When it gets big on the North Shore of Oahu, you can feel it in the air. The breeze feels electric. A low hum of excitement vibrates from the water and past the bike path, crossing the Kam Highway before bouncing off the mountains and back towards the beach. And in recent days, that low hum of excitement has felt pretty damn loud. A massive swell ran into the North Shore, and it was big enough to light up the outer reefs.
Koa Rothman isn’t one to miss out on those big days. Neither are the Florence brothers, or Eli Olson, Mason Barnes, or Kiron Jabour, all of whom were out there with Koa, scouring the outermost reaches of the island’s reefs for the biggest waves they could find. And find them they did.
GoPro angles are deceiving, and the size of the waves the crew was surfing isn’t easy to wrap your head around until you see them from the water angle. Surfing a 9’6″, Koa paddled into a handful of very, very big waves…