NEED TO KNOW
Jamie O’Brien and his wife Tina Cohen O’Brien spoke with PEOPLE exclusively about surfing tandem in Hawaii 36 weeks into her pregnancy with their first child
The professional surfer and mom-to-be shared why they’re continuing to surf and stay active in the weeks leading up to their little boy’s arrival in September
The pair, who tied the knot in March, announced that they were expecting in December 2024
Tina Cohen O’Brien is going with the flow.
The wife of professional surfer Jamie O’Brien spoke with PEOPLE exclusively about “surfing throughout” her first-time pregnancy, and why she continues to paddle out 36 weeks into her maternity journey.
Jamie — a Red Bull freesurfer who joined the interview alongside Tina — makes it known that it was the mom-to-be’s idea to hit the surf in their native Hawaii, where they paddled out together on the same board and rode tandem off the coast of O‘ahu’s North Shore.
Tina, who is due in September, intends to keep surfing throughout her pregnancy.
“She keeps saying, ‘I want us to keep surfing! I don’t want to be just pregnant and not surf,’ ” Jamie says. “She wants to go surfing today. So after our call, we’re going to go surfing again.”
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Jamie O’Brien and his wife, Tina, who’s expecting their first baby together in September
Understandably, the sport — and a desire to be submerged in the salt water that surrounds their home — runs through their veins, given the couple were born and raised on the island and have respectively built careers closely linked to the ocean.
That’s why Tina, who’s a content creator and co-founder of swimwear brand Aokai, and Jamie, who’s a pro surfer and successful surf vlogger, show no sign of slowing down their active lifestyle anytime soon.
“I’ve surfed throughout my pregnancy, so we just did tandem surfing twice throughout the pregnancy just because it’s so easy for me, which is awesome,” she shares of riding with her pro husband.
About 32 weeks into her pregnancy, Tina — who announced in December that she and Jamie are expecting — stopped surfing on her stomach because of her growing baby bump. Now, she and her husband ride one board together, as seen in their video shared on YouTube.
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Tina Cohen O’Brien
“It’s exhausting, but it helps to have a professional surfer husband who is a motor behind there… I just sat there a bit and he just paddled,” she says, noting that the “whole session was so chill” for the hour they were in the water.
“There were waves where I was like, ‘There’s no way we’re going to get on this wave,’ ” Tina jokes, but says she confidently trusted in her husband, who “can get on any wave… so it was awesome.”
She adds, “It was like all I had to do was stand up.”
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Jamie O’Brien and his wife, Tina
The couple paddled out in waist-to-shoulder-high waves at Turtle Bay on the North Shore of O‘ahu, one of the two Hawaii locations of the athlete’s Jamie O’Brien Surf Experience Surf School (there’s a third in Coronado, San Diego, too).
“We call it ‘Tina size,’ ” Jamie says of the wave height, a playful and affectionate comparison to the death-defying — yet mesmerizing — waves he rides in his own backyard at the famed Banzai Pipeline, or the 35-plus-foot waves he charges in the most beautiful destinations around the world.
Riding tandem isn’t an easy feat for most, despite how natural the duo make it seem. However, Jamie says using “a nice big board” elevated their experience (and of course, the fact that he’s a professional who’s been surfing since he was three years old only helps).
“It was one of our lesson boards for our surf school at Turtle Bay… It’s very floaty and buoyant and just made for easy paddling for me and then easy for her to balance,” he says of the equipment they used.
“It’s like a boat,” adds Tina. “It was awesome.”
Kelly Cestari/World Surf League via Getty
Jamie O’Brien surfs in the 2015 Billabong Pipe Masters
Jamie is sure to note that they stood up on their “first try” at catching a wave.
“Not that I was doing much,” jokes Tina, who says that she was “recording” to capture the moment the entire time to share in their vlog (they also posed for beautiful photos shot by Hawaii Maternity Photographer, as seen in their joint-Instagram post).
While riding the wave wasn’t too difficult for the pair, getting back on the board was a bit more of a challenge for the mom-to-be.
“Tina was having a blast,” says Jamie, adding, “But when we jumped off the board, she had a really hard time climbing back up on the board.”
Tina recalls, “I would get so tired trying to get back on the board because it’s so buoyant. It’s not like my normal boards where you can slide on, which is good because it’s two of us on the board, so you want something more buoyant, but getting back on it was the struggle.”
She adds, “You apparently lose all your ab muscles when you’re pregnant.”
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Jamie O’Brien runs underwater while his wife, Tina Cohen O’Brien, swims behind him
The couple doesn’t fear challenge, however. In fact, Jamie says Tina wants to attempt riding a surfboard “by herself” after their interview with PEOPLE. She confidently asserts, “I got this” when he says, “I’m interested to see how today goes.”
That ambitious mindset is something Jamie admires about Tina amid her first-time pregnancy journey.
“I think that was one of the more important parts, too, is throughout the pregnancy it’s like, ‘How can she still live her life?’ ” he says of his wife and the “bits and pieces” of their normal routine they made a point to continue while expecting.
@hawaiimaternityphoto
Tina Cohen O’Brien
“Like we get to surf and try and make it normalized, like… She’s pregnant but we can still do all these activities. So that’s been fun,” he adds.
Documenting Tina’s continued surfing and active lifestyle amid pregnancy, which can be “a challenge” at times, is something the couple plans to show their little boy at some point in his life, too.
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Jamie explains, “It’s more like showing him when he’s five years old and be like, ‘Look, mom was surfing with you like freaking 36, 37 weeks pregnant!’ “
“I’m excited,” he adds. “It’s kind of like… I get to give him the best life that we get to live.”
Read the original article on People
