Watch: Tim Bonython // Liquid Thunder
"For two days last week, the world’s most infamous slab roared to life during a serious big-wave swell that demanded both paddle and tow mastery.
"On day one, the lineup was a roll call of Tahiti's big wave surfing royalty: local prince Matahi Drollet, legends like Gibert Teave, Lorenzo Avveneti, Eimeo Czermak, and Olympic gold medalist Kauli Vaast.
"Yet it wasn’t just Tahiti’s best answering the call. With the Tahit Pro just days away, CT heavy hitters like Jack Robinson, Leo Fioravanti, and Griffin Colapinto joined the charge, towing and paddling into some of the biggest, thickest walls Teahupoo has unleashed in years."
Comments
Thanks Tim. That was amazing. Three things particularly stood out for me:
Izzi Gomez - I feel like that was a Laird Hamilton moment for all of us wanting to be better. Izzi handled a bloody difficult wave and showed us, if we want to, we can.
Naiki Vaast - Held a wave that in previous swells had not been a succesful ride.
Matahi Drollet - This guy......does anyone think that he doesn't have the place completely on lock?
What I just emailed (along with the link, of course) to a friend of mine who's pretty well-dialed-in, and has been a lot of places, over a lot of years, and has seen and done, a lot of things.
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Tim Bonython's effort at trying to capture an atomic bomb detonation in a bottle.
Lot of slow-mo, which I usually do not like.
Music by Robot God, which is a kind of music I usually do not like.
Izzi Gomez's wave at 10 minutes stands out, and her and the other women were going right at it.
But, of course, Matahi Drollet is just... other.
And somehow, despite the stuff I usually do not like, it all wove together seamlessly, into a coherent and VERY enjoyable whole.
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My utmost thanks to Tim Bonython for chasing an atomic bomb with an open-top glass jar in one hand, and the jar's lid in the other.
And my utmost thanks to those of you who make Swellnet happen.
It's appreciated. Very very much, appreciated.
Love the tunes Tim!!
Mammoth improvement
That hold-down at 11:20 was insane
The water exploding upwards - but poor old mate and his tombstoning board
I timed his hold down @ 29.87sec (whilst getting crap kicked out of you underwater)
Heavy......
That's on slow mo though. Still wouldn't be fun.
yeah you're correct - must admit hadn't quite picked that up - was too focused on holding my breath in empathy lol
The CT surfers charging, but they look like they're charging, whereas Eimeo and Matahi are just next level comfort and ease, incredible surfing.
It's more noticeable with the surfers on their backhand, but anyone looking to level up in hard-breaking slabs could do worse than see how Eimeo and Griff, at the very point of takeoff, do everything in their grasp to keep the board engaged to the wave.
Even when it seems beyond salvation they're pushing the nose down so the rocker cups onto the wave. No freefall, no side-slip, fins engaged from the get go. Incredible surfing. Everything about it is counter-intuitive so can only be done with supreme confidence.
EDIT: By way of contrast, and not meaning to put the boot in, but compare it against Filipe's first effort in the comp, where he went to knife it, backed out so the nose of the board lifted up, he got to his feet normally and it turned into a slight freefall, which added drama, but in terms of surfing progression it may as well have been the 1980s.
Old bodyboard slab technique, stick to the wave to avoid air dropping to oblivion.
I once read Slater saying he adopted that technique of pushing the nose down from watching Ross Clarke-Jones do it at Pipeline.
Absolutely insane stuff - like a modern day Gladiator arena.
That Matahi Drollet wave - how did that thing go from a 20 foot atomic bomb to a 3 foot wind tunnel??
It was hilarious watching it on the live feed. The Rogue TV guys almost destroyed the sound booth with excitement when he got spat out of that thing.
Hats off to the skills of the ski operators as well. They are as mental as the guys they are towing. That guy at 22.30 was a short and curly away from absolute Armageddon.
wow. fabulous work Tim
Griff in deep shit at 7.18
Yeah. WTF. He obviosuly got sucked back over and I just don't see how you survive being in that lip getting pummeled into shallow reef.
How wild was that!? Why on earth did he keep his legrope on ?
reckons it was out of courtesy to Eli Olson (see below)
very good breakdown:
Stu's dedication-to, and love-of slab sublties is rubbing-off. During the last week's easterly swell madness, noticed one particular slabber's technique of rolling shoulders forward and then down to shift weight over the nose during pop-up, with the effect of penetrating downwards through the lip instead of getting sling-shot outward like a Felipe Tornado.
Thanks Stu! and Tim.
Epic. Mesmerising end section. Matahi Drollet is incredible.
How utterly and epically ridiculous!
Thanks Tim, Swellnet and and all those superhuman beings having a crack.
I'm totally buzzing after a successfully negotiated head high barrel at my local reef or even the Tulla Tube Tub. I can only imagine the intensity of feeling experienced by those fortunate gladiators.
Such good viewing.
Robot God best choice for that Tim.
Insaneeee!!! Loved it.
Special shout out to Tim for capturing it all and framing the whole waves in close up and in high definition on a moving boat that's bobbing up and down... it's elite.
This footage is timeless and is a great documentation of an epic day of incredible rides. Hat's off to all the chargers. Mental stuff. How's those mutant massive ones where the lip forms halfway up the face. Faark me!!
Jacob Turner was my highlight.
X2.
Young fella is pretty handy out there.
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Double post.
Crazy. Interesting to see Tiger right arm dragging on that wave at 23.50. 25 years after his dad towed laird into his one..
..it feels weird to try and start my normal day, after watching that..
So good I watched it again on the Tele screen. Great band gunna spotify them and listen with this in mind
Incredible footage and video by Tim. With the quality of the camera and lens work these days, that was nuts. Also the surfing!