Winter on the North Shore isn’t a 24-hour marathon of pumping surf. There are definitely days the surf is less than spectacular. The North Shore’s coastline is also in a constant state of rapid change with so much wave energy pounding beaches along the Seven Mile Miracle.
If these things sound like ingredients in a stew of Jamie O’Brien froth, that’s because these things are ingredients in a stew of Jamie O’Brien froth. While the man is a longtime standout in the lineup at Pipeline when the place is firing, he’s also the king of charging when…well, when it’s not firing. He finds unconventional ways to go big, like slapping Crocs on a couple of handplanes and grabbing hold of a winch-powered tow rope. And when it just so happened that J.O.B. woke up one North Shore morning to find a pond in front of Pipe — his Pipeline Infinity Pond, the result of that shifting coastline — he seized the day.
O’Brien estimates the winch he keeps at home in his garage can pull a person at speeds around 40 mph. At least a couple of the wipeouts that ensue are worthy of the kind of pain you’d expect in the actual lineup at Pipe on an overhead day.
