Gallery: Teahupoo's Bright Blue Weekend

All Photos: Romuald Pliquet

A couple weeks back, we posted a Wave of the Day from Matahi Drollet, who’s well on his way to becoming the current prince of Teahupoo. (Taken over from his older brother Manoa Drollet, who showed Matahi the ropes as a teenager.) It was the first swell of the season — and Drollet’s wave was insane — but as an overall session, it was marred by less-than-ideal winds. This was not the case this past weekend. A fairly bombing swell, coupled with glassy conditions, ensured that local chargers got their fill of bright blue caverns. Matahi, unsurprisingly, was the standout.

Matahi Drollet. Photo: Romuald Pliquet

“Nothing too crazy has slammed into Tahiti just yet this season, but the month of May has been plentiful, especially compared to the months prior,” explained Surfline Lead Forecaster Jonathan Warren. “This is because the Southwest Pacific — Tahiti’s primary swell source — finally opened for business around the beginning of the month, while before it most of the strong storm activity was taking place across the eastern half of the basin or over in the Tasman Sea and under Australia.”

Eimeo Czermak. Photo: Romuald Pliquet

“This Saturday was really epic at Teahupoo because of perfect waves — and several hours with no one out,” explained local Eimeo Czermak. “There was a surf contest in town, so most local surfers didn’t come to the End of the Road. Waves were like 8 to 10 feet, a little bit windy, but with perfect direction, so I surfed for a couple hours alone. I got some very good waves — and one heavy wipeout where I broke my favorite CI 6’5″.”

Ian Fontaine. Photo: Romuald Pliquet

The biggest kickers that led to this latest run of solid swell were, according to Warren: “1) The storm was fairly strong, tracking in a favorable direction toward Tahiti — and slowly. 2) There was strong high pressure support ridging in behind the storm, which remained centered more to the west, instead of north of the storm. Not only did this high contribute to stronger and more consistent wind speeds, but it allowed for a more northward aimed fetch and for the storm to take a favorable ENE track in a general direction of Tahiti. And finally, 3) After pushing out the initial pulse for Saturday, the storm stalled and delivered another solid push of reinforcing and more southerly angled swell to keep surf elevated through Sunday and Monday. Furthermore, with the storm parking itself well to the south of Tahiti, the breezy ESE trades that prevailed on Saturday backed off some and shifted more offshore from the E to ENE for Sunday and Monday.”