Photos by Cody Hammer & Jack Mitchell. Words by Hammer. The Tahitian locals are some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. Only some speak good English and most speak a mixture of French and local language. Each time we paddled out at Teahupoo, locals would shake your hand before you caught any waves. The house we were staying at was about a 10 minute walk to the point, where you paddle out. The paddle out took another 15 minutes and was about half a mile, at least. Some days we paid to get taken out to the break by the boat taxi. It’s crazy how close so many boats can get to that big of a wave and be perfectly fine. The wave itself is far more powerful than anything I’ve ever surfed — whether it’s 3- to 5-feet or 8- to 12-feet, that wave will put you in your place fast if you aren’t careful. It broke in about 4- to 5-foot deep water with a razor sharp reef beneath. About 15 feet in front of the break is the lagoon, the water is only few inches deep. If you took the one of the first waves of a set and didn’t make it back out, that’s where you were most likely going to end up. I remember a couple of times, I got way too carried away on a wave and ended up stuck on the middle of the lagoon. Though dangerous, the scenery at Teahupoo is surreal; there’s no better feeling the shooting out of a barrel and immediately be greeted with a view of the of the most beautiful mountains in the world. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Hammer. Photo: Mitchell. Photo: Mitchell. Photo: Mitchell. Photo: Mitchell. Photo: Mitchell. Photo: Mitchell. Photo: Mitchell. Photo: Mitchell. Photo: Mitchell. Photo: Mitchell. Leave a Reply Cancel ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment.
