The World Surf League has had its run of outs this season, largely due to indifferent surf quality, but if a comeback of monumental proportions was required, that was certainly what they got at the reef at the end of the road in Tahiti last week.
The first event since the midseason cut, the Shiseido Tahiti Pro was always going to be a waiting game, with a double-banger of XXL swell due to hit Teahupo’o late week, but the first round went down in perfect conditions for a practice run on the notoriously volatile left-hand barrel.
But, to be honest, most of the women looked a little tentative on the dangerous reef, with few making it to double figures on the two-wave count. Except, of course, the youngest of them, Caity Simmers and local wildcard Vahine Fierro.
It was a different story when the men hit the water, with wildcard Kelly Slater, the oldest competitor by a good 20 years, the standout as his intimate knowledge of the wave made it look so easy while consigning world number three Jack Robinson and Morocco’s Ramzi Boukhiam to the elimination round. But it was Merewether’s Ryan Callinan who emerged with the highest points of the round, with John Florence also impressive.
The GOAT also featured later in the day on the commentary team, when he and his surf brand CEO talked off-topic right through a vital heat in the women’s elimination round, the first of a couple of massive broadcast blunders for the WSL.
But sticking with the high notes (for now), it’s half a century since I covered my first pro surfing event (the 1974 debut of the Coke-2SM Surfabout) and in all the world tour events I’ve seen on the beach or on the box since, I don’t think I have ever been so riveted to every heat as I was with the final two days of the Tahiti Pro. I never thought I’d say this after a lifetime of writing about surfing, but words (almost) fail me! And I wasn’t alone. My colleague in comp coverage, the estimable Steve Shearer, began his yarn for Swellnet with, “Epic. Epic!”
Somewhere in his coverage, Steve also made the valid point that writing something sensible about one of the greatest days in pro surfing history is a lot harder than experiencing it, even if from the critic’s couch. But try we must, and two days of history in the making began with the women, and some game-changing performances.
There was disappointment for the semi-retired Carissa Moore, warming up for her gold medal defence in the Paris Olympics surfing at Teahupo’o in a couple of months, but nothing but glory for a small cohort of girls who raised the bar for female performance on the most challenging wave of the world tour.
In the quarters, Costa Rica’s Brisa Hennessy was first up and showed why she is suddenly at the top of the rankings, fearless and determined in all conditions, but then Tahitian wildcard Vahine Fierro moved the bar even higher to smash our Molly Picklum, throwing down near excellent scores on every wave ridden. Then Brazil’s Tatiana Weston-Webb, surfing with conviction throughout, went excellent to eliminate Tyler Wright.
Brisa dispatched Caz Marks in the first semi, then Vahine and Tati fought out the best heat of the women’s event. With pumping triple-overhead barrels every set, Vahine threw down two eights to take control, but then Tati took off late on arguably the biggest and best wave a woman has ever ridden in pro competition, and scored a perfect 10 to take the lead.
Most wildcards would have thrown in the towel, but with only minutes remaining, Vahine almost duplicated Tati’s wave for a 9.63 and a place in the final. As if to say, how much more can I give, the ocean went to sleep in the final, but local knowledge and a brilliant 8.5 gave the Tahitian the nod over a courageous Brisa.
Finals day for the men was one notch higher in the perfection stakes than the day before, and Kelly Slater began it by pulling off the impossible in the dying seconds to eliminate Australia’s Ethan Ewing. The GOAT into the quarters and it looked like he was on a roll.
Before we get to the pointy end, another quick gripe about the livestream. In the second last heat of the round of 16, Gabe Medina was giving California’s Jake Marshall a hiding from the get-go, but while we were watching another replay of Tati’s 10, he came good with a six-plus. We never saw that ride in replay. The over-amped commentary team then called Medina’s next ride a 10 long before the judges, a big no-no in commentary.
It was as if Jake had ceased to exist, even when in a desperate combo in the last minutes he pulled off a radical barrel, they went to a commercial break without waiting for his score. It was 8.9. I looked it up. Worst coverage ever.
With the waves more thrilling and death-defying by the hour, Ramzi, the rockin’ Moroccan and one of the standout surfers of the event, put paid to Kelly’s finals hopes and former world champs Italo Ferreira, Gabe Medina and John Florence smashed it out of the park with multiple nines. By the semis it was becoming almost too much to absorb, with every wave an excellent score or a horrendous over-the-falls wipeout. It was F1 on steroids.
They all deserved to win but it was Italo who took home the bacon, John-John in second the yellow jersey, and Gabe the memories of several of the best waves ridden in competition, ever.
