This past summer I headed south with a handful of the Nike team riders to chase down a massive south swell. Among the group was young Kauai-an Koa Smith, a surfer known as much for his funny antics as is penchant for charging frighteningly large waves. Coming into the trip Koa had recently teamed up with soft top board company Catch Surf as a way to have fun and mess around on some different equipment. Looking for a chance to get a few tubes on the soft boards Koa brought a couple on our trip: no one was expecting what he would pull off. We showed up to an already pumping swell, and it was still building. By the peak of the swell the boys had all had their share of absolutely insane barrels, fearlessly charging through 15ft beach break bombs. I was shooting off a jet ski when all of a sudden I saw Koa appear out the back on one of the other skis holding his 8ft softie. It was the peak of the swell and the surf was massive, I wasn’t too sure what Koa was getting himself into, but next thing I knew the kid was stepping off into one of the biggest waves of the entire trip. He faded this thing backhand and manhandled the soft board into this beast of a pit. He didn’t make it out, and took one hell of a beating, but the kid charged and solidified himself as hellman and future legend. Good on ya Koa boy!