Koa Rothman battled Bali belly on a recent trip to India. Photo: Koa Rothman // YouTube
Recently, Koa Rothman has been giving us an unvarnished look at what a surf trip is really like. First up was a video from a recent trip to Indonesia, where the Hawaiian surfer decided to highlight moments that typically get overlooked in highlight reels, and now in his latest video, Rothman’s unfiltered perspective is back, this time showing the Pipeline local tackling a Balinese belly in between sessions in the Mentawai.
The video starts off optimistically, as any travel video should: “Somewhere, someday, it’s going to get better,” he tells the camera while sitting next to a swimming pool, with an idyllic backdrop and dark clouds hanging on the horizon, giving a sense of foreboding. [clouds] When the waves die down and the sun comes out, which it will be, we’ll be surfing somewhere.”
The results were not as expected.
The next video shows Rothman in a driving downpour, unable to surf. The next day, feeling ill, he reports from his bedroom. “It’s our second day on the island and me and Jack are both suffering from what I’d call Bali bellies and flu-like symptoms,” he tells the camera. But despite his deathly appearance, he remains an eternal surf optimist. “I heard there’s some good waves at Rifles around the corner so I’m going to grab my GoPro and film them for my vlog.” This idea, too, turns out to be little more than wishful thinking.
The journey to surfing was long, much longer than anyone expected, but they got there eventually. On the final day of the trip, Rothman and his friends finally reached Kandui and rode the waves that most surfers will never forget.
