Andy Irons one of the greats R.I.P November 4, 2010 – Tags:

What a shocking day for the surfing community the world over! I heard the news yesterday morning hazy after Melbourne Cup festivities the day before! I seriously had to look a few times at the words i was reading it just didn’t sound right, facebook updates all reading there own version of the same thing, R.I.P Andy Irons you will be sadly missed etc etc! On investigating further i realized that my eyes weren’t playing tricks and a true tragedy had unfolded!
I’m not going to get into the details of what happened as I have no idea and i don’t want to be one of the speculators on this story, it’s to raw and real to make assumptions! I would rather talk about what I know about Andy, as I didn’t know the guy personally but remember him, bursting on the scene all those years ago!
The Billabong Movie Alley Oop is the first time i saw Andy, Good Looking, Cocky and an amazing talent, part of him drove me crazy and i loved to hate him the other part just wanted to watch his crazy ability, all i had to go on at that stage was Surf Mags and Videos so i would hear about Andy and watch his sections in the flicks, there was always talk of the rivalry with Taj Burrow in those early years and as a young grom it made the whole thing more exciting as Taj back then was out right my favourite surfer!
As he matured so did his surfing and from what i could see so did his contest head and he turned into a machine! Taking it to the man Kelly Slater, like no one has before him and it’s a good bet to say no one will after him either! I dont have a hell of alot to go on, i have some friends who knew him, but nothing to go on personally other than what i saw as a grom in the surf media, I can remember a year after the Billabong movie Alley Oop came out the next one which was called Wide Open! I remember in one of the interviews they did with all the surfers competing they asked A.I, what his plans were- Andy Replied something to the affect of ‘ No real plan just go out there do my best, hopefully be something great’
Though your life was cut tragiacally short, Andy, you certainly achieved that and no one will ever be able to take that away from you, or your family! R.I.P