Jamie O’Brien, 40-Foot Waves, and an Inflatable Toy Raft

Jamie O’Brien’s playground was quite a bit different than most kids’ playgrounds. While there are indeed regular playgrounds on Oahu’s North Shore, they’re a little emptier than most. That’s because the children who grow up there use the ocean as a playground, and as such, they get extremely comfortable in it. When those kids become adults, that comfort level extends into waves that most people wouldn’t want to mess with. Jamie, though, sees a 40-foot wave and thinks to himself, “We should probably tow something inflatable into that.” And we’re very glad he does. He does it for the vlog, of course, and those are generally edited to show only the best, but every now and then he’ll release a bit of raw footage that shows the whole dang thing. Take, for example, the footage above: it’s a behind-the-scenes look at some very hairy antics.