The Wave That Changed Surfing Forever.

Chopu or Chopes in Tahiti is one of the most iconic surf breaks in the world. On its day it's a depth-defying slab that has provided many wave-of-a-lifetime moments but has also taken or at least altered many more. So this is the story of Chopu from its discovery through its most defining moments. Now surfing goes back a long time in Polynesia all the way back to ancient history where early Polynesians rode waves on wooden surfboards but this was far from the sport we know it as today and it certainly didn't take place at Chopu. Also by the way guys I'm going to avoid trying to pronounce Chopu properly in order to avoid butchering its pronunciation. For a long time even after surfing was popularized in Tahiti the wave wasn't really regarded as a wave. It was always too dangerous, too shallow and certainly not rideable. The wave was also located at the very end of the road where the dirt track and the houses stopped before it reached the lagoon. This earned the place the ominous nickname of the wall of skulls and ancient Tahitians knew that this particular slice of reef was not a place to be messed with. The trajectory of Chopu changed on one day in 1985 when local Tahitian Thierry van Alden paddled out to surf the break for the first time. Now Thierry is widely regarded as the first local to surf Chopu or at least the person who is publicly given credit for doing so and there might have been several other locals that surfed around this time as well and from what I've read online Chopu wasn't getting surfed as we might see it today. It was more on smaller days where it's more of a normal wave but then came the bodyboarders and in what is public knowledge these guys were the true sort of pioneers of real Chopu. Mike Stewart and Ben Severson began surfing Chopu and really started giving it a proper crack. For years it stayed as an underground bodyboard haven and was kept relatively low key by hard charging boogers. There is another story though that claims local Tahitians surfed the wave a long time before what is widely publicized. I won't get into the full story in this video but it goes back as far as 1893 when a Tahitian woman whose name I'm not even going to try and pronounce visited for a surfing contest at Chopu all the way back then. She didn't surf right away and was ridiculed by the other competitors for not paddling out but as the conditions improved and the swell jumped she paddled out and rode the largest wave of the day and put everyone else to shame and was then banished from Chopu because she'd embarrassed the king. But this is more local folklore than actual accurate documented story. Chopu's next most defining moment came in 1997 when the ASP now the WSL added Tahiti and Chopu as a new venue to their competition schedule and this is what showcased Chopu to the world. Only it didn't quite happen like that. For Chopu's inaugural event the waves were two foot and onshore and it was far from a spectacle. A boat also got washed onto the brief and the sponsors pulled out leaving the ASP to fork out for both the boat damages and for finishing the rest of the event. After such a failure the ASP planned not to return to Chopu but the Tahitian government called the ASP in the months following convincing them to give it a second chance. So in 1998 they ran the Gotcha Tahiti Pro at Chopu. The event was once again plagued by two foot onshore dribble and the conditions almost led to a cancellation rendering the event an uncompleted disaster. But the Tahitian locals like Raymana Van Bastler reassured the ASP that waves were on the way and one day during the waiting period just as the locals had predicted they woke and some of the heaviest most perfect lefts many of the crew had ever seen in their lives. The event wasn't a CT at the time but ran as a WQS six star and for three days straight the event ran in conditions that would go on to define perfect Chopu. This was the moment that positioned the spot as a world-class wave, a truly perfect wave to rival any other and for the next few years the event ran in epic conditions and was eventually added to their ASP Dream Tour in 2001. The break then went on to produce some of the most iconic competition surfing moments in history with some career-defining performances throughout the 2000s but ultimately it was the late Andy Irons that earned the rightful title of King of Chopu. But what Chopu was really capable of was shown by a When Laird Hamilton rode what eventually became known as the Millennium Wave you know we've all seen this photo the one of the most mind-blowing insanely perfect craziest photos in the world you know everyone kind of remembers when that first came out and it was just mind-blowing you know the sheer volume of water in that photo and it defied what most people thought was possible at the time. This was right at the time when tow surfing was redefining what waves could be ridden and soon big wave daves from around the world were flocking to Tahiti whenever a big purple blob appeared in the South Pacific. I'm going to try and explain as best I can why Chopu is actually so heavy and a little bit of the science behind it but obviously I'm not a scientist so bear with me. So the reef here was shaped by millennia of fresh water running off through the coral reef which where the river runs out basically cut a hole in the reef and this was caused by millions of years of fresh water runoff cutting through the reef very gradually. The water directly behind the reef is also extremely deep and swells go from 1500 meter deep ocean to 300 meter deep water about a third of a mile offshore and then eventually meet another shelf of around 10 meters in height which is where we see swells curl over and do s*** like this you know breaking in feet of water. Its location on the southwestern tip of Tahiti also positions it in prime location to receive solid South Pacific swells between April and October. When I was researching for this video I actually found out that the reef at Chopu is a phenomenon you know there's no real other waves that are like Chopu and the reef is just perfectly shaped so that the wave can still break properly and be ridden. If the gradient was even slightly steeper it wouldn't even be a wave and it wouldn't even break like we know it does today so it's a combination of having that river run out there, the coral reef to be the perfect gradient and the swell angles to come in at that certain way, how the trade winds blow. This combination of things just make for this wonderful phenomenon that is Chopu. Over the years that followed Chopu really showed its teeth to the over several notable swells no more so than in 2011 with the Code Red swell. I think all of us remember this swell I can remember watching it on my phone when I woke up one morning and just could not believe the volume of water in some of those waves I mean I can't even imagine what it was like to be there on that swell. I think I've watched that video like four times in a row because I was just like what the f*** like it's just nuts and it was just on a whole other level to anything anyone had ever seen before. The swell happened to come right in the middle of the waiting period for that year's Billabong Pro but it was called off on that day and it turned into one of the most iconic tow surfing days in history. So during the 2011 swell the government placed a ban on watercraft so first thing in the morning when that swell arrived police were stopping people coming into Chopu preventing any skis and watercraft from entering the water so because it was on during the waiting period they had all the skis and boats there but all the official watercraft from the event couldn't actually be used legally because of this ban. So with no skis available and lots of surfers like not even being able to get out there eventually some of the best big wave guys all sort of rallied together and went out anyway and people had to sort of like sneak skis into the water from private jetties and you know be a bit subtle about it but eventually there was just so many skis like water safety team surfers all sort of descending on the lineup that the authorities decided they wouldn't pull people out from the channel they'd just try and stop people from the land because you know if you're a big wave rider you're not going to miss the chance to surf that sort of once in a lifetime swell just because you know it's technically not allowed. Some of the best big wave guys got incredible waves and even a handful of CT surfers gave it a crack as well. There's a famous story of Craig Anderson, Dave Rastovich filming for this time tomorrow you know paddling out there from the beach and I think Dave Rastovich gets a pretty sick one eventually. There's a really sick movie on YouTube I think it's about 15 minutes long that documents a swell it's worth a watch or worth a re-watch from time to time because it's still so so impressive. There have been several other enormous swells since then that have further shown how crazy chopu can be. Obviously I don't have any first-hand experience with the wave let alone it be at that size but to me it seems like a wave that can never really get too big because it's so deep like next to it in the channel and off the back it I guess it can hold any size and I guess it can be paddled up to a certain size and when eventually it reaches the tipping point of there being too much water it can't be paddled then then it gets towed but on these swells now it looks like it's so hectic it looks like there's such a condensed pack and obviously like the locals are getting the best waves and people flying in from all over the world I think when it looks most hectic is when there's like paddle waves but then like tow sets. So as you'd expect the place has dished out some horror story wipeouts over the years most notably Bryce Terrier in 2001 who after trying to duck dive a solid set wave on a pumping chokes day was sucked back over the falls drilled into the reef and killed. You know my friend Loie's almost died out there a couple of times and the list goes on for sketchy wipeouts at the place Kiana Kennelly is another one back in 2011 I think and then there's this crazy Makua Rothman story has a really bad wipeout hits his face on the reef and he talks about his lip like just hanging off his face and it's dished out these kind of wipeouts to like some of the best big wave riders in the world so yeah it's a serious serious wave and unless you're in that top echelon of like big wave riders then it's just not a wave for you to surf at least not at that size. The spot also went on to host surfing's second ever appearance at the Olympic Games at Paris 2024 and has been a permanent fixture on the WCT for decades. In the lead-up to the Olympics there was some controversy over the construction of the new judging tower but the Olympic event itself was a pretty solid event the waves were pumping and it further solidified Chope's status as an iconic surf break. So Chope's has been in the surf media recently due to the chaos happening in the channel so while the channel between where the wave is and where another patch of reef starts is super super deep and waves can never really close it out no matter how big the swell is the channel is just rammed with boats any time there's a swell you know media boats carrying photographers, taxi boats, spectator boats, there's photographers swimming around in the water, there's surfers waiting in the channel, there's obviously like the lineup next to it it just seems like such a chaotic area. During the making of this video there's actually a run of solid swell and perfect conditions through the first half of June 2026 where there are several incidents of boats nearly getting pulled over the falls and surfers getting spat out pits and like crashing into boats or like narrowly avoiding crashing into boats and reading this social post from someone who was there describes what happens really well so after that chaos for the next bump of the swell the authorities decided that there would be no boats or even surfers in the lineup and enforced a blanket ban on water activity which you can see their point but it doesn't really make sense to stop surfers from surfing out there. So during this ban recently they actually pulled everybody out of the lineup and there were two surfers surfing during the ban and the authorities went out there and pulled them out of the lineup and Chopes was just empty and perfect all because of this chaos in the channel. So this was actually similar to the ban they had in place back in 2011 and it's actually not uncommon during abnormally massive swells but I think the real concern here among locals and authorities is just the danger of having that many boats in such a small area in such big swell it's just a recipe for disaster there's been so many near misses you know unless something is done to change things and regulate it a bit more it's only going to be a matter of time before something really bad actually happens. I guess the debate now is whether access to the channel at Chope can be regulated officially limiting the number of boats and personnel in the channel at one time. I'm not exactly sure how this would work does it just become a bidding war between like photographers and boat operators or a lottery there are several social media posts from locals and people who spend a lot of time out there you know stressing the importance of getting some sort of system in place. So yeah that is a brief history of Chope, let me know if you've surfed it whether it be two foot or ten foot I'd love to hear some of your stories if you've got any. This is a really fun video to research and make because I was basically just looking at but thanks for watching thanks for all the support as always for now it's goodbye from me and I'll see you in the next episode.