A Sequence You’ll Love: Jamie O’Brien’s Backdoor Remix

When most would run to the safety of the shoulder, Jamie O’Brien tickles the roof. As one of the best barrel riders of all time, and certainly one of the best in his backyard of Pipe and Backdoor, the world’s deadliest wave is just his dance floor.

“We had been shooting all day from the Pipeline angle, and it was beautiful,” photog Brian Beilmann tells Stab, referring to his Developing Legends photography course that wrapped up yesterday. “It wasn’t huge, but it was just so nice. So we took lunch and decided to look at it from the Off the Wall path. I was so burnt out, but Slater and Jamie were out so I just waited and sure enough the two most perfect waves of the night came through. Slater was on the first one, and then Jamie got the second. It was so cool how he pulls in the barrel, and the spit explodes around him as he comes flying out with his arms up and fingers dragging across the ceiling. For me it was the old school meets the new surfing world, that’s right up my alley and Jamie is as good as it gets.”