R.I.P Andy.

Yesterday I was out at sunset. It was good size, 6 foot, with 8 foot sets and the swell was picking up fast. I paddled out on a brand new 6'7" which I knew was too small of a board. In the back of my mind I was thinking about what Andy would have rode. He probably would have rode a smaller board than everyone. As an easily influenced 17 year old I figured I'd do the same. As I paddled out I was picturing him in Blue Horizon standing in a perfect inside bowl and scoring a perfect ten to win the Sunset contest. When i got out to the line up everyone's board looked big. Kahea Heart paddled up to me. "Hey Kahea!" "How bigga board you ridin Conner?" "Shit, a 6'7." I knew he would tell me I was on too small of a board because he always did and he was usually right. "Time to step it up bud, the tide's getting low and the swell is coming up fast!" He paddled up the point while i sat a bit wider out of the crowd. I caught a few fun waves and made my way in. Oddly, AI's surfing at Sunset was in the back of my head the whole day and I wanted nothing more than to do a big carve before pulling into a big warbley tube in the bowl....

Today I sat lackadaisically in Pat's house. The waves were huge everywhere and I had just gotten all of my stuff moved in. No one was around. I was aimlessly wondering the Internet when my phone rang. It was Parker. I answered. "Dude Andy is dead" "Bullshit, your lieing," I responded. I heard people in the background mumbling in disbelief and at that moment i knew he wasn't lieing. My heart sank and my stomach did a flip as I responded, "I can't believe it." We talked for a few minutes in shock before Parker had to hang up as his flight from Dallas Texas, where Andy had passed away in his hotel room earlier today, was about to take off. I lied on my bed in disbelief. Andy Irons, Dead. There was no way. I tried to lie to myself and convince myself it was some sort of confusion. He was just in the hospital, sick. He went unconscious. He'd be fine, Andy was invincible. He'd survived huge pipe, wiamea, teahupoo, he was the only one who could beat Kelly Slater. No one could beat Kelly. Shit, he's about to win his 10th world title. My phone rang again, it was Chris Straley with the same news. Then it rang again, Kokoro, asking me if it was true. It slowly hit me... It was true. I felt sick. Thoughts ran through my head... Andy's wife Lindy 6 months pregnant, Bruce Irons, Andy's parents, Blair, all of Andy's friends here on the North Shore... It Couldn't be true. Andy had always been one of my favorite surfers. Him and Bruce, surfing's rock stars, the James Deans. No one had done it like they had. They were bad ass. They didn't care about all the bullshit and drama that surrounded the sport. They were the cool guys, the guys we aspired to surf like. More website headlines, blog posts. Andy, gone. I sat around the rest of the day, nothing sounded appealing....

Rest In Peace Andy Irons.

----CONNER.