From the SMH website
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/irons-always-lived-on-the-ledge-20101103-17d5q.html
The death of Andy Irons will be felt in Hawaii, the chain of islands where he made his name and fortune, writes Roy Fleming.
I first heard the name Andy Irons in the early '90s, working as an editor for Surfing Life magazine, when prank phone calls and toilet humour passed for journalism, and the sport was on the hunt for new, "sanitised" surfers to carry the torch further into professionalism.
The professional surfing scene at the time was still burdened by the excesses of the '80s, when professional surfers were being arrested and jailed for drug possession, trashing hotels in Europe and surfing in front of the cameras, not for them.
I remember the first description of Irons' surfing from a photographer. The word was that Irons and his brother, Bruce - also a champion freesurfer in his own right - were doing unheard-of things on waves in Indonesia. Powerful and fearless manoeuvres in dangerous sections of waves, pushing the performance levels by flying above the lip of the wave rather than staying on the face. Upside-down at every opportunity.
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Not the wave mentioned in the story, but this is Andy Irons at Teahupoo. Enough said.
Andy Irons at Teahupoo, the most feared wave in surfing.
These manoeuvres are now stock standard for any young surfer hoping to earn a spot on either of the professional tours. At the time, older professionals scoffed at the future, raged against the dying of the light, and forecast the aerial and sliding manoeuvres permeating the sport would never replace the carving and power regime that had been the performance standard for decades.
Martin Potter, the 1988 world champion famously said at the time, ''Yes I can do that (aerials), but can you do this? (carve).'' Of course, Irons could do both.
The photographer said Andy Irons would be a world champion one day - blessed as he was with the all-important sponsorship trifecta: blonde, handsome and prodigious talent in and out of the water.
Andy Irons, here seen surfing a barrel during the Billabong Pro Teahupoo in French Polynesia, dominated the sport like few others.
Andy Irons, here seen surfing a barrel during the Billabong Pro Teahupoo in French Polynesia, dominated the sport like few others. Photo: Getty Images
How prophetic those words would be.
"Three-time world champion" is how the the media will describe him today. However, they might overlook the most important titles Irons won - his triple crowns. The triple crown is awarded to the best surfer of the season-ending Hawaiian stop of the professional tour. To win the triple crown you compete against not only the tour's top 44 surfers, but also against the best non-professional Hawaiian surfers in waves of genuine consequence. Trust me, there are some brilliant Hawaiians who never bother to surf full-time on the tour, concentrating their efforts on the Hawaiian winter in the most dangerous surf zone on the planet. To win a triple crown is similar to winning a world title, such is the respect. Irons won four of them.
When Irons won the first of his consecutive world titles in 2002 (he also won in 2003/04), it was at a time when Kelly Slater was still in his prime. Irons' victory, celebrated wildly across the Hawaiian islands where he lives, was meant to signal the end of Slater's dominance of the professional sport. By now, the Irons name was synonymous with the new era: brother Bruce earning his fortune freesurfing for magazines and videos across the planet, in the best waves and in the best conditions, and Andy winning in tiny waves in the US and the most dangerous and feared wave in the world, Tahiti's Teahupoo.
Andy Irons gets some air. Click for more photos
Andy Irons, king of the waves, dead
Andy Irons gets some air. Photo: Karen Wilson
* Andy Irons gets some air.
* Andy Irons competes at the Billabong Pro in Tahiti in 2006.
* Andy Irons sitting deep in the barrel of an amazing Teahupoo wave.
* Andy Irons celebrates the Billabong Pro title at Supertubes in 2004 in Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa.
* Andy Irons
* Andy Irons seals his fourth Rip Curl Pipeline Masters title in Oahu, Hawaii. in 2006.
* Andy Irons gets some air.
* Andy Irons competes at the Billabong Pro in Tahiti in 2006.
* Andy Irons turns off the top during the 2009 Hurley US Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach, California last year.
* Andy Irons cops some spray.
* Andy Irons, right, with Owen Wright and Kelly Slater during the Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach contest.
* Andy Irons suffers an interference call but still wins his Round 1 heat of the Billabong Pipeline Masters last December at the Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore, Hawaii.
* Andy Irons inside a barrel during round 1 of the Billabong Pro Teahupoo in Teahupo'o, French Polynesia, last year.
* Andy Irons in action.
* Andy Irons gets some air.
Bedrooms walls suddenly became cramped for space; with teenage surfers in awe of Irons' raw ability, his fearlessness, occasional insecurity, and non-conformity. One picture in particular of Irons became the benchmark for performance at Teahupoo - an image of Irons falling from the sky on a mountain of water, the face of the wave almost beyond vertical, only to land at the bottom, somehow place a rail in the correct position and ride to the channel one of the most important waves ridden in modern surfing.
That's how I remember Andy Irons, always the first to go, looking into the cauldron, seeing the danger but still prepared to push over the ledge.
Appropriate also, that Andy's most famous wave was ridden at Teahupoo, for Teahupoo means "End of the Road" in Tahitian.
WAtoday Editor Roy Fleming was the Assistant Editor of Australia's Surfing Life magazine from 1992-96.
