Barrel dreaming with Koa Smith

While the majority of us were slugging through the doldrums of a lackluster surf season earlier this summer, Koa Smith was globetrotting his way from Hawaii to Tahiti then to Africa all in the name of finding the best waves possible. Yep, he sure did find some gems! The goofy foot from Kauai stands at 5’10” 155lbs. and has been riding mostly 2x4's as all around slab slayers and step up’s with a couple of buzz guns to tackle the heavy days as well as a mr. buzz and buzzsaw to mix it up. Packing bags and boarding for a long journey to Africa included his Tahiti quiver of cork/bamboo 2x4’s at 6’0” and 6’3” as well as a Mr. Buzz with skatedeck concave and his trusty red 5'8". The board he’s scorching through rifling tubes on at skeleton bay in this video is a custom 2x4 built in legacy construction and ridden as a quad at 5’8” x 18.5” x 2.3”. I e-mailed Koa once back from Africa to see how the boards worked out for him as I knew there was going to be a memorable swell hitting during his trip. His response was classic:

Hey guys! Sorry I have been out of touch. Just got back to Cali last night from Africa. I can't even believe that wave. 2 mile long makeable barrel. Got the best waves of my life on my red 5'8 cork bamboo. It was going so fast that all my stickers fell off on the bottom! Hahah

Footage provided by lastnamefirst.tv Thanks to the Smith brothers and crew for traveling to far off places and GoPro for tiny and easy to use cameras that anyone can stuff in their mouth to collect footage of seemingly endless barrels with. Stretch boards is located in Santa Cruz, CA and manufactures individually custom made surfboards, kiteboards, paddleboards, wakesurfboards and towboards. Learn more about the 2x4 by visiting www.stretchboards.com or send a message to info@stretchboards.com to custom build your next board. Can't wait for a custom? Visit our webstore to check out stock 2x4 models available to ship direct to your door!