Jamie O'Brien (surfer)
James Duncan O'Brien was born on June 9, 1983. He is a professional surfer from the North Shore, Hawaii. Career. Jamie grew up near one of the most notorious waves on the planet, with a home in front of the Banzai Pipeline, on the surfing Mecca of Oahu’s North Shore. He started competing in local surf contests when he was about six years old and carried on into his early 20s. O'Brien has said that he was fortunate as a child to grow up near the Banzai Pipeline. He is one of the youngest surfers ever  to win a Pipeline Masters. Jamie's father, Australian Frank O'Brien, was a lifeguard. Jamie has said that one of the things that got him interested in surfing was talking to many of the regular surfers on his dad's beach. Jamie has many achievements to his name. These achievements include the Pipeline Masters in 2001, in which he took 4th place after just recovering from a groin injury. His success continued with 1st place at Hansen's Pipeline Pro in 2003, 1st place in the 2004 Fosters Expression Trestles and the Rip Curl Pipeline Masters at 21 years of  age, 1st in the 2009 Rip Curl Invitational, and 1st in the inaugural Volcom Pipe Pro back in 2010. Jamie also had many other outstanding performances throughout the WSL qualifying series and the championship tour. He has had major success, winning some of the most prestigious events on the World Tour. However, somewhere along the way, the contests lost their appeal. Jamie is now a free surfer, meaning he’s not chasing contest wins or world titles. He’s out traveling the world filming stunning video footage of surfing in epic locales that’s capturing an audience worldwide. In a  story by Red Bull, Jamie says, “I have fun filming and traveling and making memories that will last forever. That’s where my head was at.” O'Brien produced two surfing films, "Freakshow" and "Freakside". He also appeared in "Step into Liquid" and "Blue Crush." He is the star of the video series "Who is JOB" which ended with the final episode posted on Oct 18, 2019, for a total of 9 seasons on YouTube. He currently has his own personal YouTube channel listed under his name which has over 700K subscribers. He has collaborated with many other free surfers  who document their journey including Ben Gravy and Sean “Poopies” Mclnerney. Poopies was a star in Jamie’s vlogs for a little while until he started, "The Poopies Channel." They are still good buddies and meet up when possible. Him and the boys can always be found doing crazy things such as surfing giant waves on couches. When he's not on a couch surfing massive pipe, he can be found putting his Catch Surf or Tokoro boards to use. With all his unique maneuvers and ideas, he has changed the views on soft top boards and brought a lot  of attention to his sponsor, Catch Surf. Jamie has surfed against top competitors around the world such as Kelly Slater and John John Florence just to name a few. He still remains friends with all the top names in the surfing competition world and they can sometime be seen in one of Jamie's videos. In 2005 O'Brien received "Surfer Magazine's" Boost Breakthrough Performer of the Year Award for an up-and-coming athlete with an impact on the sport for years to come. In 2016 Jamie O'Brien assisted in the rescue of a bodyboarder who had wiped out  and was drowning, by paddling out with a foam board to help Guilherme Tamega who was trying to bring the victim to shore. Jamie is also the owner and founder of Jamie O'Brien Surf Experience, a North Shore surf school that gives surf lessons in conjunction with the Turtle Bay Resort. According to Jamie, "I created this Surf School down the street from my home here on the North Shore to teach my unique style of surfing to the world and share with you the feeling that only comes from riding a wave."