Koa Smith has been surfing his entire life. Growing up on Kauai, he began surfing with his brother at the age of three. \u201cThere\u2019s not much to do there,\u201d Smith said. \u201cMy parents would drop us off at the beach. You start playing in the sand, playing in the ocean, body surfing, boogie boarding and it keeps evolving. I started surfing when I was three. My brother is four years older. When he started, it was, \u2018If he can do this, I can do this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Koa Smith, however, has now done more than his brother. In fact, Smith has done what few surfers to no surfers have ever done.<\/p>\n
The 23 year old road into surfing history recently on a wave he caught at Skeleton Bay. This nearly mystical stretch of beach is legendary in the surfing community. Located in Namibia on the western coast of Africa, Skeleton Bay faces the Atlantic Ocean and requires a local guide and a lot of dedication to reach. The beach is a two day plane trip from Hawaii, followed by a car ride through the desert and down unmarked roads to the ocean. Once at the beach, surfers have to keep their eyes open. They share the beach with hundreds of aggressive seals and the water with Great White Sharks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re out there, you\u2019re really out there,\u201d said Smith. \u201cYou\u2019re kind of on your own. But when you\u2019re out there, you\u2019re not thinking about it. You know you\u2019re [risking] sacrificing your life for this.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Koa Smith, the risk paid off in the form of what he called a \u201clife changing wave.\u201d Smith\u2019s now-legendary ride lasted for 120 seconds and covered nearly a mile. While the distance and time was impressive, it was the sheer number of barrels Smith rode through that made history. Barrels in surfing are the hollows that form when a wave curves over a surfer\u2019s head when breaking. Smith caught a wave that formed an unprecedented eight barrels. \u201cThere was a point where I was at four barrels, and I was already like, \u2018This is amazing,\u2019\u201d Smith recounted. \u201cIt looked like the wave was over, but it formed again. I figured, \u2026I might as well stay on. And I was like, \u2018Whoa!\u2019 This went from a good wave to like a life-changing wave.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith\u2019s incredible ride was captured by Chris Rogers using a GoPro attached to Smith\u2019s mouthpiece and a drone that followed Smith from above. \u201cI\u2019d like to think that everything I\u2019ve done my whole life led up to that moment,\u201d Smith said. Whether that is true or not, there is no doubt that Smith and his wave are well on their way to becoming something of a surfing legend and a new record for other surfers to try and beat.<\/p>\n