Maxwell Gifted / Unsplash
Getting barreled is both a right of passage and the ultimate thrill ride for every surfer. I’ve never smoked crack or done heroin but I have to imagine it’s a similar addiction. Once you get barreled your first time you’re forever in pursuit of getting barreled again.
Pro surfer Koa Smith recently rode one of the most epic waves ever captured on video. He was surfing the world famous Skeleton Bay in Namibia. It’s one of the longest wave breaks in the world and when it’s firing you can catch the wave of a lifetime, which is exactly what happened to Koa Smith.
In one ride, Koa Smith rode over a mile in about two minutes and along the way, he got barreled EIGHT TIMES. Below, Smith breaks down one of the craziest waves ever surfed and even if you’ve never been surfing in your life you can still enjoy the sh*t out of this video because his energy in talking about the once-in-a-lifetime wave is so palpable.
Apologies if you’ve seen this wave before but I’m just now getting around to checking out the footage. He actually caught the wave in Namibia back July, not last weekend or anything. But the footage is just now making the rounds thanks to the AP.
By the way, here’s how he described this ride back in July when he first posted video of his 8-barrel wave on Instagram:
koasmithThis wave felt SO intense! 😰😻 (here comes a surfers explanation. Good luck understanding) 😂 After timing a hectic paddle out this was the first wave that came to me. It was solid 6ft+, I told my self “I’m foxing going!” Right as I stood up water splashed in my eyes I was blinded but stuck the airdrop. Feeling took over for the next couple of seconds until my eyes cleared. Then the foamball blew up in my face and I thought it was game over! Not giving up I kept doing the power wiggle. She slowed down just enough for me to match her speed and she shot me out! The happiness levels were REDlining 😂😝🤯 edit by @gabrielcaswall // song: Sunset in Costa Rica by #troyboi #surferlanguage #surfing #manifest #gopro #skeletonbay
I’m not lying when I say that I could watch this on repeat. For real, if I owned a surf taco shop on the beach somewhere I’d just have this footage playing on repeat. I’d throw it up on the wall using a projector and have it running 24-hours a day. So sick.