
The word is on everybody’s lips as Pacific coastlines bolt down
following an undersea earthquake off the Kingdom of Tonga at
three-thirts last night, the sonic boom from the event heard as far
away as Alaska, six thousand miles away.
Meanwhile, in Tonga, waves a few feet high crashed into
houses.
The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic
eruption was heard here in Alaska starting around 3:30 a.m. – 6,000
miles from the volcano! Infrasound measurements from the @alaska_avo
confirm that it was indeed coincident with the volcanic pressure
wave. Special thanks to Dr. David Fee. pic.twitter.com/Wp4tnwiaud
Anyway, on a lighter note, a video has emerged of a man
beating hell out of a palm tree before being washed away by,
likely, the tsunami that hit Indo on, ironically, Boxing Day,
2004.
The provenance of the wild video, and therefore motivation etc,
is unknown, although the life jacket and multiple angles do imply
it was an early attempt to crack the viral video market.
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Pretty early evening Pipe.
John John Florence releases Pipeline
documentary four years in the making, “It draws us toward
obsession, the power and the glory and the grandeur!”
By Derek Rielly
An endless treasure and battlefield…
The two-time world champion John John Florence and his
media team have released, after four years, an eleven-minute sorta
documentary about the wave the champ grew up in front of,
Pipeline.
“It took many different shapes over the years to get to where it
is now,” writes John in the short film’s liner notes. “It was
originally started in December 2017 as a film that focused more on
a group of friends who grew up learning to surf Pipeline. Through
different creative rounds, and a couple years on the shelf, it
eventually evolved into an idea that followed the imagined point of
view of Pipeline, with a perspective narrated by local musician
Paula Fuga. It was a fun challenge to create a visual history of
the wave, but this is not meant to be a complete story. There are
too many people to name who have become a part of Pipeline’s
history over the years; they could never be fit into one short
film. Thank you again to everyone who helped us put this together.
The project is dedicated to Derek Ho, and those like him who have
dedicated their life to surfing Pipeline.”
Very ethereal, pleasing to the eye etc although I would describe
Pipe simply as “Fuck or be fucked.”
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Mason Ho, tiny and beautiful.
Mason Ho and Mick Fanning in wild
head-to-head showdown at Great White-infested San Clemente! “Why do
beautiful dreams have to run out so fast?”
By Derek Rielly
Ho's shuck and jive vs Fanning's hooligan
pride!
Here, we see Mason Ho belly-bang the three-time world
surfing champion Mick Fanning at Lowers in a wild showdown that
pits Ho’s shuck and jive against Fanning’s hooligan
pride.
Ho, thirty-three, and Fanning, forty, are a whooshing flash
among the late-autumn gloom, leaving spectators’ mouths flapping
mutely.
The waves are of a good size, clean, and both surfers go for the
“kill shot”.
Fanning is magnificent although little Mason Ho’s jackknifing
appeals to me more.
Go-for-broke former world #4 surfer Dane
Reynolds makes urgent public appeal for data on climate change, “Is
the earth a microwave choking on carbon and there’s no turning
back?”
By Derek Rielly
"I notice a change, in my short time of paying
attention to the weather where I live, 20 or so years, and that is
alarming."
Dane Reynolds, the thirty-six-year-old former world
number four surfer from Bakersfield in California known for his “go
for broke style of surfing that includes many experimental and
aerial maneuvers” has used his online channel to make a
public appeal for data on climate change.
The father of three writes,
Matt doesn’t believe human behaviour is influencing global
warming. Matt has a 5th grade degree in science from Pierpont
elementary.
It’s December 7th and it feels like it’s June. Been flat and
gloomy. August had 55 degree water. I swear the pipe used to have a
half decent arrangement of cobbles for a somewhat rippable albeit
soft peeler. Now it’s a turd. Theres a graveyard of pipe cobbles at
San Jon. No rain to restock the pipe.
‘Star Bar,’ remember that? Every 4/5 years there’d be a rain
event significant enough to create a massive sandbar at Santa Clara
river mouth that extended out 100 yards sometimes more. It’s been
about 17 years since the last ‘Star Bar.’
What I’m saying is I notice a change, in my short time of
paying attention to the weather where I live, 20 or so years, and
that is alarming. 20 years is a tiny slice of time for drastic
change.
Is it purely a cycle?
Or is the earth a microwave choking on carbon and there’s no
turning back? I know everyone reading this is an expert,
can we get some scientific evaluation? Anyone wanna compare notes
from your regional data?
Included alongside the message is a very good video.