Koa - To hear your expert POV/opinion on these 5 waves is sincerely invaluable! Further emphasizes the notion of paddle fitness and breath hold survival. Love these educational videos that expresses your personality! Well done!

Your descriptions on what's underneath these waves while watching was heart thumping,thank you.

On small days I been practicing for long hold-downs by not immediately taking a breath after surfacing, but waiting till the next wave washes over me, so a simulated 2-wave hold-down. Thanks for this video!😊

Thank you, Koa…a lot of good information about those breaks. I’m fascinated by how many factors there are in determining the danger of an area and how they all can combine differently on different days and sizes and swell direction and sea life, bottom contour and makeup, and you nailed the experience of rough waters and nicely broke down the experience of surfing tough breaks near shallow reefs and rocks, which for me was mostly my local breaks East O’ahu breaks like Chinawalls, but when also on days we had a car, Pipes especially and Makaha are some faves (partly because of the fun of the backwash), but you did a really nice job of the detail about Pipes, and that current, and the lineup…astounding. So that analysis, the only one I really know of your 5, was right on, which gives me great confidence about your other 4, which is a fascinating gift for me with my deep love of oceanography in general, so thanks so much for that. A really nice breakdown. Mahalo fo’ dat.

Go to the sw of western Australia and surf the Right on a 6m swell and north wind. Hands down up there with the most heaviest wave in the world. Even if there was a major city on the coast with hospitals etc it is still so dangerous with its size and force, shallow reef, sharks. For those that don't know, the Right is extremely isolated and if something went wrong you would be air lifted to Royal Perth hospital some hours away.

Awesome one Koa - love to hear your expertise about these world class big waves 🎉

Such a detailed, eloquent description of Pipe. I had no idea. Gives me even more admiration for the likes of Michael Ho and others who have mastered the place.

Great job Koa!! Your list is an excellent one. Very well thought out and hard to argue with your choices! By all means it would be great to see more episodes like this one. I’m all for it 100%!!! Please do more of this type of awesome subject matter.

Awesome breakdown Koa! Thanks for taking the time to rank the waves. Those of us who have tried to bodysurf the country (Log Cabins), learn very fast about the currents and deadly reefs. So dangerous...back to Sandy's!

Went to pipe once on vacation on an average winter day, maybe 8-10ft (californian) and got a couple of short barrels was feeling good. About to catch a wave in as the crowd was picking up and it must've been that backwash because I was vaulted, last thing I saw was everything upsidown as I did a frontflip in the barrel. Did about 3 cartwheels instantly and then just pinned on the bottom water rushing downwards for like 3 seconds. Came up, went to shore and vomited out of my eyeballs. Never surfed pipe since.

The picture behind your head of you surfing is amazing...crazy huge wave Koa!!

Great analysis Koa! Love your channel, keep up the great work!!

love these vids!! can you do each one seperately with more of your footage and knowledge? thanks super valuable knowledge and breakdown

great vid Koa thanks for sharing your knowledge

Thanks. I'm an old San Diego surfer,but I've not surfed since the 1960s. Still love watching and I'm amazed at what is done today.

That was a great summarisation of reasons Koa & yourself having personal experiences at each wave provides an awesome appraisal of risk 🤙

Yes keep these kind coming , appreciate... I think there could easily be other super dangerous waves, especially those that have shallow reefs and cause the waves to fold over each other where the only rideable section is a 6ft part at the bottom of the wave and with 15 to 20 feet of water above you creating another 2 waves, footage from those breaks can be next level surprising that people survive those wipe outs. But yeah really appreciate your take on these 5 spots, it's very interesting for surfers like us who will never ride any of them 😂 Bless

Great list and video! Would have love to hear your take on Shipsterns

Well done! I was lucky to grow up with Mavs in my backyard, very heavy, and lots of things to deal with as you mention. Great job on the vid!

Love this vlogs information thanks Koa. Excellent job

Great video!! Would love to see your top 10 funnest waves you've surfed and why

Cool videos mate, like the day by day vlog and this one about your faves waves

Definitely love the informational videos 👏 then again, always stoked when there’s a new vlog

Awesome Koa! Really enjoyed the video and would love to hear more about the other waves you mentioned at the end of the video - maybe part 2 next week?

Great video! Your experienced analysis makes this truly watching. Hope you can do some more like it.

Love this style video! So great, getting the insight of what it's like to surf these waves from someone who is indeed surfing them.

Outstanding! Love it. Well spoken. Great description from someone who knows. Tnx

Great video Koa.. not an easy thing to do they’re all frightening waves with serious consequences. I lived on the North Shore 1970 for a few years when I got there in January, a big swell, tore up most of the houses. They were just starting to build the first hotel Del Webbs hotel. I recall nobody wanted it pipe and those days was also the same scary place at that time Lopez made it look like an easy ride. Unbelievable where guys like you have taken surfing. Blessings

Loved this video Koa having someone that can speak on experience with these insane waves gives us a perspective you can’t see from a photo/videos 💯

For those who are unaware I'm going to explain nazaree in a way that Koa either chose not to or maybe just simply is unaware of. Nazaree is unique because of a offshore deep water canyon that not only comes to a pinch point near off the cliff but it also significantly rises in elevation to get incredibly shallow comparative to its offshore depths of well over a thousand feet. This causes those deep water ocean swells in the North Atlantic to increase in speed significantly and up to between 60 to 85 miles an hour at times. But there's also one other part to it. Because of this canyon it's splits the swell in two and then focuses it right back together right off the cliff which causes that massive wedge effect that we see at Nazareth and in places like Newport Beach and California at the wedge. Nazaree is not only dangerous because of its size which it can produce wave faces upwards of around 110 to 115 ft at times But again as Koa mentioned the cliffs which are razor sharp with Jagged rocks as well as underwater caverns. He also touched on the inside currents. Because of the size and speed of the wave in the colliding currents from different angles This creates a condition which is unique to nearly every other place on Earth because it creates a massive inside zone of an oxygenated water column that is anywhere between four to 8 ft deep at times and spreads over the course of a 10 to 15 acre wide window. This makes it impossible for people to be able to swim to the surface because it completely upsets your typical degree of buoyancy in the ocean and as Koa touched on a bit It makes it incredibly difficult for jet skis to properly function. That is why I kind of disagree with Koa's assessment on placing it at number 5. That is entirely dependent upon the conditions. Nazaree on a relatively above average big day would register somewhere between 5 and 10 on the most dangerous waves on Earth scale. But when Nazarees at its max well that a whole other other Beast which no wave on Earth compares to and it's not even close.

Long time fan and subscriber here, and long time Celsius drinker(thanks to you!)..My fave flavor is Lemon Lime and Passion Fruit Mango. This video was so interesting, and I couldn't imagine the massiveness or danger of these waves. WOW!!!!! Awesome video!

Great vid, did you ever check out Cyclops in South Australia? That place for me looks like the most dangerous wave due to how remote and heavy/shark invested that ocean is.

Great discussion, thanks for sharing,keep them coming, maybe you can do the same per region, that way you can cover Puerto Escondido and others in Aus.

Great job Koa tuff choices well done 🤙🏼

Super interesting! Thanks Koa

Great job bro and I love these videos!🤙

Cool video. Great to hear how Pipe compares to other places in the world. Sad what's happened there over the decades too with crowds etc. And yeah, as a teenager I washed up at Backdoor after going over the falls. I was very lucky that day. I like how you point out it's more than just the size of the wave that makes it dangerous. If you don't get KO'd, and can swim, you can survive a lot, or not. Full respect for the waves you've surfed.

Well done, man! Thanks for sharing!

Admire your courage and athleticism….but you guys are absolutely nuts! I have been dribbled across the bottom and slammed dunked by small waves. I can’t even imagine what you’re doing out there. The first time I watched big wave surfing I thought it was the most amazingly terrifying sport possible. The only immediate comparison I can think of is those skiers who helicopter up to those vertical chutes in Alaska and ride the avalanches down. It’s hard to watch sometimes. Love your channel and laugh a lot when you and Nathan do your You Tube channel!

Cool video bud🤙Puerto Escondido is also pretty gnarly huh? 🌊

Thanks for the great content brah

Loved this video. I hope you make more videos like this. Maybe a top 5 most deadly shorebreaks

Great video Koa. I'm not a surfer and the ocean scares me. And yeah you're qualified to judge these places having surfed them. You, and surfers like you are very brave people imho. Stay safe Sir.

Incredibly well explained from expert personal experience. This video is hard to fault !!

Great video. I would like to hear your opinion of Puerto. That wave, on a huge day, is freighting.

Thanks, enjoyed the video and your expertise

really good video. appreciate you sharing your insight

One of my favourite videos from you, Koa. Love your content, Brah. Longtime subscriber here. Chopes (Teahupo'o) would be my #1, because the water is so shallow and the reef is so alive and coral-ridden. You wipe out there you are falling out razor blades. Mavs is #2 because the water is always so damn cold and the waves are so unpredictable and steep. Oh and plus the paddle outs are do damn looooooooooooong. Pipe is further up on my list, I think but the greatest Tahitian surfers have died there as well which I attribute to just bad luck and not the dangerousness of the wave or break. And no, the reef you fall on at Pipe is not as gnarly as Chopes reef. As for backwash? You got Waimea and Makaha for that, Dude.

This is fire 💥 thoroughly enjoyed it ❤ Ohana 👊🏽😎🤙🏽

I wouldn't mind watching more content like this. It is cool to hear your opinion considering you've surfed all these places

Nice video! you should check out el Gringo in Arica Chile ... pretty gnarly wave as well

Keep these kinds videos coming. Cool to see you make these type of videos as you are the man. Remember seeing the video of riding xxxl Tahiti at like 16🤯

Really interesting, especially with the detail on the bottom contours, shape of the reef and currents. I must admit I was a bit surprised at #1. I thought it would be Tahiti. I could easily rename this as ‘5 waves I am never ever going to surf!’

Great video , appreciate you bruh

Like the new location. Even more I liked the first 7 seconds of the video hitting play/pause/play/pause 😂. Always entertaining and a pleasure to ride along. Thanks, and be well.

Excelent vídeo koa ... from Argentina 👍👍

Great video, need more of this

Great video mate! What about Shipsterns bluff here in Tasmania? That's a grinder.

Most information I've ever heard about those waves, thanks, john

Thanks for sharing. All those waves so intense! 🫣

Great video, good to see your perspective…!!!

Brah I’m proud for you Keep doing what you do! Some peeps can’t handle the mellow

Wow, that was really enlightening. I liked how you took the time to really describe it, like- "landing on razors" really drove the point home for a novice like me, super interesting. I kept wondering if Shipsterns was going to be 1st lol. You make Pipeline look easy. Thanks so much Koa.

Thank you for the list and the reasons for your choices. Two notable exclusions: The Right and ShipSterns.

Great video Koa

Love to see that Puerto was close to making the list, especially with a big swell on the horizon!

Great vid. Im sure many have their own scary experiences. My scariest was a 3 wave hold down at cronulla pt 20ft. I had to push my ribs to get my lungs going when i finally came up. I had a reef suck dry on take off 1 time at 10ft but fortunately made the drop

Well done. A most humble and talented young man. World class talent and big wave maestro.

Love these style of vids

Fully agree on Pipe because of the unpredictability, it's just shifty enough to disrupt timing and the shallowness and closeness to the beach make no margin for error. It may not look to people as physically impressive of some of those other waves until you actually go out there and stare it in the face. It hurls like no tomorrow, pure raw violence. And then the crowd, what are you people possibly thinking, making yourself a hazard at the world's most dangerous break for selfish and immature reasons? I've surfed practically everywhere on Oahu for years and years but leave Pipe to those who have had the dedication and love to make it their break day in and day out, the takeoff zone is narrow and don't clutter it.

Thanks mate. I'm never going to surf these waves, but like all surfers I have great curiosity about them. It was great to get your first hand experience. I also like how YOU made your own call on the Top 5 which I am sure is debatable, but you stuck to your guns!

We need a top 20 :) ... Indo, Australia (box etc)... or hardest shore breaks (Ocean Beach CA? etc.)

Your videos are great.. full of interesting content insights . .. thanks and keep safe!

I don't know if Nazaré is the 1st or 5th most dangerous wave in the world, because it doesn't have sharks, but I'm sure it's by far the biggest and fastest wave in the world.

Great vid! Cheers

Great episode.

Those fresh Teahupoo angles from the drone up across the channel looking East were insane as were the land / lagoon angles . Nice to see something new and different . P.S. there is a couple of waves North of the Golden Gate that may bump Mavs back a notch on your most dangerous waves list. One is a Hollow and huge.

I like it Koa.. great video, so is filming while surfing in the water. Lineup Politics pecking order ect. all great content.

Instant like...nice work

drank my first ever Celcius yesterday before a session at Pleasure Point, solely because you've been pushing it to my brain for months now

How would you compare these to some of the nutty Australian waves like The Right, Shipsterns, etc.? Just curious to hear your perspective on those ones, as I'm just an armchair surfer :D (My wife used to surf a lot (from Hawaii) but I grew up in Seattle, so not really the greatest surf spot. :) Oh, and very nice video!

loved it great to hear your view bra

Cool one Koa thanks

Good job bra. Make some more. Stay safe. Aloha.😎🤙

Great video - thank you.

0.20..love that picture in the background...what a shot

You know what your sponsers would love i reckon, top 5 best boards, wetsuits etc for specific waves and water conditions

I really enjoyed your video

Well done Koa 🤘

Great video!!!

Fantastic content presented by a unique expert who has ridden the heaviest waves in the world. Awesome.

It is awesome to hear it from you an experience veteran! Respect ✊

Would love u to do a top 5 of your best ride's and talk through your POV 😊

Reall enjoyed this video , great content, humble Guy , yeh thumbs-up 👍. Btw . Can I borrow one of your Pyzel Boards for the winter 😅 Just kidding

Great video Koa . But how is Puerto Escondido Zicatela not a top 5 ?

Thanks man. Great video.

Koa - Another great video… Those 5 are ridiculous, dangerous waves and people need to really decide if they have the skill to paddle out to any wave.. But as you show us, many of them shouldn’t ever be there… Aloha

Teahupo'o is such a GORGEOUS wave😍

Great analogy. Of course your list would be selective due to your own situations at each one. Someone could argue your list because they got a beatdown at some other break. All 5 on your list, plus the added ones at the end are worthy of recognition. Thanks for sharing your insight.

Cheers to you bro. Much respect and I pray you get 1 million subs by 2025