Mike Purpus’ Pipeline: Jamie Meistrell Profile
“Peace man, just passing by.” Photo
Teaching and competing
Captions
Jamie Meistrell is sitting in exactly the same spot in my living room as he and his younger brother Tracy sat 14 years ago when I wrote about them ripping for the Redondo High School Surf team.
Now, at 29, he’s a 5-foot-11 165 lbs., regular footer with well trimmed, brown hair under a family Body Glove cap and tats running down his right leg to his toes.
“Whoops ya caught me!” Photo
Meistrell started surfing when he was 5, but didn’t take the sport seriously until the sixth grade, when he was 11. He and best friend Nick Padilla started surfing every day after school at the Sapphire and Topaz jetties, and when they got more confident, at the Hermosa pier.
Today, Padilla is better known as “Flinch,” the lead guitarist in the STDs.
Meistrell’s first board was a Christmas present.
Backside hit at a South Bay Boardriders Club Event were Meistrell is a regular finalist. Photo by Dave Gregerson
“My mom and dad got me and my brother matching 6-foot Al Merricks. Then I got a 5-foot-3 Al Merrick and my surfing started taking off. Now I ride a Roberts shaped by Bob Weiner that a friend gave me. It’s 5-foot-9, 19-wide and a little over 2-inches thick. I don’t have a board sponsor. So, I just ride boards that my friends are tired of and see how they work. Don’t get me wrong I would love to get free boards but the boards I’m riding seem to work alright in the contests. I think good surfers can ride anything,” he said.
As nephew to the “American Ninja,” Michael Dudikoff, the high kick runs in his genes. Here he shows the ladies in the water and later on the dance floor his moves. Photo
Meistrell started contest surfing at 11 on the United States Surfing Federation and the National Scholastic Surfing Association circuits and then for Redondo in the South Bay High School Surf League. After graduation he surfed in the lower ranked ASP Tour events, from Santa Cruz down to San Miguel, Mexico.
Full hooded blast off. Photo
He made the money round of the ’05 Van’s Pro Surfing Classic in Huntington Beach and was second in this winter’s South Bay Boardriders Contest Series.
He’s excited about the new American Pro Surfing Series for California surfers. “This is only the second year, but they have a good rating system with good prize money in every contest,” he said.
Meistrell lives in Manhattan Beach but surfs the Redondo’s avenues and the Breakwater.
“The Breakwater is my favorite spot because the bowl is the perfect set up for my backside blasts. The ramp gives you plenty of speed going off the lip. The goofy-footers like trying to get the perfect tube but the Breakwater lefts are made for backside power surfing. I believe in power turns and serious carves like my heroes Kelly Slater and Dane Reynolds. The big airs are alright but there is no air show until you learn the power game. I have the most fun surfing with my brother Tracy and my cousin Matt Meistrell, who are awesome surfers.”
Meistrell coaches advanced surfing for kids 16 years and under.
“The class is designed to give the kids a better understanding of the ocean and its currents so they feel safe and confident. It’s orientated toward contest performance surfing. My class is called Surfers by Profession and my best pupil is Wil Reid. We have a lot of fun out there.”
Jamie’s one of the premier surf coaches in the South Bay. Photo by Ken Pagliaro
The first time I talked to Meistrell, he had just been to Hawaii’s NorthShore, where he watched Alex Grey tear Pipeline apart. Since then he has travelled to Australia twice, Bali, Hawaii and Mexico several times, Barbados, Jamaica, Fiji and Costa Rica.
Underwater straightjacket
Meistrell’s scariest surfing experience was at Pasqual’s in Mexico on a 15-foot day.
“It was huge, breaking just like Pipeline, in the middle of the ocean. I didn’t know where to paddle out and timed a set wrong. A 10-wave set broke right in front of me. The first wave thrashed me around like a rag doll in a washing machine, sending me straight to the bottom, ripping my wetsuit sleeves over my face and arms, trapping me like I was in a straightjacket. I couldn’t move my hands or arms. I couldn’t see and barely got a breath before being crushed to the bottom. It was the most violent feeling I’ve ever experienced, getting thrashed around while my surfboard was a tombstone on the surface. The air trapped in my wetsuit sleeves is the reason I finally came up to see everyone laughing at me. I think they were just relieved to see me surface. When I got to the shore I literally kissed the sand.
Jamie is sponsored by Dive N’ Surf, Body Glove, Freedom Artist Clothing, Sector 9 Skateboards and Dizm Eyewear and is currently looking for a surfboard company. DZ
It’s always launch time for Jamie…even at dinner.