I came to Tahiti for one reason, Teahupoo. The slab left has beckoned to me ever since I first saw images of her in the early 1990’s. As a grom I saw shot after shot of my favorite surfers tame the wave of consequence, putting themselves in potentially life threatening situations for the love of tube riding. The fear I have of this wave and my endless desire to overcome such fear is what drives me to conquer her. I want to get Bowled!

I’m in Tahiti now and chopes has yet to show her face. The swell we came down for was thwarted by poor wind conditions and now it’s time to wait. The ocean has a funny way of testing my patience. Hurricane Bill is heading up the East Coast on one of the best storm tracks I’ve seen in a long time, pretty much guaranteeing epic surf at home, and, although we’ve had some fun rip-able sessions at Teahupoo and the surrounding reef passes, I remain to feel empty handed and lost in the wrong hemisphere while my home breaks are lighting up. I won’t be leaving until I get my wave..

To pass the time we’ve fished, played a round or two of “Coconut Bocce”, a game of soccer, we even climbed the mountain behind our tahitian residence “Chez Biff,” pretty much all we can to burn the minutes. Traditional Tahitian tattoos may be next on the list before the next swell arrives.. So, until I see the beast awakens, I am Tahitian, and I will be here at Teahupoo waiting..

Top of the Mountain. It took about thirty minutes to climb up the shear mountain-side covered in thick ferns and about seven minutes to slide down!

Passing Time in front of "Chez Biff." We climbed the mountain in the background later that day..

Keali'i Mamala and myself climbing the mountain, that cliff-side was at least 65 degrees all the way up..

It's a must to land airs when the wave breaks over shallow reef.

Waiting for Teahupoo...