Frantically struggling I kicked and writhed, pulling and grabbing doing anything I could to find air my lungs burned and I wondered if this would be my last minute alive. Foam smashed my face sending me into another involuntary corkscrew, I felt my leg slice up against a jagged rock, and then then I was up and the feeling of humid tropical air rushed into my lungs. This was half way through my first “easy day” of surfing Tahiti’s black sand and lava rock beach.
This morning I woke up at 6am and took the surf board to shore in the dingy, tied it onto the truck and Dad and I left to pick up a buddy of mine named Fredric from Papiete. After we found him we drove around 30 minutes through traffic to the best medium level surfing beach on the island and after getting out discovered the waves to be smaller than 2 feet, pretty pitiful. A bit bummed out we decided to go to a pro beach on the other side of the island that I had done before so I figured I could handle it.
At the beach the waves where unbelievable about 4 times the size compared to the last time I was there because there was a huge storm yesterday. Fredric a regular at the beach said it looked insane but we both pulled our boards off the truck and ran for the beach. The waves where so big that there was the “Tahiti RedBull Surf Competition” going on at the beach and unfortunately they cut off the good half of the beach so only the pros could surf in it.
The first huge crashing wave was almost impossible to pass but after timing it and getting smacked backwards a couple of times I managed to get passed it and then spent the next ten minutes madly diving under waves and trying to get out far enough to not get rolled over by waves. I got out and stood up on my third try It was awesome and way bigger and faster than surfing in Canada but unfortunately I surfed all the way back to shore so I had to get through the huge crashing wave again. After getting gashes from the rocks on both my palm and knees I decided to try again in 15 minutes and ate Brunch.
Then I went out again, I was starting to feel something like terror as wave after wave would flip me and pummel under water instead of let me surf it. So after another hour of only surfing on my stomach I went back in (getting a fresh crop of cuts on my right foot) and collapsed on the cool sand in the shade felling pretty wiped while Fredric stayed out.
Re hydrating I went for it again. At this point I didn’t actually know that they had reserved half the beach for the pro’s and wondered why Fredric kept taking us to the massive unpredictable waves section. So I started paddling for the nice area but as soon as I started crossing into the good stuff someone started yelling at me in French over the announcement speaker so I figured I shouldn’t continue that little adventure.
After another hour at the beach we were both starving and I was out of food so we left and walked all the way to his sisters house 30 minutes away for lunch, carrying our boards the whole way (better work out then actually surfing). Dad picked us up and we came back to the dock hung out with some friends here and called it a day. Hopefully next time I go surfing the extreme pro beach isn’t the only one that is open.
Good story, Jaeden! I know the feeling. Maybe not quite as extreme as your “near death” experience, though body-surfing on Oahu’s west coast in winter can also do an inexperienced Haole in!
Man, Jaeden, that was tense. If I didn’t know your age I wonder hints there would be in your story that would indicate to a stranger that you were a teenager. The whole thing scared me and made me worry for you and the chances you might have of living a long and boring life. The only thing missing was you should have ended it with, “I was hungry after all that “play” but having brought no food Frederick and I settled for eating worms and ants that we found in abundance on the trees and in the sand.” Yikes, wait until your mom and dad read your story. Or did you sugar coat it? Grandpa
How is it that you guys do all the fun, exciting and often times dangerous things that I did 24 yrs ago? I am still waiting for the story of how you free dived down 50 ft to tie a rope onto the anchor and got wrapped in the rope on the way up…I survived or how you tired to sail a small dingy that didn’t have a keel board…I am sure they are coming as well!