Surfing Worlds: power, height, sharp coral bottom… why the Teahupo’o wave in Tahiti is so feared ?

Vahine Fierro on the Teahupo’o wave on May 25. MAXPPP – WSL

The surfing world championships, which took place on the legendary Teahupo’o spot in Tahiti, ended with a first French female victory, that of Vahiné Fierro. A good omen a little more than two months before the 2024 Paris Olympics, where the surfing events will take place in the same place ? The opportunity to remember that the wave of Teahupo&rsquo ;o has built his myth between beauty and wounds.

As much revered as it is feared, the Teahupo’o wave in Tahiti is divine. Surfers dream of riding it, but can't sleep at night when the project comes to fruition. It is on this legendary spot that the French Vahine Fierro won the Tahiti Pro on the formidable Teahupo’o wave, two months before the Olympic Games which will take place on this spot and where she will be one of the favorites.

A great first victory for a French woman, on a wave whose dangerous reputation served as a pretext from 2006 to 2021 for not holding women's competitions.

Vahine Fierro. MAXPPP – WSL

And if the discrimination is absurd, the risky nature of the wave is very real. This dangerousness is explained by the power and height of the waves, above a sharp bottom of outcropping corals.

First, the height of the waves: "the island receives the giant waves that formed between the Antarctic Circle and southern Australia and New Zealand", oceanographer Pedro Guimarães explained to Redbull in 2022.

The "mountain of skulls"

It is necessary to associate this with a geographical particularity, which means that the very deep zones and the shallow zones alternate so that the waves lose very little power when they encounter the coral shoals. on which they come to break.

These corals are the nightmare of surfers, who have no room for error when they tackle the "mountain of skulls& quot;, the literal translation of Teahupo’o.

Redbull recalls that the dramas followed one after the other. Brazilian surfer Neco Padaratz almost lost his life in 2000."I caught a wave on my head which dragged me into the crevices between the corals and I got my legs stuck there. I saw the light from the surface, but I couldn't get out", he says.

Several dramas

An outcome ultimately fortunately for the Brazilian, unlike the fate of the Tahitian Briece Taerea, who died in Teahupo’o the following year.

In 2011, surfer Keala Kennelly was thrown to the bottom. His injury requires 40 stitches all over his head, recalls the "surf prevention" blog.

Even more recently, in August 2023, Australian surfer Ethan Ewing broke his back at Teahupo’o, also being thrown against the reefs.

In another Redbull article, devoted to the history of the competition at Teahupo’o, Steve Robertson, former head of the ASP (association of professional surfers) recalls that "the wave is violent and injuries are not rare".

Fortunately, at Teahupo’o, the emotion and beauty surpass the drama and the show promises to be magical from July 27 to 30, during the competitions of Olympic Games.