Andy

Natural Mystic: The article says Andy's primary cause of death was a genetically predisposed heart attack, not drug use.

 

and here we go, verbally battling it out over this, trying to prove how "right" we are as if our opinion really matters.

the fact is, andy's dead. no autopsy report is going to change that. nor will the autopsy report change how great of a surfer he was. dragging this out won't prove anything to anybody.

natural mystic has a point; surf companies tend to look the other way when stars like andy have issues. look to matt archibold, david eggers, or occy as other examples (there are more, many more). the companies want to sell their products & as long as their stars are in the public eye, they don't really care what they do. provided, of course, what they do perpetuates the "bro-brah" appearance of surfing. you can be on meth & keep sponsors, but don't say anything that rattles the cages too much (bobby martinez). you'll be dumped by everyone in sight.
the surf industry-wct/wqs inscestuous relationship has a serious problem that tends to chew up talented surfers & spit them out. hopefully, andy's passing will shine a little light on that & help force it to change. but i somehow doubt that.

 

I think to say that drugs are ruining our sport, would be kind of short sighted... Drugs ruin people's lives everywhere, not just some surfers that happen to be the lime light.

I'm not a proponent of drugs by any means, but you have to remember to some extent, the be free, live life for today lifestyle is what surfing culture grew up on in the 60s and 70s.

It seemed pretty clear from the autopsy report presented by the Irons family, that Andy was dealing not only with drugs in his system, but with a plethora of serious imbalances and ailments. It is ashame, of course, to lose such a talented human being.

 

one doctor says drugs did not play a part in his death, and it was solely because of undiagnosed heart problems. they did however find benzoylecgonine in his system which 100% proof of cocaine use. i think its safe to say cocaine could detrimentally effect ones heart muscle, especially someone suffering from coronary artery disease. they also found trace amounts of meth in his system, although he was not a meth user. the report states that there's a high chance that the meth had already been in the coke. a cocktail of meth, cocaine, and the prescribed drugs he was taking could in fact be lethal.

that being said, andy had been suffering from bipolar disorder since age 18. he probably had a really hard time trying to stay clean while suffering from extreme mood swings and insomnia.

in the end though, andy was an awesome surfer, and a really inspirational person. he deserved better/

 

mixing uppers and downers is hard on the heart. especially if you're getting older and extra-especially if you have a heart condition. be careful yo. you're not young and invincible forever.

 

Well there was one thing in the report that i read that was "technically true" but knowing the little bit about Andys drug use hsitory was highly unlikely. Methadone "a drug prescirbed typically for chronic pain". THis is true, it is prescribed for that, but its also used for people treating a heroine addiction, or abused by those looking for the Heroine type high. Xanax and methadone used to come down off a day or two of snorting rails wouldnt be an uncommon way to finally get some sleep. If you remember there were originally reports that the only reason he was in Texas was because the airline wouldnt let him on the plane in the condtion he was in, staying up partying for a few days without sleep on cocaine could make you look a bit sketchy and a possible problem for the flight crew on an 8 hour flight.
I am glad it was not determined to be an overdose for his family's sake, his son, brother and wife can rest a bit better knowing this was from a heart attack and something Andy did not do to himself.
I miss Andy on tour especially now that with the great webcast of the ASP tour we could see his amazing surfing a little more often.
Its just a really sad thing and I wish the Irons clan the best.

 

I love Andy Irons and nothing will change that, he inspired me more than any other surfer and I cried when he passed. Nothing will change my view on him, he beat Kelly 3 times and that is BADA$$!!!!!!!!!!!

 

during the 420 thread craze a few months ago i tried to get the message out that drugs ruin lives and tear families apart and was met with hostile resistance. i know the 420 things is about weed and not heavy drugs or whatever but having been to the edge i can tell you that there are heavy consiquences just around the corner if you aint careful. not trying to be lame-o or whatever just check yourself because itll get ugly quick and its a long way back from the bottom.

 

stumbled on the movie 'blow' last night and wound up watching the whole thing. talk about living large and then paying the consequences. heavy heavy.

 

i think if he had just smoked a joint he'd still be alive

 

maybe if he hadnt ever smoked in the first place he would still be here but we wont ever know. i dont care whether or not folks burn just figure maybe someone somewhere might heed my advice and avoid trouble later on.nice reply though.

 

Lets take the rumors and speculation out of the air for a second and compare two options:

My theory- He was run down from mystery fever, his insomnia, his 50 year old heart, and the traveling. I think that his nightly hand-full of prescribed pills (yes, this is a huge problem in society, not just sports or ever surfing) put him in to a deeper sleep than he bargained for. The benzoylecgonine traces in his system- are just that. Small traces. ALSO, as far as benzo being "direct evidence of coke use", a simple google search yeilds "Benzoylecgonine is used as the main pharmaceutical ingredient in the prescription drug Esterom, a topical solution used for the relief of muscle pain". That sounds a little more consistent with him admitting to pain killer addiction in '09, eh?

Your theory- A several day coke binge sends him to near overdose-state for days as he DQ's from the PR tournament, fakes a diagnosis of denang fever, flies back to dallas (still in a near overdose state), gets denied from his HI flight, and finally makes it up to a hotel room where he follows through with overdosing (assuming from what is already in his system or he scored in dallas?)?? IF this was true they would have found more than just traces of benzoylecgonine, Its not hard for them to identify an overdose.

 

I lost my best friend to heart disease at 25 years old. It still hurts. We did enjoy life everychance we could back then. I will always remember the good times.
I never met AI, but he did inspire me.
Foster, Foo, Sion, Chesser, Burns, East, West, Worldwide.... the list goes on and on. It doesn't matter how,....they're gone. Remember the good times, their surfing, and their contributions to our great sport.
It's an amazing line up of talent with plenty of perfect surf in the afterlife.
And they don't get flat spells anymore....

 

In the words of Delbert McClinton, Andy seems more and more a "victim of life's circumstances". Had he never turned pro, he would never have been able to fulfill those dreams of surfing perfect waves and blasting the field at big contests. There's no doubt he loved to win. Stuck in Kauai with the same crowd forever would have made him miserable. At the same time, the pressure of the tour apparently took its toll. It's not just drugs either. Stress, we hear so often, is one of the primary causes of heart problems. Yes, they say he was genetically predisposed. But he also had a lifestyle filled with stress from sponsors, fans, travel, etc.

I suppose that's the curse of being a sensitive guy and great athlete on the world stage. Curren apparently had similar problems, though he survived the hard times. Lots of others (Jose Angel, Mike Peterson, etc) have struggled and not come out alive (or sane).

 

cheers to that my friend

 

I agree with you completely. If people really don't care about the risks, then whatever, I can't stop you. But later on that desire for weed often turns into something much more serious. Just watching kids change through high school proves everything. Everyone thinks "oh i cant get addicted, so its all good", but then farther down the road their once seemingly harmless hobby can take over their day to day lifestyle, grow into a real addiction to other substances, or actually f*** their body up.

 

Agreed,When I was in High School I hung out with a real bad ass crowd.I was the only one that didn't puff.From what I did see it did lead to some real hard core stuff.From what I hear their still at it many years later.

 

i was the guy who tried everything first and wound up in a world of hurt for it. im getting away from thev initial topic i suppose but all in all i hate that andys gone and sure hope people stop and think how his brother and folks must feel. dont put your family thru it.

 

phenomenal surfer. terrible role model.