There aren’t too many secrets spots left on the planet these days, are there? Surely not, in this day and age of Instagram and Youtube. But Koa Rothman, who was in Tahiti for the Code Red 2 swell, mostly with his eyes on Teahupo’o, surfed a couple of waves at a few so-called “secret spots.” It was after the very, very big day — a day Koa said was the “craziest surf I’ve ever seen in my life” — and the waves, while still huge, were… not good.
At the beginning of the episode, he tells an interesting story. The name Code Red, as you likely know, comes from a rating when the waves are just a little too big. Police ensure that boaters aren’t put in danger by leaving the harbor when waves get to be a certain size, and, as the name implies, that size limit was hit during the recent swell.
“They had cops siting there not letting any of the boats out to come and film or do whatever because it was Red code,” Koa explained. “Out there at Chopes, there was a cop boat on the outside of where all the Jet Skis were, so they were just waiting to ticket people but they didn’t catch a single ski. They blocked everyone at the marina when they pulled up, but they tried to ticket everyone.”
