Koa Smith is as comfortable above the lip as he is in the barel. Photo: Koa Smith // YouTube
While Koa Smith is best known for his barrel riding prowess (look no further than the 8-barrel ride in Skeleton Bay that put him on the map), he’s also no slouch above the lip. In a recent last-minute strike mission, Smith went to Waco Surf in Texas to practice his aerial maneuvers in chlorinated surf.
The trip to Waco truly was a surprise endeavor, as Smith explained in his latest video, “Pretty wild, so yesterday at 6pm, I get a call from Jay [Alvarez] saying, ‘I got two sessions at Waco tomorrow and Friday morning. If you want to come, you have to let me know right now.’”
Koa was down in San Diego – closer than his usual Hawaiian stomping grounds, but still far enough that finding a last-minute flight to Texas was a frantic rush. He found a flight the next day that got him to the wave pool just in time for the session to begin – only for a storm to roll in and put the whole facility on a lightning hold.
While he waited for the danger to pass, Koa went on to describe exactly what made the venture so exciting. “[This is] the rare opportunity to have the same section over and over again,” he explained. “In surfing, you have a couple tricks in mind and you’re just constantly searching for that section. That section might only come once a month, or even a couple times a year. To be able to get that section repeatedly, over and over, allows you to discover what you can do, your potential, and also apply that creativity. It’s pretty wild.”
