Who needs a groundhog, when you have Koa Rothman? “This is definitely the first swell of winter, so winter is here,” he pronounced in his latest video. Though he had initially planned to leave Hawaii for California and then Europe, some innate meteorological sense kept Rothman from leaving the North Shore. As a result, he was on his home turf just in time to snap up those first waves of winter.
While the onset of Oahu’s prime surfing season will also inevitably bring with it an attendant swarm of pros, Rothman was able to revel for a few moments in relatively untouched surf. “You know what the best thing is about this time of year, with these early season swells? There’s no one around,” he continued. “If this was mid-winter, there’d be 40 guys out right now. Right now there’s only 10, and it’s pumping as big as Rockies can handle, and super rippable and fun.”
