Jamie O’Brien has blazed his fair share of trails in professional surfing. Having pioneered entirely new ways to make a living as a surfer, he obviously grew up in a time when things were very different. His life as a kid on the North Shore was nothing like what young up-and-comers experience today. Two decades ago the surf industry mostly revolved around a World Tour and a handful of print publications. And landing on the cover of one of the big boys like SURFER was the ultimate foot in the door for an otherwise unknown talent. For Kalani Chapman, whom J.O.B. grew up with around this time, that was how things shaped up.
Now 40, Chapman’s family came to Hawaii in the 1960s, paving a road for Kalani to grow up engrained in all things North Shore just a few generations later. And now he describes himself as a surfer who’s dedicated his life to surfing Pipeline. All this gives just a touch of context for how impactful a single wipeout was when Chapman went down there and “basically drowned in front of everybody,” as he describes it. He doesn’t remember anything about that wipeout but the last few moments in the barrel before a double-up closed down on him. His head hit the reef, water safety immediately went into a frantic search for him, and friends and lifeguards rushed to revive him on the beach.
Years later the wipeout is still one that people like O’Brien remember vividly. Watching one of your lifelong friends nearly die can do that. And when the two sat down recently to talk about growing up on the North Shore and reminisce about old times, they inevitably got to rehash that experience.
“You have all these theories and ideas like, ‘If I get hurt at Pipeline it’s gonna be on the drop or it’s gonna be at Backdoor,'” O’Brien says, “You’ve probably ridden a million more waves that were more gnarly than that one. But that was the one that got you. And it changed my mind and (gave me new) perspective: it doesn’t matter where you fall at Pipeline, it’s just as dangerous as the takeoff or anywhere.”
The conversation about the wipeout starts around the 46-minute mark. And the two go through a roller coaster recalling an experience where J.O.B. admits he considered never surfing Pipe again and Kalani Chapman walked away with even more love for a wave he’s dedicated his life to.
“Pipeline and Mother Nature have given me everything,” Chapman adds. “It’s given me some of the best times of my life and some of the worst. I just have a passion for it and a love. I’m not ready to stop. There’s nothing like getting spit out of a barrel. I’ll do it until…until I can’t do it anymore.”
