When professional funny man Bert Kreischer visited the North Shore of Oahu recently, he had one goal for his trip— to learn to surf. Kreischer, AKA the Machine as he is affectionately known, was so serious about this endeavor that he spent the weeks leading up to his Hawaii vacation training and dropping pounds so he would be in top surfing form. When Kreischer got to the island, he didn’t want to use his star power to get pushed into waves by big named professional surfers (although he did smash a workout with Koa Rothman and Nate Florence). He wanted to learn like anyone else would, from the best surf school on the island, Jamie O’Brien Surf Experience. As an avid Youtuber and self-described consumer of content, Kreischer had seen Jamie’s vlogs and followed his career from his days filming with Red Bull to the launch of the North Shore Surf School in Turtle Bay. According to Kreischer on his own podcast talking with Jamie himself, “the surf school at Turtle Bay, the Jamie O’Brien Surf Experience, was one of the best experiences of [his] life.” After hearing the Machine’s praise, we decided to sit down with the surf instructor who taught Bert, his family, and his crew how to surf during their stay on the North Shore, our friend Ikaika.
Hey Ikaika, I heard you guys had a pretty big name come through the shop recently. How was your lesson with Bert Kreischer?
“I saw Bert’s name on the manifest, and I recognized it immediately because I’m a big stand-up fan. I had a feeling Bert’s lesson was going to be a lot of fun.
What was it like meeting Bert?
“It was great. You never know how meeting people like that is going to go, but he seemed super down to earth, and he was really nice. He definitely came in with a plan. He told me he had been training for this and dropped some weight so he could surf. He had a good energy. It was cool to see.”
How did he do in the water?
“Initially, I was a bit worried about how he would do because he’s a bigger guy, but as soon as we got out on the water, he seemed so comfortable on his board and was paddling around effortlessly. He rushed his popup on his fist wave and ended up falling. So, when he paddled back out, I told him to just take his time and remember everything we went over. Sure enough, by his next wave, he was up and riding and super stoked.”
What was the best part about your lesson with Bert?
I thought it was really cool that he decided to take a lesson with a surf school like a normal person. During the lesson, he told me that he could have reached out to someone on Instagram and gotten lessons from a pro for a photo op, but he wanted to do it like everyone else. He heard about the surf school from following Jamie and trusted that we would do a good job.
Bert and his family took two days of lessons in Turtle Bay, and it’s safe to say that they are hooked on surfing. To have the same experience that Bert Kreischer described as “one of the best experiences of [his] life,” book your stay at Turtle Bay Resort and sign up for a North Shore Surf Lesson today!