To see James Pellegrine deftly negotiate a barrelling Indonesian left-hander, his 385 lb. cargo floated by a Matt Biolos “Big Boy” model 24″ wide and 3 3/4″ thick, must have been a strange and wondrous sight. For a long while Jimbo was the distributor of Lost surfboards and clothing in Bali, where he has spent most of the last fifteen years and where he established several further business ventures. These included a clothing company that specialised in silk boxer shorts, and a series of luxury villas for hire. Among the numerous guests he hosted in the latter were Chris Ward and Christian Fletcher, both of whom enjoyed prolonged stays, both of whom racked up debts worth thousands of dollars. “In total,” Pellegrine told surf mag Bali Belly, “Hurricane Ward blew through two doors, three windows and one car. Plus four fistfights – three with other paying guests, one just random.”

In recent years Jimbo’s time in the water has been curtailed by several bizarre mishaps. He escaped relatively unharmed when struck by lightning some seven or so years ago, but was not so fortunate in 2010, when he badly hurt his knee in a dance-floor related incident; to make matters worse, as he was helped out of the club and across the road, he was knocked down by a car — in which he left a sizeable dent. Then in Kauai this past winter, driving home one night, a passing truck took his left arm clean off as it hung out the window. The precise details, as I understand it, are the subject of some disagreement. At any rate the accident seems sadly to have put an end to his shortboarding days.