Surfers get excited, sometimes too excited.
Waves and swell are fleeting by nature, and so, when a potentially epic looking forecast comes along, there’s a tendency to hyperbolize, to overreact, to quiver with giddy anticipation in the days leading up to the swell. But the reality is, the ocean is fickle; you just never know how it’s going to be until the day arrives.
That happened recently with the season-opener swell at Teahupo’o, Tahiti.
Nathan Florence made it to Tahiti just in time for the swell, flying in from Australia which was his previous stop on his self-appointed, one-man “Slab Tour.”
And although there were some epic waves that went down during the main day of the swell (April 30th), in Nate’s opinion, it was nowhere near what he expected it to be:
“The main day of the swell is done, and it was pretty much totally nothing like the forecast. There were all these predictions and all these comparisons [to past swells] being made, but you show up and you never really know how it’s gonna be. There was a ton of hype and a ton of anticipation. The forecasts were so completely wrong with how that swell turned out to be.”
Nate continued:
“Guys were towing six-footers. Like, crazy. I’ve come here for so many years, and I’ve never seen so many very good paddle waves being towed. The bigger paddle waves – the ones where you wanna push yourself – they were being towed. It was almost like, because of all the hype around it, guys thought that they had to tow. Even though it’s only six-to-10 [feet], and every hour there was an actual tow wave. It was a hilarious mix of that [tow and paddle waves].”
Regardless, Nate scored an early-morning session that was well-worth the trip:
“The morning session was everything that you come here for – giant, blue, crystal-clear water barrels spitting their guts into the channel.”
Then, as previously reported, the following day saw something completely different at Teahupo’o. Catastrophic flooding inundated the town, even sending cars out to sea.
Relief efforts to support the tiny town, which has given the surf world so much, have been set up to give back to the people of Teahupo’o. Send your donations here.
And stay tuned for more clips, carnage, and glory coming in from Teahupo’o.
Teahupo’o, Tahiti Stats/Info
Wave Type: Lefthand slab
Season: Spring – Fall
Skill Level: Experts only
Best Board to Ride: Shortboard, bodyboard
Ideal Swell Direction: South, Southwest
Access: By boat
Upcoming Events: Shiseido Tahiti Pro (August 11th-20th); Paris 2024 Olympics (July 26th-August 11th, 2024)
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