Dude, The Best Barrel Ever, Dude: Surfer Rides Wave For A Mile

Koa Smith caught the wave of a lifetime & luckily his GoPro & drone footage captured it, too. His instagram post only shows a small part of the ride. To give you an idea of how far he’s really going, keep glancing at the group of cars on the sand in the top left of the video below:

Via The Oregonian:

Perched precariously on his surfboard, the 23-year-old from Hawaii rode a wave off the coast of Namibia, on the western shore of Africa, for 120 straight seconds. He stayed upright for nearly a mile (1.5 kilometers) as he traveled through an unheard-of eight barrels — the hollow formed by the curve of the wave as it breaks over the rider’s head.

The locale of his greatest triumph is called Skeleton Bay — a mystic stretch of beach fronting the South Atlantic on the western coast of Africa.

Surfing by age 3, qualifying for tournaments since the age of 6 & gaining a Nike contract by 12, Smith is still gaining ground in the surfing world into his twenties. With the sport accepted into the 2020 Olympics for the first time ever, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him there. He clearly has a passion for the sport & competition.

“There’s something about performance pressure that allows you to dig deep and feel something you couldn’t really feel any other way,” said Smith.

As for his experience on the wave:

“There was a point where I was at four barrels and I was already like, ‘This is amazing.’ It looked like the wave was over, but it formed again. I figured, the drone’s there, I might as well stay on. And I was like, ‘Whoa!’ This went from a good wave to like a life-changing wave.”

I hope the rest of you also read that in ‘So Pitted’ guy’s voice, too.