Pipeline is not the safest wave in the whole world. It can get very big. It’s relatively shallow. It’s crowded. And even the best of the best get worked sometimes. Case in point, Koa Rothman.
The video above covers a series of hectic days that left Koa looking a little dejected. “Just having one of those days,” he said from the sand with a head full of seawater. “Bad wave selection, bad surfing… just had to come in and reassess for a second… You know that saying ‘you gotta pay to play? Definitely paying.'”
But the best don’t become the best because they give up easily, and Koa woke up the next day ready for redemption. But Pipeline wasn’t going to let him off that easy, and the wipeout that followed was one for the record books. It comes at the 13:15 mark, for those who want to skip right to it. “This was one of the most hectic days of my life,” he wrote. “I literally almost died surfing Pipeline!”
