ASL-oha! Huey Hits The Switch

Words: Mark Rosenberg

Video: Sam Norwood

"If this place ends up like the Gold Coast I'll be outta here!" Jamie O'Brien tells ASL.

The swell has arrived earlier than expected to the North Shore and after a bit of morning sickness Pipe and Backdoor have turned on. Rockies and Off The Wall are throwing up some cavernous close outs but everyone is slowly migrating toward the North Shore’s marquee waves.

On the early check ASL ran into Vicco surfer and all round nice guy Adam Robertson. He’d just been out at Rockies but told us to go out check out Off The Wall.

We took his advice and headed west where we bumped into grom Soli Bailey.
“I’ve just snapped my board, but it’s pretty fun,” said Soli. “There’s some solid ones coming through.” As we wandered off to get a coffee Soli sprinted past with a fresh craft in hand. He’s been surfing everyday and eager to prove himself in the big stuff.

Soli Bailey - Straight back out there.

The photographer coconut wireless told us to head to Pipe. On arrival we snagged a park outside Jamie O’Brien’s pad and cornered the Pipe Master for a bit of Q and A. As we sat with Jamie on his balcony John John Florence got spat out of the biggest Pipe wave of the day (so far). “That was sick….I’m out there brah.”

Stay tuned for more from the interview with J.O.B, and check back soon for Andrew Shield's gallery of photos from today's session.

The tree of life.

Jamie (right) just biding his time.

Red Bull really do look after their athletes.

For all the ASLoha action, presented by Oakley check out the Hawaii 2011 page daily.