With 10 people to get ready, including a photographer and a videographer, it’s never a hop, skip and a jump to get out to the break. There is always plenty of preparation to be done and Bouj and myself were rushing around like mad men trying to get everything into the boat and everybody ready to head out there. When we finally made it out into the channel, the view was absolute insanity. There were several boats sitting ridiculously close to the tight pack of about 20 surfers, and only about 10m away from the dry reef to our left. The view of the mountains was breathtaking and incredibly clear, and the water was so blue and crystalline; one of the most beautiful sights I have ever had the pleasure to experience.
When the first set came through, we were all whooping like little schoolboys and everyone was trying to get the best view to video the waves with their iPhones. That’s how close you get to the action, you almost don’t need a video camera with zoom, the iPhone gets you close enough to shoot all the action and the morning light is as pristine as you can get for photography. It makes you see why it is known as the most photogenic wave in the world. There are just no words to describe it. Every single wave that comes through heaves out of the deep pacific ocean to catapult over on itself and explode in absolute deafening perfection onto the live coral reef. In the boat you are lifted up by the shoulder of the wave and have a bird’s-eye view looking down at the surfer on the wave from 15 feet up in the air. It looks like there are barely 10cm or so of water between the surfer and the coral reef, and that’s because that is about how much water there really is. Teahupo’o is death-defyingly shallow but at the same time so picture perfect that it almost looks easy to make the barrels.