Andy Irons: Kissed by God

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.

Wow! Saw this today and it was gripping. The battles with Kelly Slater, the battles with his addictions, the battles with bipolar disorder.

Some great interviews with other surfers and with Andy's family and a lot of insight into the surfing culture of the early 2000's.

Also interesting seeing the battle between the Hawaiian surfer versus the California surfer.

Worth watching even if you are not a surfer.

This is the best documentary I've seen since Meru came out a few years back. It's increadibly powerful and will show you the highs and lows of Andy's amazing life. It also informs people about the opioid epidemic that is ruining individuals and their loved ones lives.

My brother was diagnosed with bipolar disorder a few years ago and I myself feel I also suffer from bipolar disorder, though I was never told that by a physician. I know what it's like to go from having a great day to wanting to just end it all in a matter of minutes. I like Andy, turned to self medication (no opioids) to relieve the constant feeling of depression, anger and basically no self esteem.

Anyway enough about me, it's just utterly amazing how someone bipolar that is constantly self medicating with hard drugs can be a 3X world champion. It's an astonishing feat, I just wish he could have fought off the demons and lived a somewhat normal life.

RIP Andy, the pain is now gone.

I'll admit I had no idea this documentary was about more than Andy's surfing prowess before watching it... and that made my viewing of this documentary all the more poignant! The amount of detail and the number of testimonies helped paint the whole picture of this man's life and struggles... a beautifuly-crafted doc!