"Code Red" Full Movie - Surfing Goes Huge At Teahupoo Tahiti

Thursday 8 to 10 feet, Friday 8 to 12 feet, Saturday gigantic, Sunday 8 to 12 feet. It's a pretty special swell that I know a lot of big wave chargers are going to probably be coming into town for. It's so big, it's as big as Australia. Yeah, I went over to Tahiti for the trials and for once it was really small and pretty average. The day I left from Tahiti going home before the main contest started apparently is the day the swell popped up on the map. I was there for a few weeks before it. I go there early every year with Billabong and the junior team. We take a few young guys there and we go there for the trials. So we were just thinking it's a good chance for the World Tour event to get some waves this year. And all of a sudden this thing appeared on the charts. So I tracked it right from the start and scoped every bit of map out, every site. When it first came up and how big the period and the heights were, I was quite blown away because I'd never seen them heights before. Yeah, I went home and got a week at home just cruising and then everyone's ringing me saying there's this massive swell going to Tahiti. And I didn't even really look, I just went out, I'll go back. The difference this swell was how thick and fast it was moving. You just got to go out there for five minutes and you realise that there's not even a thought process of being able to run the Billabong Pro today. I don't know if there's going to be one human being paddling all day. It was big anticipation. In the morning the swell started hitting. I got up in the dark and I went out at Poppy's Wharf and it was like rapids and water coming over. And you could just hear it and then as soon as it started seeing light, you could feel the swell was just hitting. I went to bed semi-early and woke up to giant, giant waves. I could just hear them smashing on the reef and there's Dil just getting his towboard ready, just frothing with his headphones on. And he looks at me and he's like, it's massive. I could tell just as soon as I walked down and I could hear everything going on. I walked out the front and the first thing I saw was one of the biggest tropes waves I've ever seen. And I went, oh ----, yeah, it's definitely on, it's going to be big. Our boat driver come and grabbed us and we went straight out and checked it. There was no one out there really. I mean they looked evil as anything in the morning. They just looked like they were closing out on themselves and just looked really dangerous. Just looked like there was no exit for the wave. And if you did exit one, then the right's coming straight at you. So it just looked scary. It was crazy, mate. So we're like, oh God, are we going to be able to tow this? In one part of our minds we were, but in another part we were like, I don't think we can. To make things worse, we got in and we couldn't get our hands on a ski. On days like that, you just want to get out there and catch your first wave and get your butterflies out here and just get everything rolling. We had to sit around and wait a few hours until we got the skis sorted out. By that time, me and Laurie were frothing. We were like, we have to get out there. I was ringing Sasha in France going, mate, this is it. There's guys out there towing. We need to be out there. Skis are on lockdown at the moment until further notice. It's kind of heavy, especially when we've got some of the best tow boys going. This is just the start. It's going to get heavy. That's what they're concerned about. We're seeing all these waves going around and we can't get out there. It's so frustrating. We eventually got a ski and it kind of worked out. We didn't get out there until 9, 9.30. By the time we got out there, the tide started rising. Guys, let's go. We taped all the skis up, come back in 20 minutes. We've had our weddings on all morning, our jackets. We watched about three sets. It was just dirty and dark. It was just going below sea level, so thick. We'd seen a couple we could make and basically just said, who wants to go first? I said, Laurie, you want to go first? Yes, you want to go first? He goes, all right, I'll go first. I went, sweet, go in. Got him into two beauties, mate. The first one was a real long one. He came out just frothing. The second one was a thick one, a big one. He made both. This is makeable. I was on that. You think you could be on okay, like a 10, 15-footer, and then it turns into a 20-footer. But once you're locked and loaded and let go of that rope, it doesn't matter. You're committed, and there's no pulling out the back. You're in. We're just looking at the backs of the wave, and you see how powerful it is. I guess the closest thing I could describe would be like a bomb going off. I remember seeing Nathan Fletcher's wave and Bruce's wave both from behind, and I just remember seeing the explosions that those waves had. You could tell that they were way bigger than any other waves. I mean, there were some other big waves, but those to me were the biggest ones. We're about 100 feet out, but then up the reef, right where it's just coming out of deep water, and it's closing out, and then it's just bending that last bit, and it nearly looks unmakeable. And every one was just going, like, back of the wave, and then just, you know what I mean? They were going like 50 foot up in the air, like big shooms of water just exploding. It was pretty heavy, you know what I mean? And that's where you could die. It was, yeah, just one of those hell days, and every wave was pretty much something special. I guess I did achieve a goal that day. I wanted to just get one of them big ones and get as deep as I pitched, and I've done that, and I made it, and I guess I achieved my goal, and I'm pretty happy about that. And even if I'd never done it again, I could sit back and go, I've achieved my goal for sure. When you look back and think of all the swells you've surfed, when I look back, I think that's probably going to be one of the biggest. I don't know if there's ever going to be a bigger swell than that swell at Tahiti. And it was just one of those days where everyone was just going for it, and I don't know why, but it's pretty much the best feeling in the world. Not many people can ever experience what we have, but to actually ride one and look out is another thing. Money can't pay for that experience.