As a lifelong lover of all things water and decades long SoCal surfer - who saw Andy surf@Sunset - this was a very powerful and brutally honest documentary. Portraying the yin & yang of someone as gifted, handsome and humble - while also innerly tormented - as Andy. He grew up on Kauai, in a small surf town with a supportive family and a younger brother. The brothers helped push each other to become successful world-class pro surfers. On the surface Andy was LIVIN' da DREAM most anyone would dream of. Getting paid to travel the world and surf the best breaks. While his home base was always there waiting for him - back in da Islands.
My only interaction with him was on the North Shore during his 3rd in a row world title run. He was with his small posse of surfers and patiently held the door open for my wife. As someone who has empathy for famous/well known people I did not bother him and we all went on our way.
His intense focus and drive, along with Kissed by God given talent made him the best competitive surfer in the world for years. Competing and beating the GOAT surfer Kelly Slater more than anyone else ever has. Slater says Irons reinvigorated his drive to compete and win again after years of totally dominating competitive surfing. Irons was an artistic genius in big barreling waves - to this day I have never seen anyone look so comfortable and at ease inside massive barrels such as Pipe/Teahupoo/Hanalei, that would easily kill 99% of us normal surfers.
While on land he had trouble controlling his emotional ups & downs - dealing with life away from the calming of our Mother Ocean. Any lifelong surfer can relate to the calming effect of communing with Mother Nature. In the end, the most talented humans often have trouble dealing with life away from their gift. Andy was an amazing human being and surfer - it is too bad he is gone so young.
