{"id":90644,"date":"2020-11-08T17:27:00","date_gmt":"2020-11-09T01:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/?p=90644"},"modified":"2022-07-10T21:10:27","modified_gmt":"2022-07-11T04:10:27","slug":"mason-barnes-in-conversation-with-koa-rothman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/mason-barnes-in-conversation-with-koa-rothman\/","title":{"rendered":"Mason Barnes in Conversation with Koa Rothman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KOA: Okay, me and Mason are doing an interview for Juice<\/em> and while we\u2019re talking to each other, we\u2019re going to have a couple of questions for each other. It\u2019s going to be great. I go first. It\u2019s an actual            question. It\u2019s not funny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: I\u2019m scared. [Laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: [Laughs] No. It\u2019s real. I\u2019ve been really curious and I don\u2019t know why I haven\u2019t asked you this, because I stay with you every time I come here to California. I come from a place where big waves and big wave surfing is a thing. You come from a place in North Carolina where I don\u2019t hear about big wave surfing, so how did you get into it? I got into it because my family and I live right in front of a big wave. How did you get into it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Well, there are no big waves in North Carolina, but there are great waves. There are world class waves. There are hollow waves, fun waves, but no big waves. The first big wave I ever surfed was in Hawaii when I was 14. That\u2019s how I got into it, just going there every year. It would be a big gap in between trips, where I wasn\u2019t getting to surf big waves. As I started to like it more, I would spend more time in Hawaii. That was the entry point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: So we were both in Hawaii when we got into big wave surfing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Yeah. It\u2019s still my favorite place to surf big waves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Mine too. You don\u2019t need a thick wetsuit. All you need is your trunks, your pull vest, your board and your balls. Can\u2019t forget those. That\u2019s all you need and wax. You need a lot of wax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Exactly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Okay. In North Carolina, it gets super cold when the waves get good. Was there ever a time where you didn\u2019t want to be a surfer because of the cold water?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: No. Never.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Because I jumped in the water here in Venice today and I wouldn\u2019t be a surfer if it was this cold all the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Well, it\u2019s all relative. Here, I was freezing today because we weren\u2019t prepared to be cold. There you\u2019re ready to be cold, so you have everything you need to not be cold, so you\u2019re not cold. On the coldest day of the year, the water is in the high 30s, and the air is like 20 degrees. You\u2019re so prepared with these thick wetsuits that you\u2019re sweating. I was more cold wearing a 2mm in Venice today than I am in the middle of winter in North Carolina. I get more cold in Hawaii, honestly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
MASON HYCE BARNES AT WAIMEA. PHOTO \u00a9 CHRISTA FUNK<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

KOA: I get cold in Hawaii too. No one believes me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: That\u2019s just because it\u2019s Hawaii and you expect to be warm and it\u2019s not that warm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Yeah. In the winter, it gets chilly, especially when the north winds roll through. That water gets cold. Okay, those are my two questions for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Those are good questions. I was very curious what those were going to be. [Laughs] <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: No. They were real. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Where is your favorite big wave?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: My favorite big wave is Himalayas in front of where you live in Hawaii because it\u2019s the best left ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: That\u2019s a good call. That wave is insane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: We go to so many big waves that are just rights. The best left there is, I think, that I\u2019ve seen footage of, is out there, besides Cloudbreak. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: I remember the first clip I ever saw out there was you. That was a long time ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Yeah. That was my first big wave session ever. I know which wave you\u2019re talking about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: It was a bomb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: I got sponsored by Quiksilver from that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: You were in the barrel. It was crazy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: It was like a pocket ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: That was before I ever surfed any outer reefs. I was like, \u201cThat was crazy!\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: That was before there were pull vests. I got that wave and I think I was 17 years old and we were all talking and the wave pulls you in a little bit and we weren\u2019t paying attention. Next thing you know, here\u2019s this giant set. It was the first time, to this day, and the only time, that we all dove underwater and you could hear everyone\u2019s leashes and boards   breaking. I came up and everyone that got caught  inside, in the entire line up, needed a rescue. It was like 15 people. My leash broke. I was so beyond scared. It was the most scared I\u2019ve ever been in my life. Luckily, I was with Reef McIntosh and he could tell that I was dying. I was so scared I couldn\u2019t get a breath. He said, \u201cBro, just relax.\u201d I said, \u201cOkay, I\u2019m trying.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Was this after you came up?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Yeah. It was like a five wave set. It was my first actual beating on a big wave. It was intense. I had a skinny little float vest because I was a grom. Everyone else was just trunking it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: That\u2019s crazy to think about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: That\u2019s why it\u2019s one of my favorite waves too because you can just trunk it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Those pull vests changed the game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: They have saved a lot of lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Yeah. They\u2019re much more comfortable too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: You have like six in your closet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: I only use one. [Laughs] If anyone needs an extra one, talk to this guy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I started off knowing nothing about big waves. I barely knew they existed. I was just surfing knee to waist high little chop on the East Coast. I got very fortunate and I met Garrett McNamara when I was 14 and he took me and my dad towing in. It was small waves, but they were big waves for me. Looking back now, they were tiny. Just getting the feel of riding a tow board and whipping into waves that are far off the beach, it hooked me. From then on, I just wanted more and more bigger waves.<\/strong>” \u2013 MASON BARNES<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: How did you guys meet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Mason just told me a story the other day. His dad and my dad are good friends. I didn\u2019t know. He just told me the first time we met, he came over with his dad to our house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Nah. I came over by myself to look at Da Hui product. I was in your living room with your dad and you walked downstairs. I don\u2019t even think we talked. You were just like, \u201cWhat is this kid doing with my dad?\u201d That was the look I got. I didn\u2019t actually meet you for another two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Then we did a couple of trips together and became really good friends. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: What was the first trip you did together?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: It was maybe Africa. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: That was the best trip ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: When you talk about the longest travel, that was it. 48 hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Best waves ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Then we went to Fiji. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Actually, Fiji was before Africa. We went from Fiji to South Africa and the rest is history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Now I basically live here with Mason in Venice, California. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: He\u2019s a Venice local. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Yeah. It\u2019s sick. It\u2019s a great place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
KOA ROTHMAN AND MASON BARNES IN VENICE BEACH, CALIFORNIA – PHOTO \u00a9 DAN LEVY<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: Talk about the vibes in different places when you go traveling to surf? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: You know what I find super funny is that you can go to some perfect waves on the planet and no one is out. It\u2019s hard to find, but there is. Then I come to Venice or I go to Rocky Point on the North Shore and I\u2019m getting attacked for any shitty little wave that comes through. I can\u2019t even get a wave. I\u2019m like, \u201cHow can it be like this really?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Where I\u2019m from, in Wilmington, North Carolina, it\u2019s the most crowded beach to surf on the planet. There\u2019s this island called Masonboro and, on a weekend, if the waves are good, there will be 400 people out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: That\u2019s like Snapper Rocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: It\u2019s shoulder to shoulder. It\u2019s worse because it\u2019s not a point break. They\u2019re all condensed. It\u2019s crazy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: So you never get a wave by yourself?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: I mean, you do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: What about when it\u2019s good? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: When it\u2019s good, it\u2019s usually cold and it takes a lot more effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: Isn\u2019t there a shark channel over to Masonboro?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Oh yeah. You have to paddle there over a big inlet and there are a lot of sharks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Great whites?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: No. It\u2019s hammerheads, so it\u2019s not that bad. Supposedly they can\u2019t really bite you, but if they want to bite you, they\u2019re going to get you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Are there great whites? That\u2019s a stupid question. There would be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Well, I didn\u2019t really know there were great whites there, but there are great whites everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: Have you ever had any close encounters?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: I\u2019ve been too close where it got us out of the water. Mason, you weren\u2019t on this trip. We were in South Australia and we had just got to this sick little wave and we got out and everyone else went in. We got lucky and it was me and three people out. It was this perfect wave and we were stoked. It was firing. The next thing we know, we see a giant great white half a football field out from us completely breach. It was attacking something, but it missed. It was completely out of the water and we all looked at each other like, \u201cHoly fuck!\u201d We just all scratched it. It was so scary. That thing was huge. In that town, there are great white sculptures everywhere, like this is a real size great white never caught before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: That\u2019s so sketchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Have you ever seen a shark in Hawaii?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: I had the worst experience of my life in Hawaii. I was surfing Hammerheads and my leash broke. The wave is probably a mile out and I had to swim all the way in and it\u2019s the longest swim ever. I was about halfway in after about 15 minutes of swimming and a shark just starts eating a fish or something right next to me. It was almost hitting me. I had no one around and no board. I was just floating there. I didn\u2019t know what to do. I just put my head down and kept swimming. Luckily, it never bugged me, but I have never felt so hopeless in my entire life. It was the worst. I got to the beach and I was literally kissing the sand. I was so scared for the rest of that swim. I was just looking behind me, feeling like this thing was following me. It must have got what it wanted. It was chowing down next to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: That\u2019s a heart attack right there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: I was so scared. Now every time I surf there, that\u2019s all I think about. I don\u2019t usually surf there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: You do surf the sharkiest place in Hawaii. I don\u2019t surf there because it\u2019s so sharky. I stick to the North Shore with the crowds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Yeah. It\u2019s scary. It\u2019s rare that I go there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“All I wanted to do was surf big waves. Where I grew up, in front of my house is Phantoms, so I grew up watching my brother and his friends surf big waves constantly. When I was 6 to 10, every time they went out, I wanted to go with them. They were like, \u201cNo, you\u2019re not ready. You\u2019re nowhere near ready.\u201d I finally got a tow board when I was 14 years old and they took me on this thing and I got a couple of waves. That was my dream come true at the time. That was when towing was the thing.”  <\/strong>\u2013 KOA ROTHMAN<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: What is your daily like life these days?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: We eat six times a day and drink coffee about three times a day and we\u2019ll go to the gym and we\u2019ll surf. We might party. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: I shit a lot. I haven\u2019t met somebody who shits a lot before and this kid shits just as much as me. [Laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: We run out of so much toilet paper. We go through like six rolls a week. Now I\u2019m having sewage problems at my house. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s from us shitting too much or it\u2019s just a coincidence. [Laughs]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: Do you guys eat healthy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: I do my best to eat healthy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: We eat at Erewhon a lot and they make unhealthy food \u201chealthy.\u201d I\u2019m not sure if it is healthy, but it tastes great. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: I\u2019m beginning to think it might not be healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: I think that\u2019s why we\u2019re going to the bathroom so much. It\u2019s close, so we go there all the time, breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, coffee\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: What was it like growing up in Hawaii, Koa?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: It was perfect. It\u2019s a great place to grow up. It\u2019s easy to get sucked into bad things, like a lot of people do, so I\u2019m lucky I didn\u2019t get sucked into it. I found other things to do. It\u2019s great. I can\u2019t complain. I\u2019ve been all over the world in the past few years and I still have not found a place better than Hawaii, all around, the food, the people, the waves and the culture. It\u2019s not third world. You can drink the water and people aren\u2019t getting shot in the streets. You\u2019re not taking a boat ride way out in some lagoon or some crazy place. The weather is the perfect temperature too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: Mason, your dad is a skater and a surfer. Koa, your dad and your brother surf. Did you feel pressure to surf? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: I had a lot of pressure to become a surfer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: He probably felt a lot of pressure because he\u2019s got his dad and brother. I grew up in the skateboarding world, so they didn\u2019t have expectations for me to surf. I started at a young age and had a lot of support. I feel more pressure now than I did then, because I gotta make it happen now. If I don\u2019t, I\u2019m gonna have to find something else to do, so I\u2019m trying as hard as I can to make it happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I grew up in the skateboarding world, so they didn\u2019t have expectations for me to surf. I started at a young age and had a lot of support. I feel more pressure now than I did then, because I gotta make it happen now. If I don\u2019t, I\u2019m gonna have to find something else to do, so I\u2019m trying as hard as I can to make it happen.” \u2013 MASON BARNES <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

KOA: You\u2019re doing a great job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Thank you. You are too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: You both are. You\u2019re your own people. You have your own careers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: I look up to everything that Koa has done on the marketing side of surfing. Not many people capitalize on everything else. They do the surfing, but they don\u2019t back it up outside of that. What he\u2019s doing is so valuable and so rare, and it\u2019s going to take him to another level. It\u2019s going to put surfing on a worldwide map, opposed to that niche little surf industry. That\u2019s what the sport needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Thanks. That\u2019s why I tell you to start your thing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: I\u2019m trying. I\u2019m trying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: For you guys to do your own thing, it\u2019s really awesome. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Yeah. It\u2019s nice. I don\u2019t need anything to get me publicity now. I just put out a video on my channel and it\u2019s seen by people. The numbers are there and the companies see that. That\u2019s where the industry is going to go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: That\u2019s perfect. I think you started a new era of everything. I\u2019ve been talking to sponsors and all they want me to do is something like you\u2019re doing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: Uh oh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: [Laughs] Yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: It won\u2019t ever be a competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: No. I tell all of my friends to do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: It\u2019s access. It\u2019s cool. When I watch your films, I call them films because they\u2019re cinematic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Thank you. I like to look at them as films too. I\u2019m sure Jack does too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: You\u2019re giving people access and then you\u2019re showing them larger than life surfing footage. It\u2019s cinematic and insane and then it\u2019s right back to normal. It\u2019s hard to do that with skateboarding because it\u2019s hard to film skateboarding cinematically because it just looks weird. Surfing is so majestic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Yeah. You can just film waves in slow motion or even fast and put that up. I just want to produce good stuff that people are psyched on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: What\u2019s your favorite thing to do besides surfing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Training. Working out. Koa showed me a new work out the other day that pushed me to the limit. I\u2019ve never had anything put me on the ground so quick. It\u2019s pretty fun trying to do stuff like that and pushing each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: What kind of work out was it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: It\u2019s with a rowing machine and burpees. It\u2019s basically a test of how long you can go and how fast you can get the calories and the amount of burpees. It only stops when you fail to get that amount.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: You only last about seven minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: So you row and then do a burpee?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Yeah. You dictate it by calories. You row and try to get ten calories in one minute. You start the clock and then you have to get the calories in one minute and then you jump off and then, in minute two, you start doing ten burpees. You complete that in a minute, which is easy. Then you get back on the rower and you\u2019ve got to get 12 calories, which is quite a few pulls. You only have a minute to finish that too. Then you jump on the ground and do 12 burpees for a minute. You keep doing that as far as you can get. We made it to 16. The goal is to get 20. It\u2019s only 10 minutes if you can get 20. It\u2019s a deadly work out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: It\u2019s torture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: How important is conditioning for you guys?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You have to be in shape to deal with some of the waves we\u2019re dealing with.” \u2013 KOA ROTHMAN<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

KOA: It\u2019s super important. You have to be in shape to deal with some of the waves we\u2019re dealing with. Oh, we did a trip to Mavs and we did a trip to Hawaii for Waimea. We did more trips than I thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: There may be another snowboarding trip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Yeah. We did do a snowboarding trip. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Let\u2019s do that again. That was so fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: So you guys will ride any type of board?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Yeah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Except a skateboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: You don\u2019t skate, Koa?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: No. I used to be super into skating. Last time I skated, I broke my foot and I couldn\u2019t surf for a while. I was skating barefoot. That was when I was like 14, but I\u2019ll go skate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: That\u2019s what we\u2019re doing. We\u2019re getting him on a skateboard. Wait. Jack says no. Bad idea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: Mason, you grew up skating more than surfing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Yeah. I started off skating. I haven\u2019t touched a skateboard in about six months though, unfortunately. I want to go skate. I\u2019ve been craving to go skate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: So you kill it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: Mason is good. I\u2019ve skated with Mason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Can you do a kickflip?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: I can, but I don\u2019t do flip tricks really. My rule now is, if I go to the skatepark, I don\u2019t let my wheels leave the ground. Down in Venice, all those guys are doing crazy stuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: Yeah. It\u2019s fun to just cruise around the snake run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: That thing is fun. It\u2019s like a wave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: Yeah. It wasn\u2019t even in the original plan of the park. Right before they started building, Jesse Martinez was like, \u201cWe need a snake run.\u201d He just changed the plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: That was a great addition because that thing is so sick. It\u2019s fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: Yeah. Do you want to put your sponsors out there? Who do you guys ride for?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: I gotta shout out Quiksilver, Weedmaps, Ethika, Dakine and Da Hui. I love you guys. You make it all possible. And This Is Livin\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: This is Livin\u2019 is your company, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Yeah. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: What about you, Mason?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Billabong, Oakley, Ocean & Earth, Muzik Headphones and Isurus Wetsuits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: What gave you the idea to start your brand, Koa?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: My fans wanted it. They were saying, \u201cWe want merch.\u201d At first, I thought I couldn\u2019t. I wanted to do it right and make clothing, so I had to ask Quiksilver. I\u2019m like, \u201cHey, they\u2019re asking for it. Do you want to do a collab with This is Livin\u2019 and Quiksilver Edition?\u201d They were like, \u201cYou can do it yourself. You can make t-shirts.\u201d I was like, \u201cYeah. Okay. Done.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: What made you start This Is Livin\u2019?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: That\u2019s an interesting question. I started going heavy on the selfies on Instagram. [Laughs] Okay, I\u2019m not kidding. This is completely honest. I had a break up and there was nothing on Instagram to see what I looked like, so I started posting selfies and people loved the selfies much more than the lifestyle stuff. I was doubling up on the surfing and selfies and I was searching around for different platforms and YouTube actually pays you. It\u2019s not like Instagram where it\u2019s just a bunch of likes. On YouTube, you can actually get paid. I was like, \u201cMaybe I should start a YouTube channel.\u201d Then I started doing some               research on athlete\u2019s YouTube channels and there was nothing that portrays real surfing, besides Jamie\u2019s. I had a couple of conversations with Jamie and he was like, \u201cJust do it. You need to push out content.\u201d I wanted to give people an in-depth look into a real pro surfer\u2019s life and what it is, so I started doing weekly episodes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was like, \u201cMaybe I should start a YouTube channel.\u201d Then I started doing some research on athlete\u2019s YouTube channels and there was nothing that portrays real surfing, besides Jamie\u2019s. I had a couple of conversations with Jamie and he was like, \u201cJust do it. You need to push out content.\u201d I wanted to give people an in-depth look into a real pro surfer\u2019s life and what it is, so I started doing weekly episodes.” \u2013 KOA ROTHMAN<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: How did you get a filmer? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: I actually got Jack to quit his job. He was working for John John at the time. I made an edit with him a while back when I was 16. I was like, \u201cI need someone to help me because I\u2019m super bad at it.\u201d It\u2019s no one-man job. Jack is talented at filming and editing and he lives down the street, so I hit him up. I was like, \u201cWe\u2019re going to travel and I\u2019m going to buy this gear and do episodes every week. You can edit and film and do what you love for a living.\u201d He was like, \u201cSick.\u201d So he quit his job and came and worked with me for less money at first too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Sick. It\u2019s hard to find someone like that.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: That is sick. Was John John cool with it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Yeah. He has a team of people. Jack and I spend so much time together. If we didn\u2019t click, it probably wouldn\u2019t have worked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: Now you\u2019ve got this guy, Mason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Yeah. Mason has been on every episode for the last few months. We should do one called \u201cThis is Mason!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: [Laughs] That\u2019s hilarious. I\u2019m not starting my own vlog. I\u2019m just enjoying this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: Now any trip I\u2019m going on, I\u2019m like, \u201cHey, Mason, let\u2019s go.\u201d Or he\u2019s like, \u201cMavs is looking good. Let\u2019s go.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: How do you decide where to go? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: We just go wherever it\u2019s going to be the best. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: The first thing I do every morning is look at the forecasts for certain places that are good this time of year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: What are your top five right now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: I look at Mavericks almost every day because it\u2019s right there and it\u2019s one of the best big waves on the planet. I look at the North Shore and Mavericks forecasts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: Mavericks is a scary wave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: That wave is as scary as it gets. I think it\u2019s the scariest wave in the world. I\u2019ve never had a place beat me as bad as that place has. There is something that goes on underwater there. They say there is an underwater waterfall in a sense because it breaks on a shelf and then it drops off again right after the wave breaks underwater, so there is this flow of water probably ten feet down that is pushing off this ledge. If you fall right there, you\u2019re going to get sucked so deep and it holds you there. There\u2019s been catastrophic things happen there, more than other places. That\u2019s all I think about when I\u2019m surfing out there really. It\u2019s hard not to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: What makes you want to keep going back?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: You want to try stuff that\u2019s scary and conquer your fear. You always want a better wave. It\u2019s like skateboarding. You want to do something that\u2019s cooler and different than anyone else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You want to try stuff that\u2019s scary and conquer your fear. You always want a better wave. It\u2019s like skateboarding. You want to do something that\u2019s cooler and different than anyone else.” \u2013 MASON BARNES <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: With skateboarding, the terrain doesn\u2019t move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: Yeah. The Mega Ramp doesn\u2019t fall on you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: Did you start off with ambitions to surf big waves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: No. Not at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KOA: I did. All I wanted to do was surf big waves. Where I grew up, in front of my house is Phantoms, so I grew up watching my brother and his friends surf big waves constantly. When I was 6 to 10, every time they went out, I wanted to go with them. They were like, \u201cNo, you\u2019re not ready. You\u2019re nowhere near ready.\u201d I finally got a tow board when I was 14 years old and they took me on this thing and I got a couple of waves. That was my dream come true at the time. That was when towing was the thing.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

JUICE: What got you into big wave surfing, Mason?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MASON: I started off knowing nothing about big waves. I barely knew they existed. I was just surfing knee to waist high little chop on the East Coast. I got very fortunate and I met Garrett McNamara when I was 14 and he took me and my dad towing in. It was small waves, but they were big waves for me. Looking back now, they were tiny. Just getting the feel of riding a tow board and whipping into waves that are far off the beach, it hooked me. From then on, I just wanted more and more bigger waves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY, GET ISSUE #77 AT THE\u00a0JUICE SHOP HERE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KOA: Okay, me and Mason are doing an interview for Juice and while we\u2019re talking to each other, we\u2019re going to have a couple of questions for each other. It\u2019s going to be great. I go first. It\u2019s an actual            question. It\u2019s not funny.  MASON: I\u2019m scared. [Laughs] KOA: [Laughs] […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4027,4028,4042],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-interviews","category-surf-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/BE8A8012.jpg","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90644"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90752,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90644\/revisions\/90752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juicemagazine.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}