Tahiti

Ash's picture
Ash started the topic in Tuesday, 25 Jun 2019 at 12:33pm

If you haven't seen this before,

it's well worth the 30mins.
All in real time, no music, no self promotion of just one or two surfers it encompasses all the elation, annihilation and drama of a big day at this place, the stuff happening in the channel is interesting alone.

amb's picture
amb's picture
amb Tuesday, 25 Jun 2019 at 3:32pm

Holy Shit! thanks for sharing..thats amazing

Ash's picture
Ash's picture
Ash Tuesday, 25 Jun 2019 at 3:55pm

No worries, it's way better than a manufactured, manicured film clip IMO, the lack of music and just the audio, and FA slowmo, just a little bit to emphasize the gravity of the situation is icing on the cake.

amb's picture
amb's picture
amb Tuesday, 25 Jun 2019 at 4:14pm

agree

Westofthelake's picture
Westofthelake's picture
Westofthelake Tuesday, 25 Jun 2019 at 4:18pm

Awesome vid, "encompasses all the elation, annihilation and drama of a big day at this place,".
Spot on.

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Tuesday, 25 Jun 2019 at 4:20pm

Far out, that video is incredible! And for all the reasons you say, just puts you there in the channel, looking over the next swell to see what's coming, who's on it, who's getting drilled.

Good shit...

I focus's picture
I focus's picture
I focus Tuesday, 25 Jun 2019 at 5:23pm

That was nuts

zenagain's picture
zenagain's picture
zenagain Tuesday, 25 Jun 2019 at 5:56pm

I watched that last night on the big tele. Wicked.

Chaos out there. That boogie boarder getting smoked made me cringe as did some of the other beat downs. Great stuff.

carpetman's picture
carpetman's picture
carpetman Tuesday, 25 Jun 2019 at 6:49pm

Unreal

freeride76's picture
freeride76's picture
freeride76 Tuesday, 25 Jun 2019 at 7:37pm

see how chaotic that little channel is.

twice as many boats there on the Code Red swell ....I saw one little tinny with a baby and a tiny dog on board...........mental.

Blowin's picture
Blowin's picture
Blowin Tuesday, 25 Jun 2019 at 8:37pm

That was epic.

Cheers

crg's picture
crg's picture
crg Tuesday, 25 Jun 2019 at 9:18pm

How much better is the simple, raw footage than an over-produced clip?!
The guy doing the camera work and who's voice you can hear is my mate Curt. They (Powerlines) make all the Mavericks videos and he is the quietest, most humble guy you could meet. To hear him frothing like that is so out of character - it must have been crazy intense out there!!

freeride76's picture
freeride76's picture
freeride76 Wednesday, 26 Jun 2019 at 6:14am

One of those boat drivers, I think the guy who is in the red boat which is always front of the pack, was one of the pioneers of surfing Teahupoo.....Timotei is his name I think.
Got his head split open like a watermelon and only surfs when small.

You think those boats are in a channel, they are not. They are in a crack in the reef about 20-30m wide. When those sets come it's fucking so hairy.

shoredump's picture
shoredump's picture
shoredump Wednesday, 26 Jun 2019 at 8:39am

I lucked into a stormy Laird & Raimana tow session on a planned trip there. It was incredible to watch but it was nowhere near that league, I was able to watch from my board. No way you’d be on a board in the channel this day how was all the water moving. Code red must have been pretty much the highlight of your surfing career FR, wow. I surfed the morning after the late arvo tow session, solo. Paddled out thinking I’ve come all this way. Probably the ballsiest / dumbest thing I’ve done. It wasn’t till I got home that a friend asked what if I’d dislocated my shoulder. It’s a long one arm paddle in against the rip. As it was I lost my board. That afternoon we trekked into the mountains, in the rain, trying to find the waterfall. It took a lot longer than we’d expected then the night hit quickly. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face it was black. Yeah we made every text book mistake, didn’t tell anyone, only took beers as supplies etc. It was before mobiles so we had no light trying to criss cross the ever swelling river to get out. Eventually we gave up and spent the night in those mountains, talking about explorers making ourselves feel much more comfortable than we were. Craziest 36 hrs of my life

rooftop's picture
rooftop's picture
rooftop Wednesday, 26 Jun 2019 at 9:23pm

Thanks for posting that Ash. That was 30 minutes very well spent.

Ash's picture
Ash's picture
Ash Thursday, 27 Jun 2019 at 10:39am

Cheers rooftop, wild place and mad chargers is an entertaining recipe.

eel's picture
eel's picture
eel Thursday, 27 Jun 2019 at 7:50pm

That was epic! How much better is it when we see the whole wave (including takeoff) and it's played at full speed.

rooftop's picture
rooftop's picture
rooftop Thursday, 27 Jun 2019 at 11:25pm

Totally agree. Apart from the lack of slo-mo and shit music, it's also the lack of over-editing that makes it so good.

The waves that get unridden, the frantic scramble as the boats realise they're being sucked in to the impact zone, the breathless few seconds as they scan the roiling whitewater for the wipeout victim before the next avalanche hits them - it all creates a vivid sense of being there lacking in most surf clips. It also provides the connective tissue necessary to a narrative arc, lending the highlights so much more power when they do come.

I understand the pressures on a 3-minute highlight clip to showcase their surfer and sponsor and then get out of there before the audience tunes out, but to be honest, unless they're exceptional I rarely make it all-the way through such clips. It's like eating a bowl of sugar. This one had me spellbound all the way through. Even Koa's wave looked bigger and gnarlier in this clip than when I saw it as just a highlight.