People often say that the best surfers have boring personalities because they spend all their time in the water. But with Nate Florence and Koa Rothman, you almost forget they’re surfers at all. Listening to their natural flow of conversation, from surfboard design to horrible day trades to the nostalgia of surf mags to training and motivation, you almost feel like you’re sitting at a table in someone else’s kitchen in between poker rounds, listening in while other people shoot the breeze.
The podcast is mellow: both surfers frequently laugh at their own mistakes, unafraid to admit to their learning experiences and sharing thoughtful advice with their audience. As such, they’ve seen great success so far. “I think we’re at 15,000 subscribers on YouTube today,” Koa said, smiling. Then Nate and Koa immediately laughed about a horrible session at Rockies where they told another surfer they got new mics. The guy was stoked.
Their latest release, episode 10, centers on the differences between Teahupo’o and Pipeline, epoxy vs. Poly board design, frustrating sessions, the learning curve required for new surf maneuvers (and how to get better faster), lifting, and “chicken neck.” And whether you surf every day or you’ve never surfed before, there’s something to gain for everyone from listening to these two talk about the sport. The episode is littered with little philosophical insights, such as the juxtaposition of doing an activity (surfing) that is so active, yet harmful to your body: what do you lose, what do you gain?
The two talk about wipeouts: Nate points to a scene from the movie Surf’s Up to explain the feeling of eating it after dropping into a wave. “It’s such a crazy sport, having to deal with nature,” Koa comments, to which Nate responds, “Yeah, it’s dope.” Ultimately, Nate and Koa decide surfing is “the best thing in the world”: it’s extremely meditative, and there’s no better feeling in the world than getting blown out of a barrel. And they would know.
