Surfing Tahiti: An Incredible Dream or Your Worst Nightmare?

I haven’t written that many blogs so far but I’m pretty sure that I’ve used the words “perfect waves”, “clear water”, “barrels”, “beautiful”, “magic”, at least 100 times. It’s not that I’m trying to make you jealous or anything, I just know how lucky I am to live in Tahiti; all these words that I’ve written so many times, they are the ones that define my ocean country best. Every session is a rush of adrenaline and endorphins, and a rush of pure joy as well, especially when it’s just me and my friends in the water, enjoying a great sunset session (here I go again!).

But surfing isn’t always that great: I’m not talking about crappy conditions, more about the fact that some days, you paddle out and literally risk your life. I’ve done it a few times, going out on big days, not really knowing where to sit or what to do, trying to avoid every single set coming through because it was just so big the whole time. It will go flat for 30 minutes, and all of a sudden a set rolls in, big, unexpected, terrifying. Yes, terrifying, because a 10ft wave coming towards a shallow reef generates a huge amount of power: you can feel this energy rising, even before the wave breaks; if the size of the wave scares you, the power generated around you is definitely part of the equation.

Now I find myself thinking about that day… the kind of day you remember your whole life, but not for the good reasons. I was spending a few days in Moorea, Tahiti’s “sister island”, that you can reach in 30 minutes with the ferry; it was another beautiful day and I was more than determined to go surfing.

I parked my car at my friend’s surf lodge, right in front of my favorite break, and looked at the waves, just waiting for a set so I would know what board I should use (I had everything in my car, from 6’3” to 6’9”). There was definitely some size, maybe a solid 6ft, and my 6’5” appeared as my best bet. I waxed my board, put my sunscreen on, locked my car, walked to the beach and started paddling. I have no boat, and from the beach, it takes me about 30 minutes to reach the waves. Talk about a warm up!

Yeah, I’d be scared. Photo: Fabrice Chiausa

As I was approaching the pass, I noticed those big “packs” of white water floating around like foam, and that current… pulling me outside, and fast. I was like “ what is that?  It’s not big enough for this kind of stuff to happen. I think I missed something.”

My very good friend Aken had just taken a wave on his stand-up paddle board and was going back to the peak when he saw me. He looked at me, laughed nervously and said:

-“It’s big!”
-“Uhh… what do you mean, big?
- It’s just big! You can try, but… it’s big!!

Ok, I got his point: it was big. How come I hadn’t seen anything the whole time I was paddling then? Actually, I know why: when it gets that big (10 ft +), the sets come every 30 to 40 minutes; just the time it took me to paddle from the beach to the break, ha!!

So I started to think about what I should be doing… because I was also starting to feel all this energy around me, with all this water moving: “I should go back, it’s not safe and my board is too small. No, I can’t, the guys know that I’m there, I can’t disappear like that… they are going to make fun of me if I leave.” And from there, my decision was made (didn’t tell you I was stupid, huh?).

Mutating. Don’t be there. Photo: Fabrice Chiausa

I wasn’t yet at the peak… I had a look around me and saw another friend of mine, sitting way outside. I decided to paddle in his direction & to stay next to him, knowing that he will keep an eye on me for sure.

-Hello, how’s the surf? I asked, hoping to get a relieving answer.
-It’s pretty good, we’ve been having fun so far.
-Oh Ok, maybe it wasn’t that bad after all.

I barely had enough time to sit on my board before THE SET came. I swear, it was the biggest wave I had ever seen from that close: all I could see was a huge blue wall coming towards me; my heart started pounding like never before, I looked at my friend, looked left, looked behind me, trying to find a way to escape the thing, but there was no exit, no way to get around it! I started paddling towards the wave as fast as I could, with as much strength and power as I could gather. I paddled & paddled, got closer to the wave, looked up, saw the lip coming down on me and duck dived. I managed to pass the wave, but there was no way I could escape the second one:  it was too big, and too far.

Heavy. Photo: Thierry Tching

I’ve never been that scared before; I couldn’t breathe properly, maybe I was hyperventilating, I don’t know… I saw the lip about to break on my head and tried to dive as deep as possible, but it was useless: I felt my right leg being pulled by my leash and my body followed in a quarter of second. I spent so much time underwater, being pulled every which way, for what seemed like hours, not knowing where I was, feeling my lungs burning in my rib cage; I hadn’t imagined that being underwater for so long could hurt that much.

Then everything stopped; it was so calm all of a sudden… I managed to swim back to the surface, but just to see that other wave coming down on me. And yes, again, I spent a lot of time under water, with my lungs still burning… I ended up pretty close to the reef, and all in all I guess I was lucky that day. I could have been drilled onto the reef & received a few bones broken in the process; I had nothing, not even a tiny scratch. But I didn’t care: I was still in a heavy situation, the current pulling me outside, taking me back to the peak. I paddled towards the reef (note believing my leash & my board were still in one piece) hoping to get a medium wave, which would take me closer to the lagoon, and out of this current. And fortunately I got this wave and even found a guy to give me a lift on his boat.  “Yes, on a boat, and still alive. Life is good!”

I wanted to tell you that story because I think that sometimes we’re not always aware of what we’re doing: we think that the risks we take are calculated, and that whatever happens, it’s going to be all right. But it isn’t always so. When you play with Mother nature, whatever the size of the waves, you don’t control anything, you do not decide whether it’s going to be fine or not. So, when you’re not sure about the conditions, take your time to carefully evaluate the situation, be honest with yourself and your abilities, and make a decision from there: life is great, we practice one of the best sports in the world (along with kite boarding!), so make sure you do everything you can to enjoy it as long as possible. I’ve learned my lesson.

Vainui

Note for the future: when Aken tells you its big, it’s not big, it’s HUGE!!

For more Thierry Tching photots, check out thierrytching.com
Surfer: Didier TinHin