Local Motion’s Surf Into Summer has been around a long time, decades, and has seenTeahupoo: Final Day
After more laydays than I can recall, the powers that be at the Billabong Pro Teahupoo decided to run the final. It was about time as the collective nerves among the 45 had been fried to the core. Too many laydays, and not enough surf = an irritable World Tour. But once the event got underway, you could almost feel the sigh of relief among the sleepy Tahitian village.
Game on.
In the final, Bobby Martinez—a past event champ—took on the likes of WA’s Taj Burrow. From the outset, it was clear that there was no stopping Martinez as the lad pulled into screaming barrel after screaming barrel to the tune of 8 and 9-point rides. Although Taj would attempt to claw his way back from comboland, his efforts would be futile and Bobby would take his second Tahitian crown. To boot, Bobby accomplished all of this while surfing on a borrowed board. A testament to his uncanny ability if there ever was one.
“I actually borrowed a board from Alain Riou,” he said immediately following his win. “He rides Darren Handley shapes and the board was the same dimensions and pretty much the same board I ride. It was great to find that yesterday, as I was a bit skeptical about today in terms of the conditions and my equipment, but everything worked out perfectly.”
In the end, the event may have been plagued by meager surf, but two weeks on Tahiti aint so bad. With that, here’s to many more years of Tahitian drama. —Jeff Mull
Check out extended coverage of Tahiti’s meanest wave in an upcoming issue of Freesurf Magazine.
Embedded at Chopes Day 3
With there being a lay day on the books today, I managed to sneak away from the media tent and walk down the point to make the thousand-yard paddle out to Chopes. Who needs a boat, right? Well, 20 minutes into the paddle and I’m reaching the lineup. What looked to be fun, playful 3-foot Teahupoo was in actuality solid, 5-feet South Pacific power detonating on the razor blades they call “reef” over here.
Forget what you think you’ve seen from the webcast and what you say in front of your friends about surfing Teahupoo: that plays is f—king nuts at any size. Yes, at 5 or 6 feet it’s manageable, but one small mistake and you’re standing on the reef in six inches of water while a 6-footer explodes in your face. Thankfully, I shoulder-hopped a few and didn’t take any beatings…I also didn’t get any bombs as I left that to the likes of Andy, Occy, Parko, and Jordy Smith. It was an experience unlike anything I’ve ever seen watching the greats play with the wave. Everyone seemed on fire, but there was no one in the water that could match Andy. As I paddled out to the lineup, a 5-footer swung wide as Andy dropped in, leagues behind the peak. As the wave went square, Andy pulled in using his trademark Lance Burkhart backside stall. (Eat your heart out Rick Kane.) He was shacked all the way from the point to the inside. You can’t mention Chopes without Andy and you can’t mention Andy without Chopes. After watching him tame the beast, I now know why. —Jeff Mull
Heairii Williams has dirty feet, and I don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way. They are coarse, calloused, swollen, filthy and wonderful. Like most people in the world, Williams walks most places he goes, sometimes with shoes, sometime without. The result of such shoeless journeys have left him with something more akin to a hoof than an actual human foot. But it’s these feet that have earned him one of the most coveted and sought after seeds in professional surfing. You see, Williams is a local Tahitian surfer who won the Von Zipper trials about a week back and has since just taken out Kekoa Bacalso in the opening of round of the Billabong Pro.
Tahiti is a place completely unlike anything