Garrett

McNamara

Kobby

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Abberton

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Malik

Joyeux

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Laird

Hamilton

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Raimana

Van Bastoaler

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Laird

Hamilton

Didier Tin Sin

Patrice Chanzy

Manoa

Drollet

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Doug Young & Garrett McNamara

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Malik Joyeux & Manoa Drollet

Garrett after getting

Blast On the Reef

Teahupoo Tatoo !

Jet Ski floater

Second hand jetski

Smashed second hand jetski

Malik very Deep

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Kevin Johnson

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Makua Rothman

Arsene Harehoe

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SUNDAY BLOODY SUNDAY

Tow Teams present:

Laird Hamilton / Makua Rothman- Koby Abberton
Manoa Drollet / Malik Joyeux,
Garett Mcnamara / Ikaika Kalama,
Raimana Van Bastolaer / Arsene Harehoe.
Vetea David / Karim
Brad Gerlach / Campbell Farell / Doug Young.
Didier Tin Sinh / Kevin Johnson / Tapuari Laughlin / Patrice Chanzy / Robert Teriitehau / Thierry Tching
Chuck Patterson / Scott Chandler.
Calunga / Jody / Warren .

Massive tubes, new records, broken jet skis, wild wipe-outs and severe lacerations for the third Tow-In Sunday of the year.

Only a few weeks after the last big south swell hit the Tahitian islands, Teahupoo turned it on again for an elite crew of tow-in surfers.

Early in the morning a group of body boarders were charging clean, glassy 12’ + conditions. By 10 am 12 jet skis and numerous boats had taken over the line-up.

Raimana Van Bastolaer suffered a horrendous wipe-out when he positioned himself too high after the bottom turn and got thrown off his board at the worst spot. The lip slammed Raimana down into the reef and split the back of his foot, resulting in fifteen stitches and numerous aching muscles.

An hour later, Malik Joyeux, nearly made the same mistake but managed to hold his line in the pocket and ride the wave right through. The extra four kilos of lead he had added to his board a few days before certainly worked this time round. Malik’s wave is probably the widest tube ever surfed at Teahupoo. A beast so wide you could fit a FedEx truck sideways inside the tube.

Manoa Drollet scored the bomb of the day early in the afternoon: a perfect, deep blue, 40’+ set wave with a slightly more westerly direction than the others. He slotted himself perfectly for a deep tube and got blasted out of the tube by the spit.

The volume of water being moved around was so huge that all the water started draining off the reef and sinking below sea level. Cinematographer Larry Haynes was swimming right in the sweet spot at the time and managed to record the ride but got sucked into the huge lip and went over the falls. He finished up in the lagoon, minus a swim fin and his diving mask, copping a few bruises and scrapes as proof of entry.

Manoa’s wave is the biggest wave ever surfed at Teahupoo: a mutant west bowl that allowed the talented Teahupoo local to ride the tube deep in the bowl section with a 15’+ lip right above him.

The explosion created by Manoa’s wave left a huge white water trail in the whole line-up area.
On the second wave of the set, Garrett McNamara started sliding down the face of this perfect white water tube right in the treacherous bowl section. He suffered heavy lacerations to both legs. «You’ve got to pay your dues some day» he explained, with a smile, a few minutes later.

After numerous horrendous wipe-outs at Teahupoo over the last four years, he has managed to come out practically unscathed each time. This time he gets to go back home with one of the worst Teahupoo tattoos in history!
Eric Akiskalian from Towsurfer.com happened to come down with a heart surgeon.
Lucky for Raimana , Garrett and Eric who also cut his foot on the reef the previous day .
They had the luxury of being patched up right there on the boat or on the beach .
Kiwi charger, Doug Young, was dropped off on the same wave by Thierry Tching and happened to be15’ feet deeper than Garrett but miraculously came out without a scratch.

Laird Hamilton got a few deep rides and performed some classic trademark lay-back barrels. During the day Koby Abberton and Makua Rothman had the luxury of Laird’s tow-in expertise and got dropped off on some gems. Unfortunately, Laird was added to the injured list when he kicked out at full speed, his board hitting some chop, leaving him with a twisted knee as a result of hyper-extending his leg.

Tahitians Didier Tin Sin, Patrice Chanzy, Vetea David, Arsène Harehoe, Kevin Johnson and Jody, also got their fair share of massive tubes in between the usual dramas. Waves nearly caught three boats and one jet ski got smashed on the reef when it broke down in the take-off area, just as a set rolled in.

An amazing day, full sketchy situations and great rides that confirms Malik Joyeux and Manoa Drollet as the most consistant Tow-In team at Teahupoo. Either way you look at the waves and measure their size. It seems that the 2 Oxbow team riders old all standing record at Teahupoo. for biggest wave, biggest tube, widest tube and deepest, longest barrel.

Sequence: Raimana Van Bastoaler

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Manoa Drollet

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Imax Crew

Manoa Drollet

Strider Wasilewski

Strider Wasilewski

Strider Wasilewski

Manoa Drollet

Garett McNamara

Didier Tin Sinh

Square Teahupoo

Manoa Drollet

Manoa Drollet

Robert Teritehau

Raimana Van Bastoaler

Manoa Drollet

Manoa Drollet

Unlucky

Look Closer Very Unlucky

Raimana

Raimana

Sequence: Shane Dorian

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Maddog going over.

Sequence: Strider

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Sequence: Malik Joyeux

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Unknown

Carlos Burles

Malik

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Vetea on THE BOMB of the session

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Garett & Malik sharing the gem.

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Shane Dorian

Shane

Shane

Shane

Malik

Malik

Malik

Jamie Sterling

Raimana

Malik & Manoa

Shane

Dorian

Poto: No thanks!

Mike Stewart

The 9/11 Teahupoo Tow in Session.

On September 7 th the swell maps started to turn red over a huge area of the South Pacific. A big storm was forming, creating a perfect ‘onion slice’- shaped, low pressure system . Miles of wind fetch were aiming due north towards the French Polynesian archipelago. One of the biggest south swells of the decade was rolling full speed towards the most dangerous reef in the world.

This was the kind of map to send shivers down the spine of the most dedicated tow-in surfers. It took only a moment for them to get organized and hop on the first flight to Tahiti. By Saturday 10th, a crew of big wave riders and film crews were rocking up from Sydney, Hawaii and L.A., scrambling for any jet ski and boat available on the island. The Tahitian tow-in teams were as ready as ever to tackle the power of their favourite wave.

Before the swell had even hit, the whole surfing community was already commenting on the next level of madness that Teahupoo would deliver.

9/11

As usual, the swell arrived during the night and by dawn all the south-facing reefs were steaming with white water . The massive volumes of water being pushed into the lagoons were creating treacherous currents and waves on shore. Sand and corals heads had been washed up onto the roads at Maraa, Papara and Vairao. That night the army was called in to evacuate 150 tourists from a 5 star hotel in Bora Bora, as the over-water bungalows fell like a pack of cards under the pressure of the rising lagoon and the waves.

By 6 am, the usually quiet Teahupoo marina was a hive of activity. Back to back 4 x4s were unloading jet-skis onto the ramp , shakas were flyng all over the place as the crews met up again. Pelican cases, strapped boards and life-vests were lying around everywhere waiting to be loaded onto the boats. All eyes were attempting to pierce the morning mist , hypnotised by the white water explosions out on the reef.

The day was overcast and the wind slightly cross -shore. As the boats set out for the pass, the tow-in teams were popping out of the various boat ramps in the village. The line up was a bit messy, and the noise of the sets exploding like thunder on the reef made the atmosphere electric.

Raimana and Strider were the first into action, followed by Malik Joyeux and Manoa Drollet. The southerly wave direction meant that tubes were wider than the actual wave size , making it possible for the surfer to go deeper than ever. Local surfer Didier Tin Sin caught one of the best waves of the morning.

An Imax film crew had even flown in from L.A. and had spent the morning attempting to film the action. The massive Imax camera was supposed to be stabilized by a huge movement and vibration compensating tripod head, but the choppy conditions in the channel and the wind spray were doing their best to prevent this.

Around midday, windsurfing champion, Robert Teriitehau, rigged his sail and got Poto to drop him off on a set wave. As soon as he got down the face of the wave into the glassy zone he lost speed and was anihilated by the lip, while his equipment got sucked up into the massive Teahupoo washing machine and was crushed to smithereens.

The crowd scattered in the twenty odd boats , all screamed out in horror. As ever the Tahitian popped up a few seconds later practically unscathed. Robert has a reputation, totally justified, for being as solid as a rock which allows him to do crazy things from time to time. Last year, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean on a windsurf and in celebration climbed to the top of the Icebreaker that was acting as his security boat. He then jumped off the boat and plunged into the cold water 160 feet below and broke both his legs. There are limits to what the body can withstand !

You can always count on Teahupoo to come up with some dramatic image every time a big swell hits. Robert definitely stole the show on that front.

Shane Dorian and Ian Walsh opted to wait for the high tide around midday . The push of this tide often brings the largest sets of the day, with slightly more open tubes. After a long wait, Shane Dorian was dropped off on a very ugly beast., the kind that sucks all the water off the reef and gives the impression that the whole ocean is moving in. He managed to hold his line and complete one of the most memorable rides of the day. By the grin on his face going back out, you could just tell he had just experienced in a few seconds a year’s worth of adrenalin .

Malik and Manoa Drollet once again proved to be the most consistent tow- in team, with perfect wave choice and positioning. A couple of days prior, Manoa had finally removed a cast from his wrist . A month previously he had suffered multiple fractures when he crashed his motor bike at 120 miles per hour. He was lucky to fall off in the only wide open , double lane road in Tahiti and it was a miracle that he encountered nothing in the process. After that , charging massive Teahupoo was a run in the park for the talented backsider.

Malik and Garett McNamara managed to ride one of the cleanest tubes of the day, riding side by side in the treacherous bowl section. Malik’s concentration was such that he only realized Garrett was behind him at the end of the wave.

In the afternoon, Vetea David was in perfect rhythm. Thierry Tching dropped him off on the bomb of the session. A few minutes later, a huge black wall moved in and we could only guess at Poto’s presence at the top trying to gain some speed for a late drop. At the very last moment , he pulled back when the face of the wave turned totally vertical. Even with a strapped board and some speed , riding down a 30 foot, 90 degree face at Teahupoo would have been suicide.

Unlike the last session in May . The next day was much smaller and the wind had messed up the line up.
Another one day wonder south swell going down in the Teahupoo madness history books as the images make there way around the globe adding to the myth of the Polynesian miracle wave.

Tow-in Teams:

Manoa Drollet and Malik Joyeux, Shane Dorian and Ian Walsh,
Raimana Van Bastolaer and Strider Wasilewski, Jamie Sterling and Carlos Burles,
Ikaika Kalama , Garett McNamara and Didier Tin Sinh, Vetea David and Thierry Tching,

Guest stars:

Windsurfing champion : Robert Teriitehau .
Mike Stewart pushing the limits on a body board.