All language subtitles for Andy.Irons.Kissed.By.God.2018.720p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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[footsteps approaching]

[lock clicking]

[wave crashing]

[Andy] You ever heard
of being kissed by God?

This is pretty much what it is.

For those ten, three, two,
one second,

it's like God came down
and gave you a kiss.

And then you just chase that
the whole rest of your life,

trying to get that first wave,

or that first barrel, or that
first turn.

[all cheering]

And you get it sometimes, but
you always are gonna go
back and try to do it better,

and do it longer
or do it higher,

or go farther...

And that's why I'm so lucky
to have surfing.

Keeps me going
in a normal state.

It keeps my life
at an even keel.

Without it, it would just
tip into oblivion.

So, it's just being
kissed by God.

[sniffling]

[exhaling]

[clearing throat]

My name is Bruce [clears throat]
My name is Bruce Irons.

Andy Irons was my brother.

[sighs]

This is the hardest thing
I've ever had to do.

In my life,
I never thought I'd be here,

having to talk about my brother.

But...

it is what it is, and here I go.

[sighs]

Who was Andy Irons?

Andy Irons, to me,
was my older brother,
my hero.

He is the person
that made me
who I am.

-Who is the man? Who is the man?
-[all cheering]

My brother was a very
interesting person.

You know, he had a lot of things
going on in his mind.

Good and bad.

My brother
was unorthodox, wild.

You never knew what you're
gonna get.

Looking into the camera or
looking at you?

[vocalizing exercises]

I'm Andy Irons, 27 years old,

been surfing for 20 years.

live on Hanalei, Kauai.

[man] Andy Irons,
you have scored
a perfect ten.

[indistinct chatter]

Surfing's my life.
A hundred percent.

I live and breathe surfing.

[commentator] He's still going.
Is he coming out? Yeah!

[Michael] Every generation
of surfers has a pool
of great talent.

But within that pool,
we have, normally,
one, maybe two,

who rise above
and come to represent
that era of surfing.

They define it.

[Kelly]
Andy had something special
inside him.

You know, Andy had something
to prove.

[Bruce] One of
the greatest, badass,

rags to riches, rockstar,

people's champion surfers
that ever lived.

He came from nothing,
and he never forgot that.

[all] Go, go!

[Bruce] You know,
I don't think
I ever told him enough,

how happy I was to be his
younger brother,

to get to call him,
Andy, my brother.

I love getting to say that,
that Andy is my brother.

[indistinct chatter]

[all cheering]

[commentator] Ladies
and gentlemen,
Andy Irons...

[somber music playing]

[laughing] I haven't been here
in a while.

But this is where

me and my brother
used to spend
most of our childhood.

It's a little different now,
new people live here,

but for the most part,
it's the same old shack.

Ah, it's...

[laughs]

It's different now,
you know, but...

simple livings, you know.

Small little house,
but this is all we knew.

Me and my brother
loved this house, you know,
it's all we needed.

[upbeat music playing]

You know what's fucked up?
I really don't even know

how my mom and dad met.
You know how fucked up that is.

But I know my dad
came from Torrance,
my mom came from Aspen.

They met here, and here I am.

You know, the whole
surfing thing wasn't even
a real thing yet.

You know, we were all considered
kind of weird to be surfers.

[Phil] You know, "Why don't
you play baseball
or do something else?"

[laughs]

[Danielle] My father
was a ski racer.

I have four brothers, and they were all ski racers.

They were all competitive,
very, very competitive,
like my father.

I moved here when I was 19.

That's what I was
just here for a summer,
and I met Phil.

I don't think my mother
would've approved
of his living situation.

[laughs]

[Phil] You know,
I lived in a tent
for almost two years.

You know, and all we ate
was avocados, bananas,

you know, that kind of stuff, and brown rice.

You know, and it was just,
all seemed about right.

That was pretty quick.

You know, here is Andy,
who is not even a year
and a half here,

and Bruce decides to come.

When we brought Bruce home,
there was this really
nice bassinet,

and he saw what was in there,

and he was just like,
"Really? I don't think so."

And he just came over and tried
to knock the whole thing over.

That's how Andy met Bruce.

[Phil] So they were
a handful
right from the start,

with both of them.[laughs]

[Bruce]
We're like seven or eight,

Christmas comes around,
and we got surfboards.

[Andy]
First wave I ever caught,
I remember it to this day,

clearest day. I went left,
right, left.

And from that day on,
I told my dad every night,

"I want to go surfing,
I want to go surfing,
I want to go surfing."

[Bruce]
From that day, we're--
We're both hooked.

[exclaiming]

[laughing]

[Phil] So, talk about
watching Bruce get good.

At what point did you start
to think, "He's probably going
to be as good as me"?

I already knew that
from way before--

When we first started,
he's always been pretty talented
at whatever he does.

He's pretty much a freak.

I don't know, just practice
lots, surf lots together,

and just, kind of, progressed.

[interviewer] Erm...

Okay. So, you want to say
anything else about your
brother before we leave that?

-You think you said enough?
-[Bruce] I said enough.

-You did?
-Yes.

Okay.

Do you love your brother?

Let's get off this question,
get off this whole thing.

Let's answer
a different question.

Do you love your brother?

-God! You guys! Stop this!
-Okay.

[Bruce] Me and my brother
had a really
interesting relationship.

You know, we never showed

signs of affection or weakness towards each other.

Because that was the way
we were raised,

and, you know, a lot of people
saw me and my brother

as being real competitive,
which we were.

You know, a lot of times,
we were violent
with each other,

but that's the way it was
for me and my brother,
growing up,

that's how we pushed
each other.

But no matter how much
me and my brother went at it,
you know,

I never ever wanted to see him in pain or hurt.

That Christmas we
got the surfboards,

that was sort of the last
Christmas, I think,
we were a family,

'cause my parents divorced
after that.

[waves roaring]

It was actually kind of good,

'cause we didn't have to hear them fighting anymore, I guess.

I was younger, so,
in my mind, I just,

I don't know, maybe I just
blocked it out,

or maybe it affected my brother more, I don't know.

I don't know. He had
a lot more shit going on
in his head, I think,

than, you know, I ever knew.

But he wouldn't really
talk to me about it.

[Clay] Andy had
a psychological thing
going on.

He could channel it
in a positive way, or it could
work against him sometimes.

There were numerous occasions
where they would

actually call me
out of my classroom in school

because the teacher
or the principal could not
control him.

You know, he just,
he wouldn't listen. He'd wanna
jump out the window,

or wanna fight back, I mean,

he's just, he's just a real
strong-minded person.

[Tom] He had what
was called reversals.

He'd see things-- B as a D...

or different letters in
different ways.

You know,
dyslexia is like that,
you see things backwards.

If there was a genius,
I think was that.

He did see things in a
different way.

[Bruce] You know,
he was in special ed,

he was even in it
when he was in high school.

And I used
to tease him about it.

[Danielle] Andy felt like
he was just stupid.

So he would just say,

"I'm with all what everybody
else says, like me,
and I'm just stupid.

I can't learn."

And that broke my heart.

[Bruce] Not knowing
how to express
that feeling of,

"What the fuck's wrong
with me?" and
Why can't I do this?"

And then he didn't know
how to properly
ask the teachers.

He'd just snap out, and he had a real temper on him.

You know, I'm sure
the divorce had
a big part to play in that.

I know it did.

You know, he was bitter.
Just like I was, you know?

My mom moved, like,
right there,
by my dad's house.

It was actually right across the street from Hanalei School.

You know, we could just walk
straight from Hanalei School

like 100 yards
to my dad's house,
straight into the ocean.

[waves crashing]

Me and my brother
would just surf, surf, surf,

and I think that's where we
blocked out what was
going on at home.

'Cause when you're out
in the water,

you don't think about
any of that shit at home.

That was probably the thing
that saved us.

[Danielle] Andy loved
the ocean always.

That was some place where, like sleep-- not even sleeping.

The water was where it was
the most calm,
his peaceful place.

When Kelly Slater in Black
and Whitecame out,

that was the video that we
watched over and over and over.

We'd watch that video,
we'd go out,

and we'd try to surf,
and try to do reverses,

and that's what
he wanted to do.

He wanted to be on that TV.

That's where it all started.

[upbeat music playing]

[Bruce] We met Liam McNamara
and Garrett,

and they rode for
Willis Brothers Phasers.

You know, and they saw us
surfing, called my dad up
and went,

"Hey, I know you don't know us,

but your kids surf good,

and we want to sponsor them
for Willis Brothers Surfboards."

"We'll fly them over to Oahu, we'll just take them surfing."

And my dad says,
like, "All right."

They'll be on a flight.

[Dave] Most of
the heavy competition
was Oahu-based then.

And they knew to take
their game up,

as Phil knew that they had
to be here in Oahu
to face the Oahu kids.

[Phil] They were still
in grammar school.

And I'd send them to Riddle
on a Friday night.

And then Dave would send them
back to me on Sunday,

and then, Monday,
they'd go to school.

[narrator] This is Bruce Irons
getting a nice ride,

and check out the
finishing floater
right there.

Older brother Andy
didn't want to be shown up

so he got in one of
the best rides of the day.

Check out the aerial right
there. Nice one.

[Bruce] My brother was always winning.

And, you know, he was kind
of unstoppable.

[lady commentator]
Andy Irons, in the blue.
Deep, deep, deep!

Getting his spits out.

Andy Irons, in the blue.

[Bruce] We started getting paid
when we were young.

I was like 13 or something.

Volcom gave me a contract
for a good amount of money.

And I think then
Quiksilver started paying
my brother also.

[lady commentator]
Andy Irons, up and running.

Yeah!

[crowd cheering]

[Bruce]
The first pro event he won
was the HIC Pipeline Pro.

That was a big thing, 'cause,
you know, waves were
12 to 15 feet and unsure,

and out of control.

He wasn't afraid,
and he was getting
huge barrels,

and he was only a kid
in high school.

And he's taking out
like Derek Ho,

and adult seasoned veterans,
you know?

Heat after heat, I just kind of
got into this rhythm

and it just all came together.

It was a great feeling,
that one.

[laughs]

I knew that after that event,
every single brand

was gonna be chasing Andy Irons,
you know?

How much were you guys
paying him?

Well, we were paying him
$120,000,

at 17 years old.

And that was a lot less
than what he was being offered.

As we got older, you know,
coming from what we came from,

and then, all of a sudden,
you get all these sponsors
and all this money.

It's new, it's not
this little island,

we're in the real world,
going around the world,

and surfing all these spots.

All these parties, all this
attention, you know.

For him, it was
a lot more intense.

The world on his shoulders.

You know, for me, it was,
"Oh, I got my older brother.

He's the man.
He's the bull's-eye.

And I'm just like
protected by him,"

and, you know, that's...

I really liked that, you know?

I couldn't handle that pressure
that he had.

[laughing]

[indistinct chatter]

[Phil] They had a lot coming
at them quick,

and they didn't even
really know what they had.

You know, this stuff
was coming in,
we managed their funds.

And they didn't even really
want to know what they had.

For years, it was like that.

[Bruce] We didn't want
to deal with that,

and it went for a long time, our whole career was like that.

Money's coming.

We don't know how much
we're making.

As long as we can get our ATM,
and this and that,

and it spits out money, great.

But we don't want to deal
with that shit. We just
wanna surf and surf and surf.

[Phil] You know,
the traveling part
was tough, because,

yeah, you send your boys off,
and they're still
in high school,

to these countries.

It's hard, it's leery.

Well, you always just hope
for the best.

Don't look at the negative.

[Cory] Me and Andy were 16 and 17. We both started running around the world,

with no parents,
no one to tell you what to do.

That's what you dream of,
and then, all of a sudden,

we had the checks to do it

'cause we turned pro, and
we're traveling the world,
just having a good time.

And you know, start competing.

[crowd cheering]

...Hawaii's own, Andy Irons.

[crowd applauding and cheering]

We were just kids, we smoked
a lot of pot.

And drink all night,
come home at two
or three in the morning,

and stay up and just
keep drinking,

and plow right on, not even
go to bed, just go out
and surf.

We lived so loose, it's
amazing that we made it
through those years.

[Bruce]
You know, from the beginning,

I think his goals
and surfing were a lot
different than mine.

Because I went in
'cause he was doing it,

and I was just like wanting
to beat him.

But him, in his mind,
early on, he wanted
to be the best.

He was gonna get to the top,

no matter what,
one way or the other.

Kicking, screaming,
punching, whatever.

Andy and Bruce,
what they do in the water,

the level of artistry
that they show,

shifts the given.

It moves the posts
as to what's really possible.

[upbeat music playing]

[Brian]
You know, Andy and Bruce...

they were the guys that made
things change.

Taking huge chances on waves
that nobody thought...

those kinds of things
could be done before.

Like, big waves
with the small
wave mentality.

When it got big,

people would be riding a big
bore, trying to just get around.

Bruce and Andy just went,
"Why not? Fuck it, I'm
gonna just go at it."

Yeah, Bruce!

[yelling]

[screaming]

For me and my friends,
those were our favorite surfers.

Those were the guys that we
looked up to, and the guys that
I grew up watching.

It was raw and it was gnarly.

I mean, he didn't really
give a fuck.

The path that they took
in their surf careers...

were similar but different.

Bruce won his share
of surf events,

but he has got be one of the
first guys

to really make a career
not being a contest guy.

Get in the shots, charging.

[Shane] Andy and Bruce
were hyper competitive
with each other.

It's funny 'cause,
Andy was competitive
with everybody.

But Bruce seemed to be
only competitive with Andy.

[TV announcer] What would
you do to win $50,000?

Stay with us for details
of the 20th annual
Big Wave Invitational

on Oahu's North Shore.

And I'm talking 50-foot waves.

Incredible.

[Kai] Andy and Bruce
were volatile.

Right before The Eddie,
I called.

A poker game. They got into
a big fight over poker.

[arguing]

You know, it'll be, "Fuck you,
fuck you," and then just
like, boom.

It's full on, knockdown,
pounding each other.

[Kai]
I remember Bruce
just being so angry,

that he had a black eye
during the Eddie, and
just channeling it.

And then Bruce is in his heat,

and Bruce has taken off
on his perfect ten.

Andy's like, "Fuck him!
He don't deserve that wave."

He's getting a 25-foot wave,
and Andy's flipping him off.

[waves roaring]

[Jason] Bruce wins,
Andy gets third,
black eye up on the stage,

it was just like, rockstar,
classic, brotherly,

competitive type story.

[crowd applauding]

[announcer] From Hanalei,
Kauai, Bruce Irons.

Andy and Bruce gave life
to the future of surfing.

They defined a lot of moments
in the era.

Andy's going.

[upbeat music playing]

...Gold Champion from
Hanalei, Kauai. Ladies
and gentlemen, Andy Irons.

[Andy]
Surfing was definitely,
you know, my ticket.

And from the beginning,
I used to do the contests

and had the sponsors, and just
took it one step at a time,

and before we knew it, I was on
the tour, living it.

You know, the world tour is,
basically, the best 32,

the top 32 competitive
pro surfers in the world.

And we travel around, we do
10 or 11 different events
around the world.

Different countries
and locations,

and whoever is on top,
wins the world title.

[cheering]

Today, it's in excess of
$13 billion industry, globally.

Top guys, you know,
their money is anyway

in the million to three
and a half million dollars.

[cheering and applause]

[Kelly]
When I'd first gone on tour,

pretty much everybody
on tour partied, really hard.

You know, blind,
shit-faced drunk.

I just couldn't believe them,

like, we gotta compete
tomorrow. What are
these people doing?

For me, it wasn't hard
to not get sucked
into that world

because it was simple,
it never--

Tose things never
made people better,

in fact, that was just
like kryptonite for people.

[Bruce]
First year on tour was a
nightmare for my brother,

'cause, you know, coming from Hawaii straight into the tour.

I don't think he handled
the pressure too well.

The first event came along,
it was at Australia.

That's when we all went.

We all went there to watch him.

He's like, "You're coming
to Australia with me.

You and Clay."

I don't have any money.
He said, "I got you."

I'm like, "Really? Okay, cool."

Oh, my God, going to Australia.
I'd never been to Australia.

[Bruce] We're all there
on the rock somewhere,
we're all sitting there like,

we're all so psyched, you know.
Fuck, my brother is on tour

with Kelly Slater and
Shane Dorian and everybody,
it was like a big deal.

My brother, he lost
the first round. First thing
got lost, 33rd.

And it's probably a shocker,

but his mind wasn't
in the right place.
I know that.

And after he loses,
we all go to Newcastle,

and then from Newcastle
we go to West Australia.

As we went to Newcastle,
my brother stayed
in Queensland.

Why? I don't know.

[Clay] Andy shows up.

His hair was dyed black.

First thing, he got
to the place
where we were staying,

he got in there,
he closed up the curtains.

He says, "They're out there.
They're everywhere."

We didn't know who "they" were.

Door shut, window drapes down,
"They're fucking following me."

Like out of the fucking movies.

He like, went off the deep end.

[Bruce] I was like, "What the
fuck is wrong with you?"

And he just looked right
through me.

"It's all right, brother.
It's all right."

Just these eyes... His eyes.

They just pierce right
through you.

And I was like, "Oh, my God,
my brother is gone.

He's gonna have to go
to a loony bin.

He's out of his mind."

But then, as all this shit
is going on,
he goes to surf The Box,

and catch every wave, and get
the deepest barrels, and
have the ultimate session.

And he is completely
out of his mind.

Out of his fucking mind.

[Andy] That day at The Box,
that place is
basically the edge.

You want to sit on the edge of
life and really feel power,

you sit at The Box. That place
is so rad.

[Bruce]
He's out there in the water.

Like biting at people.

Like fucking cuckoo.

So I've been studying
mood disorders
for the past 35 years...

and specifically bipolar
disorder for the past 15.

Bipolar disorder is a disorder
of mood,

of energy, of motivation,

and you can have this switch
from being okay,

to being manic and psychotic.

[Cory] He was two people,
you know, like,

he could be so chill
and cool

and he could also be
so gnarly and high-strung.

[Nierenberg] People can have

episodes of mania.

They can have episodes of
depression.

They can go
from depressed to manic,
from manic to depression,

and they can even have both
at the same time.

They can believe things
that simply aren't true.

So, if somebody all of a
sudden believes that
their loved ones are narcs

or after them,

that's the sort of delusions
that can come
along with an episode.

People can't control
the speed of their thoughts.

They can't control the content of their thoughts.

For them, it's this altered state that's going on,

and again, it's coming from
your brain.

You know, we all take for
granted, being regulated.

We take for granted
that we have these inhibitions,

It's how you get through a day.
You got to have inhibitions.

Otherwise, you can't survive.

[Dave] After that event,

we packed him up
and brought him back home.

And then he had a tough year
that year

and ended up
dropping off the tour.

[Lgan] The first time Andy
really opened up and told me
about the bipolar thing,

I really just don't think
he believed it,

and I just think he was
not ready to pay attention
to it at all.

[Phil] You know, it was
really hard for him.

That was-- You know...

Until then, you really never
even knew about it.

You know, I mean,
it was still a new thing.

I'd heard about it, and
we touched on it, and
there was medication for a while

and then not, so...

Andy once told me
that he didn't like the meds.

He just did it in his own way.

I feel cooked. I don't know.
[laughs]

I'm on a fucking
downer right now. A bad one.

[Mark] I have bipolar disease,
and I've had it all my life.

And your feelings
become so extreme,

be it anxiety, depression,
or elation

that you cannot survive
and take care of yourself
in the world.

And part of the trouble
with getting better is,

you have to learn how
to be comfortable
with being uncomfortable,

which is really, really hard.

[Shane] It was the first time
I'd ever really been close
to somebody

who was pretty
extremely bipolar.

He didn't seem to have any
control of it.

He didn't seem like he had,
you know,

medication that really worked
or anything like that.

It was like, when it hit,
he couldn't see it coming.

It was just something
that would just grab him,
and that was it.

It was like he was getting
pulled under water,

and there was nothing
he could do about it.

[Andy] After a while,
it gets grueling.

After going for so many
months, no matter how
killer the spot you go to,

you're usually pretty
burnt anyway.

You just wanna go home,
just relax.

Have your own pillow,
your own shower,

drive your car,
see your old friends, you know.

There's got to be stability.

[thunder rumbling]

[Bruce] We moved over
to the North Shore,

and all of us Kauai guys,
we would all stay together.

So, wherever we went,
there's always a group of us,

and all any of us ever wanted is to be able to surf Pipeline,

and be able to get sets.

So, we got settled right in and
eventually, kind of, took over.

[upbeat music playing]

Pipeline, to me, is like
the center of surfing,

it's always been the spot
everyone watches.

The place in the magazines

and a lot happening
in a condensed area.

People from around the world
are all surfing Pipeline

and it's becoming very crowded and very dangerous.

People are burning each other.

People die out there, you know. There's no order.

I'm not gonna ram
through the crosswalk

when there's people crossing.

You don't wanna go out
to Pipeline and drop in
on everybody.

It's just life.

[Bruce]
A lot of our friends
came over there from Kauai.

They started kind
of cracking the whip,

and lot of them were big,
gnarly, tough guys that
no one is gonna step to.

I don't know, the North Shore,
I think, needed it.

Welcome to Pipeline.
Now, go home.

It's all good.

[Chava] The Wolfpak, I guess,
is the foundation of all
the islands coming together.

Protecting Hawaii from everybody
else who is coming here.

All you guys. You, you, you.
[laughs]

You got to get out of here.

[Dustin]
We never called ourselves
the Wolfpak,

somebody else called us that
and it just stuck.

We were all Kauai boys,

and that's what we saw
ourselves as.

Yeah, it was family.

You know, it was people
that my brother
didn't worry about.

Those were our boys, you know
what I mean.

My brother, he had
no reason to fight.

He was really good
at what he did,

and no one fucked with him.

If you can go out there
and go bigger and deeper
than anyone,

you're gonna get respect
really quick, and that's
kind of what we did.

My brother had the biggest,
tightest crew of boys
that had his back 100%,

and you know, it showed.

[engine roaring]

Is this thing on?
Is this thing on?

[Bruce] It was
my brother's 21st birthday.

And they went on
a boat trip to Indo.

At that time, he was pretty out there, still.

And when he drinks,
he'd be even more out there,

just drinking Jack Daniels.

"It's my 21st birthday."

Just out of control.

I think they had morphine
or something.

So my brother saw a line,
and he thought it was coke
or something.

He sniffed it,
and it was a line
of morphine,

and Nathan Fletcher grabbed
my brother

and brought him into a room,
laid him in bed,

and just like,
"All right, I'll watch him.

'Cause he's just
out of control."

Periodically, you'd hear this
[grunts] sleep apnea thing,

like he's [clearing throat]
clearing his throat.

After a while, Nathan didn't
notice this pattern.

[Nathan] I realized he wasn't waking up,

so I grabbed him by the hair,
smacked him in the face.

That's, you know, I guess, what
you do, then his eyes just
rolled in his head

and he wasn't breathing,
he wasn't there.

[Bruce]
The ambulance showed up,

he was still lifeless,
still white, blue lips.

But there was
a little pulse. So...

They put him in the ambulance,

and as they got
to the hospital, they're like

"Where's our friend at? He just
came in." They're like,

"Oh, you're friends."

He kept slipping in
and out of life.

On the drive there,
his lung collapsed.

He's in intensive care.

He flatlined for eight minutes.

Dead.

When I saw his thumb wiggle,

I knew that his family
was gonna see him again.

His brother, his mom, his dad.

He can come home to his family.

That was the most
gratifying feeling that
I'd ever felt in my life.

[Danielle] I walked in
his hotel room
and I started crying,

and he grabbed me,
and he was like,

he held me like,
I thought he was
gonna break me.

And he almost shook me

and he goes, "Stop crying.
I'm fine."

I was so afraid then.
I was afraid after that.

I was afraid I was
gonna lose him.

[Bruce] I didn't see
a good future
coming, you know?

With all the shit going on
in his head and mind.

I really didn't think
my brother is ever
gonna come back

to normal from
how insane he was.

But the ocean, I think, had
a big part in balancing out
his chemical imbalance.

[choral music playing]

Usually, once I get in the water
and come back out,

I feel a lot better,
no matter what's going on.

It's almost like therapy
or something.

You may have the worst day ever,
go and have a good session
and come in,

everything seems all right.

So to say surfing is a part
of my life

is way too small or minuscule.

It's been there for me
through good, bad.

Parents getting divorced,
it don't matter.

Brother being a prick,
it don't matter.

You go surfing, and you do
a good turn,

it feels as good
as your first turn.

And that's the kind of stuff
that keeps me going back
in the water

hoping to keep
that feeling going.

[Bruce] When he snapped out
of that whole being kind of crazy part of his life,

it's like the brain
was a Rubik's Cube

and it all just kind of
came back together.

I don't know, 'cause he was so scattered and so out there,

and then all of a sudden,
he's winning heaps.

And how? I don't know.

[laughs]

[Shane]
It was, like, instantaneous.

He went from the least
confident guy in the world,

he was getting drunk after every
loss, and being a total idiot

to, all of a sudden, he was
full on world champion material.

He was the biggest threat
at every event.

[cheering]

Bipolar disorder
can be associated with
tremendous creativity and drive.

And there are many people who
feel, that in many ways,
it is a gift.

Because they can see things
differently than many
other people can.

Sometimes people call it
"Pre-psychotic brilliance."

Your mind is working better
and faster than every body else.

[upbeat music playing]

[Bruce] He won
those two contests
back-to-back at Huntington,

got back on tour,

and when he signed that contract with Billabong, I remember that,

that gave my brother this
confidence that,

"Yeah, now I'm
with a badass brand,

and I'll show you guys
what you guys
just got yourself."

Yeah, Andy, brother!

Andy Irons, up and running.
He's committing, pulled in.

Still going. Is he going?

[people cheering]

He got so good
and so confident so fast,
all of a sudden it was like

"Holy shit, Andy Irons.
This guy is radical."

Something stoked that fire and he finally figured it out.

[commentator]
Still riding.
He's still riding.

[cheering]

I went through the trial
and error like everyone else.

Got out of high school
and straight into the tour life,

and it can eat you alive,
and it took a big chunk
out of me.

I fell off the tour,
and if I didn't do that,

I wouldn't have come back
so strong.

2002... champion!

[Cory] You look
at his interviews,
you hear the way he talks,

he just sounds like a
completely different person.

Cause when it clicked
for Andy it just clicked,

we didn't really see it coming.

He had been struggling,
and all of a sudden

Andy just clicked
and became this guy
that was unbeatable.

[bell ringing]

One of the best that surfing's ever witnessed.

...and the crowd goes crazy.

[crowd applauding]

My brother went on
to win the world title

from being fucking dead.

[crowd cheering]

[announcer] ...true champion.
A true champion.

Mark December 3rd, 2002.

Andy Irons is the new
Men's World Champion

here at Sunset Beach.

Number one, baby!

[cheering]

Andy Irons.

Can we just fucking
ride your coattail today?

Just feel the aura.
You guys are--
I didn't win, we all won.

The whole freaking--
All the boys.

Don't leave me hanging.

-Never, buddy.
-Told you.

When he wins, we all win.

We call him the people's champ.
He's winning, we're all winning.

We're all riding that high, that
pink cloud, and it was unreal.

[Bruce] For me
and all my friends
of Kauai,

it was the best days
of our lives.

It gave everyone
motivation to--

"Fuck, my brother is
conquering the world,
we want to conquer it too."

And he was carrying us all
to victory.

[Kai] This thing was out of control.

There was just everything
you can think of.

Like, whatever you think
of a surfer party lifestyle,

that was it.

You know, bands in the yard,
free everything.

[gun firing]

I like that gun.

This one really is
just for the fans.
Thank you so much.

You guys made
my dream come true.

[cheering]

[Bruce]
My brother didn't
give a fuck, you know?

As long as the vibes are good
and people are happy,

that's all that mattered.

[Phil]
They were really generous.

He really provided
a lot of things for people

that just got lucky to be there.

They were the pro surfers
with the money

and the hanger-oners,
and all the bad that comes
with success.

You have to be able to filter it
through, and not have it come in
and stomp on you.

And both of them got stomped on.

[Bruce]
My brother loved getting
people paid,

loved throwing parties,

loved spreading it.

There were a lot of hands out, a lot of hands were out.

Everyone wanted to be a part
of our show.

Shit, they loved it.
They marketed it.

People under
the marketing, Wolfpak.

Everyone kind of started
realizing, "Hey, we can all make
money here."

[Bruce] A lot of people
got jobs, a lot of people
got sponsored.

A lot of money flew our way, not just to me and my brother,

but it flew to all of our
friends.

How are these pressures
affecting your surfing?

Sometimes I'll get weird
thoughts through my head like,

be the world champ and you got
to surf good every single wave,

you can't fall off,
stuff like that.

But I try not to get
too caught up on those

and just surf like everyone else
and just wanna have fun.

I get really moody lately.

Jacked, you know.

Just something, I don't know.
It's just a lot of...

Lot of thoughts, lot of...
just stuff going on...

I'm just trying not to let it
get to me.

But I'm just human.
It just gets to me sometimes

and I get overwhelmed.
I try not to get overwhelmed,
but it's hard.

Just trying to deal with it
the best I can.

I just need something
to get me all fired up again.

I just don't feel like
I have it right now.

[Bruce] Lyndie came along.
They met on my brother's birthday, July 24th.

It was after my brother's
first world title.

And my brother fell
deeply in love with Lyndie.

From that day that he saw her, that night,

he never let her go.

[Lyndie] It was just really, instant attraction, chemistry.

And he was wild and funny...

[laughs] and I liked
all that.

He told me he loved me
after three weeks in front
of my best friends

and he was definitely full on.

I didn't know that he was in the middle of a world title.

But he just seemed on top
of the world and happy
and just full of life.

[both laughing]

When we started dating,
he asked me to go on
a couple of trips I remember,

but I was really--
It was overwhelming.

But when you date a surfer
on tour, you travel
with him and date.

You don't stay at home
and go out to dinner.

You kind of have to go on
the road with them,

and get to know them.
And I didn't get that
in the beginning.

I was like, "You're crazy,
wanting to take me places."

It's called The Dream Tour
for a reason, I guess.

It was a dream life.

It was solid two to three years of just rockstar life.

Just traveling around the world first class

and doing whatever we wanted,

it was amazing, it was fun.
[laughs]

[purring]

If a kid ever came up
to him and asked for an autograph or a picture,

there was never even a question
of what we were doing.

He would stop and do it.

He felt almost safe
and I think unjudged by kids.

He was completely himself
and silly.

-[vocalizing]
-[children giggling]

He was not only on fire on tour,
and now he found his new love,

and it was just like
he was unstoppable.

[announcer]
Last but not least,

the six time world champion,
and the yellow jersey,
Kelly Slater.

[crowd cheering]

We all know Kelly,
as maybe not only
the best surfer ever

but the best competitive
surfer ever.

He's the genius of it.

[Sal] You had one guy coming off of Pamela Anderson,

and just super stardom,

best surfer on the planet.

And here's this kid,
this young angry Jedi,

who is like, "You are my hero,

but I'm not gonna worship you."

Kelly different from Andy?

I don't know,
night and day difference.

Kelly was a-- he was a person you wanna take home to dinner,

he's the good, nice guy.

And my brother, on the other
hand, was a little bit
more like a loose cannon.

You never knew what you're
gonna get.

Kelly is like this-- He's
another level
that nobody can relate to.

But Andy, he was just always
like everybody else.

[Sal]
He went out of his way
to interact with people.

He was somebody that people felt
like they could identify with.

The surfing world
loved their golden boy, Kelly.

And my brother
was the dark horse.

In my brother's mind,
that's what he thought.

That's why Kelly would have
his white wet suit,

and my brother would have
his black wet suit.

He goes, like,
"This is my Kelly-killer suit."

[Kelly]
2002, he won his first title.

2003 was the year
I was very aware,
like he's the guy to beat.

Up until 2002, he wasn't.

But in 2003, there was no one
else in the picture, in my mind.

[Dave] Two of the greatest
surfers ever,
going against each other.

Both with this will to win that
to this day, I haven't seen.

Andy Irons, ladies and
gentlemen, the winner.

Number one in the world.

It's on. No pressure. Just amp.

So, Andy, you just lost,
how do you feel?

I lost. How do you think I feel?
Not good.

[Kelly]
He was just like, "I should
never lose

I wanna take Kelly's dream
and smash it."

I don't even know if I even said
what my dream was.

He just was going to figure out
what it was, before me
and kill it.

My whole driving force right now

is to take his little pretty
picture and just crush it.

[crowd cheering]

Now I need to get to work,
that's all.

Now we see Kelly flat out
and gnarly.

Fuck, hurry up! I'm outta here.

[announcement over PA system]

[Sal] I think it's one
of the greatest rivalries
in sports.

For the first time in a long
time, something that
resembled the old

Lakers, Celtics rivalries,

and you had to pick a side.

[Andy] Started this
rivalry thing, and I started
getting into the character,

and just started going,
"You know what? Fuck Kelly!"

He wasn't the guy I grew up
looking up to anymore,

he was the guy I wanted to beat more than anything.

I wanted nothing better than
to leave him on the beach
with a loss.

How do you feel about Andy going
out for the first round?

I feel great about it.

I'm sure he doesn't.

[Bruce] They were just going back and forth, first, second, first, second,

and after every event,
my brother's like,
"Next event, next event."

All the way down to Pipeline.

That was nuts.

So, all this hype,
everything was coming down
to the North Shore.

Whoever placed the one higher was gonna win the world title.

Half of Kauai was there,

He had a great base of people
around him.

Everything was in his court.

People say that Andy

carried all of Hawaii
by himself.

The pressure that builds up,
sky-rocketed. It was
incredible to watch.

My brother would get on,
and they would just roar.
My brother could hear that,

my brother could feed off that.

[Mick]
That was the part of surfing
that was missing.

That was the part where the
rivalry was thicker than
actually going surfing.

[Kelly]
I would literally look at Andy
or think about him,

or dream about how to beat him,
and all that stuff and...

for whatever reason, Andy and I
did that to each other.

I know he did that to me.

[Bruce] My brother,
more than anything,
wanted to crush Kelly.

Especially at home, in Hawaii, in front of all the boys.

That pressure, it was probably
going nuts in his head.

[applause]

[announcer] The North Shore showdown, the final will begin in five minutes.

Go out there, guys. Good luck.

[Andy] The guy came up to me
before the final
at the Prime Masters, 2003,

biggest heat of the year,
at the final, before
it all goes down.

He comes upto me, pats me
on the back,

"I just wanna let you know,
I love you like a brother."

Right before the biggest heat
of my life.

Like... what?

[Lyndie] I definitely think
Kelly played mind tricks
on Andy. Definitely.

He didn't know
Andy fed off that.

[crowd cheering]

[announcer] Andy Irons...

Now to the countdown, four,

three, two, one...

[crowd cheering]

Andy Irons and Kelly Slater. Give it up for each of them in the water right now!

[Sal] And it was the first time you saw Kelly visibly rattled, and not able to just

do the thing that he does.

And I think that Andy

made him have to refocus or redevelop how he did things.

Yeah!

Long live the king!

[crowd cheering]

[laughing]

[crowd cheering]

-So nuts.
-Where you been?

He set up a party for all of us
who just wanted to go
fucking Richter,

which we did, and he's like,
"Nah, nah, nah, I'm good, I'm
good," like,

my brother just wanted
to be with Lyndie.

-Nobody else.
-Nobody else.

He wanted to just sit there
and soak up
what he just accomplished.

[Nierenberg]
There are very few of us

who end up achieving anything that we could call greatness.

And so, for those people
who do achieve that,

even burdened
by having bipolar disorder,
is extraordinary.

[cheering and applause]

[Bruce] I love seeing
my brother like that,
in shape, confident, focused.

He was a competitive animal, athlete.

And he carried himself
like that.

Congratulations...

In his mind he knew this is
where he needed to be...
"I'm the man,

I'm the champ, and no ones'
taking this away from me."

[announcer]
Andy, your third ride.
A perfect ten points.

[applause]

[Andy] It's amazing,
I looked forward to this feeling my whole life.

Right now it's really hard
to explain the emotions.

There's no world that can
describe it,

but maybe in a week or so,
I'll have some words
to put together about it.

Right now, I'm in disbelief.

[cheering and applause]

[Mick] To win for three years
in a row, that pressure
was building up,

and when it finally happened,

I think no one
really knew exactly

how much of a toll
it was really gonna take.

You know, after Andy won
those three world titles,

and then the next year
came down to that heat
at J-Bay

where Kelly and Andy
are in the final,
and that was the heat that

determined the world title
at the end of the year.

[Kelly] He was the one
who had everything to lose
in 2005, not me.

I hadn't won a world title
in seven years.

I'm bald, I'm over the hill,

I mean, he's told me all these
things. I'm a fucking kook.

Okay, if I'm over the hill
and I beat you,
then this is gonna crush you.

[cheering and applause]

Andy was-- Last ride,
he got an eight. He rode
all the way down the point,

but he didn't a whole lot
on the way.

He just did a lot
of up and downs,
but nothing big.

Andy rode the wave all the way
down the beach,

you couldn't find out
where he was when
he came back up the beach.

He rode this wave all the way
down there, and Kelly needed
to score.

[Kelly] "Okay, Kelly, you need a 9.3," or whatever it is.

I remember standing up and
going, I just went,"This
is the wave.

This is clearly the best wave
that has come in this heat,"

and so, I think I did four turns
and fell on the fifth.

It was like... I should have
made that. It was
teetering on the edge.

It's a 9.5!

[crowd cheering]

[announcement over PA system]

[Kelly] I could see how he was
physically defeated
in that moment.

[Bruce] If they didn't give that score to Kelly, my brother would have won the world title.

That wasn't Kelly's fault,
it came down to the judges.

Clearly, Kelly
didn't get the score.
Kelly will admit to that.

[Mick]
We all thought Andy got
ripped off,

and we're all like, "The judges,
they're being idiots!"

You know, talking shit to 'em.

He was pissed. He lost
a lot of respect, I think,

for the whole fucking judging and all that shit after that.

The whole beach saw that.
The whole tour saw that.

[crowd cheering]

[Lyndie] I think he was hurt
'cause it was so obvious,
and everybody told him.

But it was true,
and that contest
is what started his...

downfall.

And he watched
that heat on repeat,
probably a thousand times.

Kinda just didn't give a fuck
after that. He was like,
"Fuck this already."

Like, three is good
enough, and they're
giving the nod back to Kelly,

and yeah, it kinda broke him
right there.

[Nierenberg]
Having your moods go
back and forth is like waves.

You don't have any control
over it.

Now, one of the things about
bipolar disorder is that

it's mostly depression
for people,

and with not finding
that life has meaning,

with nothing finding
that there's anything
of interest,

it's very easy for them to feel like they're a failure.

It's extraordinarily painful.

[Bruce] After the end
of that year, yeah, my brother's dark side started

creeping more into his
everyday life.

Little bit of partying turned
into a lot of partying, and

all of a sudden, he wouldn't be
surfing for a couple of days,

couple days
would turn into a week,

a week would turn into two
weeks, he kinda just started...

going on "vacay" mode,
you know.

[Nierenberg] People
with bipolar disorder
do all sorts of things

to try to help themselves,

and in seeking relief from that
severe anxiety,

they're prone to go overboard

with a lot of the drugs.

I drank differently
than other people,

I took drugs differently.

They were doing it
to have fun, I was doing it
to be more normal.

'Cause when you have
this illness of anxiety,

you say, "Finally, this is
the drug that makes me
the man I'm supposed to be."

And you keep taking it,
and you keep taking it,
and then,

however many years later,
it stops working.

[Bruce]
Now, he was smoking weed
when he was younger.

He'd smoke a lot of weed.

Then, if it wasn't weed,
then drinking.

A lot of drinking, doing coke.

A lot of coke and drinking.

Then the pills come.
A lot of pills.

Then once you get on the pill
run, the pill runs are a hard
one to kick,

and that's the one that grabbed a hold of my brother,

grabbed a hold of a lot of us.

It took down a whole bunch
of people.

That seemed like
that was the beginning
of the end

for that big run that my brother
had in the spotlight, that all
of us had.

'Cause when my brother was doing
good, and winning, and he was
healthy and solid,

the light was shining bright
on all of us.

And as soon as my brother went
down that dark road,

we all went down
that dark road.

-What pill did you just take?
-Yellow.

Is that a yellow guy?

Yeah, what I have here is...
you got the...

Hydrocodone for the back,

we have the Valiums
for the sleeping disorder,

and we have Oxycodone.
This is extremely...

Like, if you're in real big
pain. Pharmaceutical grade...

Wow, you're really
breaking down here.

Beginning in the mid '90s,

When Purdue Pharma introduced
a drug called Oxycontin,

it launched a campaign
to increased prescribing
of opioids.

Don't be afraid
to take what they give you.

Less than 1% of patients
taking opioids actually
become addicted.

[Kolodny]
From 1997 to 2011,

there was a 900% increase
in addiction
to prescription opioids.

When we talk about opioid
pain medicine,

we're essentially
talking about heroin pills.

We had probably about
60 fucking best friends.

Tightest pack
freakin' surfing's ever seen.

and those pills fucking ripped
that whole scene right in half.

You're thinking, "It's just
like the little
pharmaceutical pills.

Like a Vicodin, no big deal."

They're handing
these things out
at Rite Aid or CVS

how bad could
they be for you?

[Bruce] Before you know it,
you're hooked,

and you try to stop, and you start getting sick and all this shit,

it's kind of a scary thing

if no one's there to tell you
what the hell's
going wrong with you.

[Kolodny]
We had, in 2014,

more Americans dying of a
drug overdose than we had
dying from

from AIDS, at the height
of the AIDS epidemic.

The CDC is calling this the
worst drug addiction epidemic

in United States' history.

[Joel] He's like, "I'll try
these ones, these are
the 80s milligrams."

He was on the 20s before that.

He had this little orange
pill crusher white lid

dropped one in,
and he'd snort the pill,
and I was like,

"What are those things man?
You're crazy.

Get off those, they're fucked."

I couldn't believe
that he was...

had one in the morning,
one at lunch, one at night.
Getting through all day.

[Logan] It takes over,
and everything is
orchestrated and set up

based off of that drug,
that chemical,

and nothing matters, nothing
works, nothing exists

unless you have it.

[Lyndie] I think once
he started that stuff,

he was a different...
it changed him completely.

Definitely changed him.

[Bruce]
Everyone had their own
addiction problem,

everyone was hiding it, and

and we all just turned
into these closet-case
drug addict monsters.

You can see it when you go
down to Pine Trees,
'cause it wasn't the same.

[Lyndie] All I did was beg him to surf.

'Cause I thought that maybe
surfing would make him happy.

But it was far more than surfing
that was torturing him mentally.

I think he suffered in a lot
of ways, mentally,
that I don't understand.

I always tried to understand
and I had so much compassion
for it, 'cause

I didn't understand
what he was going through.

He would tell me a lot
that he wished that
he could explain

what's going on in his head and I just laugh it off, like,

"Okay, what do you mean?" And
he's like, "No, I wish I
could explain

"to you how... what I see and
what I'm thinking,"

and he was like,
"But I'd scare you. I don't
even know how to explain it."

[children laughing]

[laughing]

[Andy]
I'm on a fucking downer right
now. A bad one.

Better come out of it.

[metal rock music playing]

We thought it was gonna
be a fun heat, but it's actually
been pretty hitting.

Because those rocks
are right there,

and you just get washed
straight into 'em
and there's no escaping.

He was fucked up
for that whole event,
and he's surfing his heats,

barely making it out on time,
coming in, guys are just
high-fiving him,

and also high-fiving stickers
onto his wet suit with big bags
of blow in it.

He won that contest high on coke
and pills, like no big deal.

And you know what,
that wasn't the first
and last event he won high.

[Andy] I didn't go anywhere,
I was always there.

Just won back... Throw that one
away, I'm right in there.

Can't wait. Game on.

[crowd cheering]

Talk to you later!

[camera clicking]

During that Chile event, yeah,
I ended up in the room
with me and my brother,

drinking a lot and doing
substances and shit.

Just me and him, which we never
really do together,
by ourselves, but...

we were kinda having a pow-wow.

I remember being really drunk
and the last thing I remember

before I blacked out was him
asking me

outta the blue, like,
"Are you afraid of dying?"

I was thinking,
"Wait, what the fuck?"

At the time I went,
"Yeah, I'm afraid of drying,"
and he goes,

"Well, brother, there's nothing
to be afraid about."

I'm like, "What are you
talking about?" He goes, "Remember when I died in Indo,

and I was on that table,
dead for eight minutes?"
He goes,

"I was out of my body,
and I was on the other side."

He goes, "It's all real,
you know."

"The whole light, the tunnel,

I was in this other place
and it was real nice
and comfortable and warm."

He goes, "It's all real,
and there's nothing
to be afraid about."

And he goes, "When I was
looking down
at my dead body,

I didn't like how I felt
in that world,

how I felt in that body.
I didn't want to go back."

[Graham] I ended up going
to meet him
at the airport in L.A.,

and high as a kite,
he had just won the event,

and I just turned to him
and I said,

" Hey, Andy,
I'm not here to take you home,

I'm taking you a center,
'cause you need help."

And all three of us broke down.

And he thanked me,
he just said, "Yeah,
I'm sorry, I need help."

And we sent him off.

[Lyndie] Ultimately, he always
had the control,
and I knew that.

Even when Billabong sent him
to rehab, this isn't...

this isn't over. I saw it
in his eyes I knew it wasn't.

[Bruce] It seems like he went
to that rehab three times,
really quick, and it was,

all back to back to back,
it seemed like.

He needed it,
but you go to rehab,

you hang out with
a bunch of other addicts.

All you do is learn
how to do heavier drugs
different ways.

So, the only person that's
gonna wanna get help,

if you wanna get help,
is the person
who's going through it.

After that, my brother, he was
good for about eight,
nine months.

He focused a lot of his energy into Lyndie.

And she stuck by his side
through thick, thin, ups,
downs, all that shit.

He truly loved her more than
anything in the world

and you could see it.

-Oh, my God, I'm so nervous.
Thanks.
-You look beautiful.

This is happening! Yes.

[screams]

[cheering and applause]

I love everyone. I love her...

[Bruce] The wedding's over,
the party's over.

My brother didn't want that
to stop. He wanted the good
times to keep flowing.

That's what he did,
and it went on
for a couple of days.

Lyndie called me after they got married. He'd disappeared right after the wedding.

I was like, "What the...
What do you mean?

Didn't you just get married?"

That's when I knew
that he was...

getting outta hand.

He had 200 Oxys

and ounces of coke,
and he mixed them all up,

and it was just so beyond
that point of no return.

He'd laugh... anything,
"I can handle. I got this."

What are you gonna
tell the guy?
He's a grown man.

Everyone wants to blame
somebody, they never want
to accept the fact

that me and brother
were big fucking monsters.

Believe it or not, we were
manipulative in getting
what we wanted,

especially if it came to drugs.

You start getting into heavy
fucking addiction with
these pills.

I know that was...
that was ruining my life,

and I know it was ruining
my brother's life too.

[Lyndie] I remember him
paddling out for a heat,

and he couldn't even
paddle into a wave.

He couldn't even catch a wave.

[man 1]
Is he gonna look at this?

[man 2]
Andy Irons lets it go.

He started doubting himself,
doubting every move, every...

even to his trunk colors,
to his board.

He was so doubtful of himself.

He cared so much
about what the surfing world

or the public thought of him,

instead of maybe just
retiring, and having
a family, and being happy.

He was really worried
about what people
thought of him.

Everyone thought it
would be a good year
to take off base,

because when you win a world title, you're allowed to take a year off.

He was very confused.

Didn't know what to do.

He sat in our condo,
two months straight...

and didn't say a word.

I'd scream and yell, and just
be like, "Just tell me
you're okay."

I would do anything to try
to get anything out of him,
and it was nothing.

Until he left one time,

and that's when I got scared.

I remember finding him
on a mattress.

With no sheet or blanket,
barely alive.

And he always told me,
"Don't you dare tell anyone."

So it's like, I had to go
to a freakin' Foodland and
act like everything was fine,

and I had a dying heroin--
husband at home.

I look back now and I wish
I didn't. I was just trying
to protect him,

but I think, in a way,
I wasn't protecting him,

but that's what he wanted.

[waves crashing]

We went to Australia
to start over and regroup,

and I thought Australia
would be the best place,
'cause pills weren't...

pills weren't in Australia yet.

But he had that support
of all his really
good friends there.

Joel and Mick and Aucky.
It was a nice family.

When he came over, though,
he was fuckin' so good.

He'd put in the hard work,
he's surf,

he would do everything right.

[Mick]
Lyndie turned into this rock
for Andy.

She was the one right there,
she was ground zero for it all

and she saw everything.

She was always like,
"I'm sticking by him

and I'm there till the end."

That's when Lyndie was pregnant,
he's like "All this shit, this
doesn't matter."

I just want her. Love conquered
all in their world.

It was beautiful.

Look at this one, Andy.

[screaming]

[Lyndie]
He came back to the old Andy.

It was the best thing for us.

Coming out of the darkness.

-Coming out. AI.
-AI.

[screaming]

[Andy]
I got lucky enough to take
a year off,

and now I'm coming back there, and I'm not as good as I was.

And I have a lot of work
to do, but I'm willing
to do that work.

So, realistically, I'm looking
forward to just winning
another contest.

That'd be a big dream of mine.
Get one more win.

I'm just putting my goal
around one more win.

If I get one more win
before I quit
surfing competitions,

I'm sure I'm gonna enjoy that win more than most of my wins I've ever had,

just 'cause it's been so long.

I have fans now that come
up to me and tell me,
"We're so stoked for you."

I've never had this
before, I've had the roller coaster of fanship.

When I came on, I was all
cocky and whatever,
and it was kinda lame,

and then after I started
winning, I was kinda brash,

but people were like,
"It's kinda cool
'cause he's winning...

but Kelly's way cooler."

I'm like, "Whatever, Kelly's
cooler, but I'm gonna
beat him, and I beat him."

And I beat him again and
again, and then he beat
me again and again,

and then I got humble,
and today literally
what gets me up to go...

gets me up outta bed every
morning, it's not contests,

it's not Kelly, it's not
anything else, other than
to go surfing.

To be happy, and that's what
the big picture is for me.

Quarters in like two years.

Such a big relief, I hadn't been
in the quarters in two years.

I'm over the moon.

Kelly's in the other suit out
with me now, in the semi, so...

I mean, I'm excited.
I'm psyched.

[Lyndie] I remember being so pregnant, lying on my back, and watching heats.

Even with Bruce, we watched the final together.

Yeah, Andy!

I remember him beating Kelly,

and I remember him
specifically hitting
the water with excitement,

and I knew that, that was...

everything to him. Everything.

[upbeat music playing]

All the way from Hawaii,
Andy Irons!

[crowd cheering]

[Lyndie] He just seemed
at this little...
at ease.

For the first time that I've
ever seen him, he wasn't this
raging Andy,

ferocious, competitive Andy,

he had this, like, almost ease
about him.

Without that year off, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be winning contests at all.

I'd be at home, hanging out,
and I'm stoked to be on tour,

and I'm stoked to win a contest. My whole dream was just to win another contest.

Any time you get your name
on that trophy, it just feels...

it feels amazing. I won't lie.
It feels amazing.

[cheering]

[Lyndie]
I was just so happy for him.

Just the look in his eyes,

the pain was gone.

Yeah, it was all
coming together.

[fan 1]
I guess it's kinda
open-ended though.

What does the
whole future hold?

[Andy]
For me? A kid.

Erm.

Future? The biggest thing is,
are you kiddin' me?
I don't know what's coming,

boy or girl either way,
it's awesome.

Either way, it's the next
generation, either way,
it's my re-birth.

Either way, it's something
for me to be
positive and motivated.

My brother has a kid, and it's cool to see evolution.

You can't be that psyched kid
that all she lives for
is one thing.

You have to evolve.
Surfing is the main priority
in my life,

but it's not the only priority.

To me, surfing is something
that makes me
a better person.

Surfing's the reason why
I have this life I have.

That's why I have this
beautiful wife, I have
this beautiful family.

So, surfing is the main element,
but what comes with it,

it's a matter of what
you make of it.

And that's where I'm at
right now. I'm just making
my own path.

[Bruce] Yeah, at that time,
he was happy.

He was surfing really good.
He was content with his life,

and ready to start this new
chapter of his life. Just...

a lot more relaxed, a lot
more focused on

his up and coming child.

[indistinct chattering]

[Kelly] He came up to me, and he goes, "Hey, can we talk?"

He was like, "I feel like
I got lucky to start over."

And basically, he said,
"Look, you know I've had
this crazy thing,

and I wanna make
a movie with you,

and I wanna tell
the whole story.

I wanna take it
to schools and tell kids
how messed up I was.

and if I just change
one kid's life,

even if I can change just one
kid's life, I'll like I'm
a success in my life."

And I said, "Man, you
got my word,

I'll do anything you want.

I'll do whatever."

He goes, "I'm stoked,
I'm so stoked."

He was like, "I've never felt
like this in my life."

He goes, "I didn't know
I could feel like this.

I never knew life could feel
the way I feel right now."

Fuck.

[Joel] Andy was faced with tons
of pressures everywhere
he went,

and those dark sides
would definitely get at him

quicker than
the positive sides.

We went down to Mexico,

he was clean,
everything was going well

and some slimeball shows up,

starts having a conversation
with him, and the next thing
you know,

he looks like
he's getting loaded.

He trading boards,
or something's going on.

You're like, "How did this
situation turn dark so fast?"

[Cory]
I found a tinfoil wrapped up,

and there's some stuff in it.
It was burnt. I'm just...

It was something.
Whatever it was,
that's what he was doing.

That's why he was how he was.

He was really truly high and low
on that trip.

To the worst I've seen him,
ever in my life.

It was heartbreaking
to see because,

sometimes, he wouldn't
be able to handle it.

And then you just go,
there's an addiction here
that's much stronger than--

It wasn't an intentional thing.

He had no intention
of getting loaded on that trip.

It was heartbreaking. I know it was a bummer for him.

But those pressures were
constant for him.

[Lyndie] He was complaining about chest pain which he never complained about before,

and at first, I was like,
"Oh, it's just anxiety.

It may be your anxiety."
He's like, "No, it's not
anxiety.

It's legit chest pain. " So, when we went to the doctor,

right before he left
for his trip,

she did a few tests,
and she's like,

"You need to come back,
right when you get back
from Puerto Rico.

You need to come back in here
and we need to figure out
what's wrong with you."

-Andy Irons. Lyndie's...
-Lyndie's not going with you?

-No.
-Okay.

[Nierenberg]
One of the things that
we're understanding now

is that bipolar disorder is not
just a brain disorder.

It's a total body disorder

and people have
all sorts of things
that go wrong medically.

There does seem to be
sort of a total body

and heart aging, if you will.

[Bruce] He didn't even
wanna go. He didn't even
wanna go to Puerto Rico.

It was at the end
of the year already.

He just wanted to stay home,
you know.

He wasn't mentally there.
He wasn't...

He wasn't solid.

[Lyndie]
I don't know, he was
on a really bad one.

He was coming off of stuff,

and he didn't have his pills
to come off of the pills

that he was on, that he needed to surf this contest.

I remember telling him,
"Just touch the...

That's the rule, you just have
to touch the water
in the contest,

and then you can come home."

I'm like, "Put your foot
in the water,

take your jersey off,
and then come home."

Andy didn't show up for his
first heat in Puerto Rico.

And I just heard he was at a...

a signing at a surf shop,
and he was so bloodshot red
in his eyes,

that they didn't even
want him there.

[Bruce] When you're going through withdrawals, you don't want to do a fucking thing.

You sure as hell can't go surf.

I think he was sick, blown out
in his hotel room,
didn't wanna leave.

You know, trying to get
back home,

and going through withdrawals.
You're sick,

so your body's going through
a whole lot of stress.

Doctor saw him. Gave him
a couple of bags
of saline solution,

and he said he felt
a lot better.

Then we heard that he had left and jumped a flight,

went to Miami and was trying
to get home.

[phone ringing]

[Andy speaking]

[Lyndie]
Got to Texas and...

said he was so sick, he was wheelchaired off the airplane and into the hotel.

He said he was so sorry
for everything.

That he was coming home.

[Bruce]
I know he was trying
his hardest to get home.

Thinking about his
new child coming.

He wanted to be home...

really bad.

I don't know how,
but I knew it.
I fucking knew it.

Her screaming at my doorstep,

eight months pregnant,

I fucking knew instantly
my brother was dead.

The last thing I heard was,
he went to sleep,

never woke up.

Alone, in a Texas hotel.

He could conquer any wave,
but surfing champion,
Andy Irons

has suddenly died.

The mysterious death of world
champion surfer
Andy Irons...

The 32-year-old died suddenly while on his way home to Kauai.

After the Rip Curl Pro Surf
Event in Puerto Rico.

His wife is due to give birth
to the couple's first child
in two weeks.

Just how he died
remains a mystery.

Irons reportedly
told his family he caught
dengue fever in...

An autopsy report conducted
by the Tarrant County
Medical Examiner

shows the 32-year-old had
a heart attack.

Surfing phenom, Andy Irons,

died from a combination of a heart attack and drug use,

according to the
New York Times.

The news sent shockwaves
through the world of surfing.

Fellow surfers held
a traditional paddle
out memorial Wednesday

to say goodbye to their friend.

[choral music playing]

[song ends]

[Lyndie]
If I had a chance
to talk to you again, Andy,

I would tell you that I love
you so much,

and I miss you so much.

I don't even know how
to explain it in words,

how much I miss you,
but I wanna tell you that

you're amazing, and I'm so proud
of you, and I just wish I could

hug you and hold you
and kiss you one last time.

And most importantly,
wanted to tell you,

Axel...

he's perfect.

I know you would be so proud.

Look.

I see so much of you
in him, and...

I'm lucky I have him,
and thank you
for giving me him,

'cause I don't know
where I'd be without him.

[Bruce] Andy...

I think about you
every single day.

Now that you're not here,

I realize, I'm alone
in this world.

Everything that you felt,
I felt.

You were my hero...

growing up, and you still are.

[laughing]

[all cheering]

You know what my brother
told me? "It's totally makeable.
Go, go, go."

From Kauai,
ladies and gentlemen,
Andy Irons.

[child] Mom, I did it.