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Andy Irons Responds
“Living a happy life is my main priority. You guys may think I am selfish for “wasting my talent” by staying away from events for a bit, but I am finally at a comfortable place where I can honestly say, if you guys see me out on tour again it’s because I am there to win, and I’m going to go 100%. If you don’t see me on tour, it’s because I have found happiness away from winning, and that might be the biggest achievement I could ever accomplish.” – Andy Irons
In an interview done by Surfline’s Lewis Samuels, 3-time ASP World Tour champion Andy Irons opened up and responded to some of the questions that have come as a result of erratic performances, enigmatic no-shows in France and Spain(Billabong’s own Pro Mundaka), an an apparent overall disinterest in the tour itself ,similar to that of his brother Bruce. Why did you no-show for your heat in France? Are you going to the next ASP event, in Brazil? Do you plan on surfing the Pipe Masters this year? Did losing twice in a row to Kelly at the beginning of this season have any effect on your desire to compete? Samuels fired away, Andy answered candidly…
We’ve seen this mid-career, soul searching journey from former world champions before. Curren, Occy, and Slater all stepped away in similarly abrupt manners while at the peak of their careers. In their own ways, each returned from their time away from the bright lights of the tour renewed and seemingly fulfilled.
Will this be the case with Andy Irons? Will we see a world championship run return from him just like those of Occy and Slater? Or will he simply be content with freesurfing the worlds best waves with Bruce and making random Pipeline Masters appearances? Only time and A.I. himself will answer those questions. Hopefully this time away will see Andy find whatever it is that has kept him holed up in hotel rooms and on the verge of a melt-down. And hopefully, as Andy himself put it, this time away will allow Andy Irons fall in love with surfing all over again.
Tags: Andy Irons, Bruce Irons
Posted by Shaun on Thursday, October 16th, 2008 in Surfing.
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October 16th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
So….is he or isn’t he in rehab???
October 17th, 2008 at 11:51 am
I think the point of the story is that Andy is doing what he has to do right now, for himself. Anything other than that is irrelevant…
October 18th, 2008 at 12:51 pm
What I find strange is it seems the overall surf community only sees Andy as a competition surfer. I hope he quits, just to see how sick his surfing would become not all stressed out. We as surfers really dont know a freesurfer Andy Irons, so it would be something better forsure…Quit the Glamour Tour now, and go nuclear!
October 19th, 2008 at 11:09 am
“Soul searching” is one thing, but AI has imploded on tour this year. Skipping events, bailing on sponsors, and even failing to show up for a heat (France). I’m a complete advocate of putting happiness first, but when you step into the limelight and surf with the competitiveness as AI and then just bail without explanation, you going to open yourself up to criticism.
He also compares himself to Kobe Bryant in the interview. Let’s just be clear that Kobe Bryant shows up for every practice and game and commitment. He would spend the day in trial for rape in Colorado and fly back at night to play in the playoffs. AI’s comparison is absurd.
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