Koa Smith Shows What It’s Actually Like to Surf the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout [Video]

The Backdoor Shootout is a unique event in the world of surfing. Though it has carved itself out as a perennial mainstay in the sport’s yearly calendar, one in which the biggest names in surfing regularly compete, it has still managed to retain a paradoxical air of outsider status.

Part of that is due to the competition’s pedigree — it’s an event sponsored by a surf gang-cum-clothing brand, started by its notorious co-founder (whose son actually won the event this year, fittingly enough). The other half is the Backdoor Shootout’s idiosyncratic format, in which eight teams of surfers compete in a non-elimination event.

But enough of the backstory. What’s it actually like to surf in the Shootout? For a closer look, we go to North Shore freesurfer and tube hunter Koa Smith, who competed in the event on the team A New Earth Project, along with Bethany Hamilton…