He's a Hawaiian surfer who managed to surf a nearly mile-long wave that offered him the chance to conquer eight barrels in two minutes last month. Yup, you read that right.
And how did this 23-year-old manage to accomplish such a feat, you ask? By checking out weather charts to help him in his endless search for the perfect wave, of course. And thanks to his trusty GoPro and videographer Chris Rogers, there's footage of the event.
Smith told AP recently that his accomplishment at Namibia's Skeleton Bay was something that he'd been working toward since he first learned to ride at the age of 3.
"I'd like to think that everything I've done my whole life led up to that moment," he said. "When you're out there, you're really out there, and you're kind of on your own. But when you're out there, you're not thinking about it. You know, you're sacrificing your life for this."
"There was a point where I was at four barrels and I was already like, ‘This is amazing,'" Smith said. "It looked like the wave was over, but it formed again. I figured, the drone's there, I might as well stay on. And I was like, ‘Whoa!' This went from a good wave to like a life-changing wave."
In order to get to his perfect wave, Smith had a bit of a travel adventure that involved a two-day plane ride from Hawaii and a car ride through the desert that led him down a "sandy, unmarked roads" to the waterfront.
Ryan Runke, his publicist, stressed that Smith is the type of surfer who's ready to catch the next flight out for the perfect wave. "He can be in one place one day, and you call him, and he says, ‘I'm taking off for Africa tomorrow.'"
Although surfing will be making its grand debut at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo in less than two years, Smith doesn't exactly intend to be competing for that gold medal just yet, according to AP.
For those interested in heading to Skeleton Bay, beware: you'll have to battle seal colonies and some jackals for the turf.
