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SURFER Magazine

Big Wave Surfer Koa Rothman is Reborn During Massive Black Friday Swell

Jade Eckardt
2 min read

Footage of Hawaii's big wave crew enduring the Black Friday swell is kinda like Thanksgiving leftovers.

You've had plenty by now, but it's so good, you keep coming back for more.

So far, we've feasted on footage of wipeouts on razor-sharp rocks at Shark's Cove, Nathan Florence paddling into enormous bombs, Kai Lenny towing into enormous bombs, and Jamie O'Brien surfing "psycho" Pipeline. But there's more. Koa Smith and Mason Ho scored huge Waimea Bay.

In his latest vog that dropped today, Koa Rothman is back with more footage from the historic swell.

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He captioned the edit above:

"Giant barrels and huge wipeouts at Outer Reef"

The edit kicks off with Rothman heading to surf at 5 a.m. It's still dark, but Kamehameha Highway on the North Shore is covered in sand washed up by the huge waves.

While driving, he says:

"The waves are massive and we are headed out to outer reefs here on Oahu."

He later explains that he hasn't surfed big waves since he hurt his back a couple of years ago and got spinal surgery.

He says:

"So, I'm making my great return from years ago. And, I haven't surfed a big wave since the Eddie so, after today I can call myself, yet again, a big wave surfer."

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From there, Rothman serves up some seriously epic footage of beautiful, pretty much perfect, big waves with some POV too.

At the end of a "long day with the squad," it's broken boards, busted leash plugs, and a "good time with the boys."

"Everyone survived."

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