North County waves are fun. You go to your favorite break, you paddle hard, ‘fight’ a crowd, get up, ride a few seconds, kick-out, rinse, repeat. Now imagine…
One Wave, Eight Barrels, 120 seconds…
To say Koa Smith was at the right place at the right time is perfectly accurate.
To say he got lucky — that’s missing the point.
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 tube formed by the curve of the wave as it breaks over the rider’s head.
Almost as amazing — Smith and videographer Chris Rogers filmed the entire ride using both a drone that hovered overhead, and a GoPro attached to a mouthpiece that Smith wore while he rode.
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.
Read more on surfing by By Eddie Pells AP National Writer