Jamie O'Brien

Born in Hawaii in 1983 and raised in a beachfront home on the North Shore, with a view out to Pipeline, Jamie O'Brien started surfing at age three.

As an amateur, he went on a contest trajectory—making the finals of the menehune division of the 1995 and '96 US Surfing Championships, and the finals in the 1999 and 2000 World Junior Championships. Most impressive, though, was his close relationship with Pipeline. He seemed to toy with the world's deadliest wave. In 2003, he won the Hansen's Energy Pipeline Pro. In 2004, he won the Pipe Masters.

In the aughts, O'Brien revealed his defiant side when he burned an ASP rulebook in a Red Bull-sponsored video. He took his career into his own hands, starring in the videos Freak Show, Freak Side, and Who is JOB?, the latter of which led to a web series. In it, he was self-effacing, absurdist, and refreshingly not serious.

The videos resonated with viewers, and soon O'Brien became his own brand, making YouTube clips that would shoot into the million-views realm. He rode soft tops at big Pipe. He pulled wild stunts, including famously bringing pyrotechnics to Teahupoo.

Now 42, O'Brien lives just down the beach from the house he grew up in. He's recently founded a surf school, The Jamie O'Brien Experience. And he's still charging, playing, and documenting it all.

In this episode of Soundings, O'Brien talks with Jamie Brisick about growing up on the North Shore, the hierarchy at Pipeline, his relationship to competition, getting creative in the lineup, and documenting his day-to-day life on camera.

Produced by Jonathan Shifflett. Music by PazKa (Aska Matsumiya & Paz Lenchantin).