“Andy’s back is blown out, and my brain is blown out,” says Shane Beschen in the beginning of this clip from 23 years ago. “But hey, we’re gonna go out there and try to put something together.”
This never-before-seen raw footage is from the Op Pro Boat Challenge, during an era when a surf comp like this would happen and we’d have to wait two months for a magazine to hit our mailbox to find out the results. A time when surfboards were too narrow, boardshorts were too long, and brands plastered massive logos on every piece of clothing.
Yet, the tuberiding in this clip is timeless. Andy’s psycho late drop to no grab slab at the 3:08 mark is nearly identical to the infamous Teahupo’o bomb he’d end up riding 10 years later. Interestingly, you can even hear brother Bruce in the background say: “Whoa, that wave looks like Tahiti!”
The Nalu Vault is home to hundreds upon hundreds of RAW ORIGINAL Film Reels and Tapes from the last 6 decades,” says Nalu Films in the description of this raw clip. “We pulled a tape called Op_T024_Beta_Maccas_Arvo_AM and pulled a classic 30 minute BetaSP tape shot by Derek Hoffmann from the 2000 Op Pro Boat Trip Challenge. The tape features never before seen footage of the surfers on the boat and in the water at Macaronis in the Mentawais Islands. Featured are Andy Irons, Sunny Garcia, Bruce Irons, Mark Occhilupo, Shane Beschen, Tim Curran (who had an injury from the day before and could not surf). We did a speed edit and present the RAW FOOTAGE for your viewing pleasure.”
Despite being two decades old, this is must see TV. Listen closely to the very-good banter in the background.
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