The blunt reality of life after Andy, as seen in Stab issue 58, available now. Words by Derek RiellyPhotos by Kane SkennarStyling by Tara WilliamsHair and Makeup by Rachael Brook @ DLMVideo by Petty ThievesAll swimwear by Acacia, by Naomi Newirth and Lyndie Irons For one thing, Lyndie Irons ain’t into any of the feelgood,everything-happens-for-a-reason mysticismthat surrounded the death of her husband. She doesn’tsee a turtle at Hanalei Bay and believe it’s his reincarnation; shedoesn’t stare at a rainbow and think it was delivered by a heavenlymessenger in Billabong rising sun trunks. Lyndie Irons, still only 29, is a down-to-earth gal from Encinitas,California, who fell in love with and married Hawaii’s best eversurfer. And then he died too far from home, five weeks beforetheir first kid was born. That ain’t poetry. “I’m pissed,” says Lyndie flatly. “I used to have a spiritual sidebut, now, I get so sick of people telling me it was for a reasonor God picked him or it was his time to go. It wasn’t.” But, saysLyndie in a whisper… but. And, this is an interesting but. To make it to Sydney for our shoot, Lyndie and her boy, AxelAndy Irons, had to bounce into Brisbane International at midnightfrom Denpasar where Lyndie’d been working on the manufacturingside of her bikini label Acacia with her partner NaomiNewirth, then lean on a pal to take ‘em to the Gold Coast fortheir Sydney morning flight. On the hour drive south to the GC, Mom and son squeezedinto each other in the back, Ax in his baby seat, Lyndie foldedagainst it. In the fading moments before sleep, and right aboutnow Lyndie tells me again that she loathes any kind of spiritualdimension being drawn around The Champ’s death, Ax beganstroking her hair and patting her head. “He’s sweet to me, but he’s too little to know how to do that,”says Lyndie. “But, he was patting my head and hair repeatedlyand I looked up at him for a second and he stared straight atme and he looked just like Andy. He didn’t sleep a second ofthe whole drive. I just felt like Andy was there, letting me sleep. Ifelt like he was watching over me, that he knew that I was tired,knew that I needed sleep…” Lyndie cries and I stop the tape. It’s been 18 months since that weird day in November, 2010,when our phones lit up with messages from pro surfer pals inPuerto Rico. Eighteen months since vampires raided his story, in the interestof public health and morality, apparently. Cetainly not for theghoulish and speculative curiosity that surrounds the death of afamous young man. The lip-smacking innuendo! We sure like the Irons’. We took Andy on his first-ever trip toAustralia when he was 17 and a decade-and-a-half later we’restill rolling dice in airports with his kid brother. As for Lyndie, she’s a single mom now. Supported by Andy’sparents, Phil and Danielle, divorced but who now live in thesame house again so they can be close to Ax, and pals likeDustin Barca and his wife Stephanie. It ain’t easy. And it’s going to be a long time before anyonecomes close to replacing her soul mate. Andy was celebrating his 25th birthday in Encinitas with Kalaand Kamalei Alexander, Koby Abberton and Blair Marlin whenthey met. Andy pushed Lyndie against a tree and kissed her forthe first time that night; a week later he told her he was in love.“From that first kiss I knew he was the one. In that first second.I knew we’d always be together.” Read more in the digital edition. Available here.
girls // Mar 8, 2016
Words by stab
Reading Time: 2 minutes
The blunt reality of life after Andy, as seen in Stab issue 58, available now.
Words by Derek Rielly
Photos by Kane Skennar
Styling by Tara Williams
Hair and Makeup by Rachael Brook @ DLM
Video by Petty Thieves
All swimwear by Acacia, by Naomi Newirth and Lyndie Irons
For one thing, Lyndie Irons ain’t into any of the feelgood,everything-happens-for-a-reason mysticismthat surrounded the death of her husband. She doesn’tsee a turtle at Hanalei Bay and believe it’s his reincarnation; shedoesn’t stare at a rainbow and think it was delivered by a heavenlymessenger in Billabong rising sun trunks.
Lyndie Irons, still only 29, is a down-to-earth gal from Encinitas,California, who fell in love with and married Hawaii’s best eversurfer. And then he died too far from home, five weeks beforetheir first kid was born. That ain’t poetry.
“I’m pissed,” says Lyndie flatly. “I used to have a spiritual sidebut, now, I get so sick of people telling me it was for a reasonor God picked him or it was his time to go. It wasn’t.” But, saysLyndie in a whisper… but.
And, this is an interesting but.
To make it to Sydney for our shoot, Lyndie and her boy, AxelAndy Irons, had to bounce into Brisbane International at midnightfrom Denpasar where Lyndie’d been working on the manufacturingside of her bikini label Acacia with her partner NaomiNewirth, then lean on a pal to take ‘em to the Gold Coast fortheir Sydney morning flight.
On the hour drive south to the GC, Mom and son squeezedinto each other in the back, Ax in his baby seat, Lyndie foldedagainst it. In the fading moments before sleep, and right aboutnow Lyndie tells me again that she loathes any kind of spiritualdimension being drawn around The Champ’s death, Ax beganstroking her hair and patting her head.
“He’s sweet to me, but he’s too little to know how to do that,”says Lyndie. “But, he was patting my head and hair repeatedlyand I looked up at him for a second and he stared straight atme and he looked just like Andy. He didn’t sleep a second ofthe whole drive. I just felt like Andy was there, letting me sleep. Ifelt like he was watching over me, that he knew that I was tired,knew that I needed sleep…”
Lyndie cries and I stop the tape.
It’s been 18 months since that weird day in November, 2010,when our phones lit up with messages from pro surfer pals inPuerto Rico.
Eighteen months since vampires raided his story, in the interestof public health and morality, apparently. Cetainly not for theghoulish and speculative curiosity that surrounds the death of afamous young man. The lip-smacking innuendo!
We sure like the Irons’. We took Andy on his first-ever trip toAustralia when he was 17 and a decade-and-a-half later we’restill rolling dice in airports with his kid brother.
As for Lyndie, she’s a single mom now. Supported by Andy’sparents, Phil and Danielle, divorced but who now live in thesame house again so they can be close to Ax, and pals likeDustin Barca and his wife Stephanie.
It ain’t easy. And it’s going to be a long time before anyonecomes close to replacing her soul mate.
Andy was celebrating his 25th birthday in Encinitas with Kalaand Kamalei Alexander, Koby Abberton and Blair Marlin whenthey met. Andy pushed Lyndie against a tree and kissed her forthe first time that night; a week later he told her he was in love.“From that first kiss I knew he was the one. In that first second.I knew we’d always be together.”
Read more in the digital edition. Available here.
