I rarely write about surfing - even though I happen to live in Teahupoo, home of one of the most famous and scary waves in the world - because honestly, I don't really know what I'm talking about. I leave the surf stuff to my husband Josh Humbert. Still, every now and then I get really impressed, like I did when Josh showed me this video footage his friend Gen took (with our camera) of local boy Raimana Van Bastolaer riding what could be the biggest and best wave of the season, nearly getting swallowed and then miraculously making it out. I love how it looks like he got eaten by tube then comes happily shooting back up over the top - I also love how humble and nice he is when he comes back to the boat. That's real Tahitian class. Raimana won the Billabong XXL 2010 Tube of the Year award for this ride! This whole sequence makes me happy. It was on March 17th 2010.
For more photos of that day check out Josh's slideshow.
This is truly stunning! I know nothing about surfing either, but just watching this gives me well, to be honest . . . the creeps.
ReplyDeleteThe first time I ever even tried anything remotely physical in the ocean other than swimming was catching a wave on a body surf board. It was in the Atlantic off the coast of Ghana, West Africa. Three guys telling me there was nothing to it. Finally I tried. First and last time. The surf board slammed into my ribs and knocked the wind out of me. This had never happened to me before and I thought I was dying, me mother of a baby, now forever an orphan.
I couldn't breathe properly for ages and that was that. No more messing around with waves.
I am in awe of the movie though! Very exciting, but it scares me silly!
Yeah I'm the same way. The first time I went surfing I was in a big man's wetsuit (I'm little) in freezing storm waves. That pretty much cinched me as a non-surfer. Since then I'll only go out when Josh says "it's hardly big enough to surf," then I know it's my day. The guys and girls who go out in massive Teahupoo have so much guts it's hard to fathom.
ReplyDelete