Days like these at pumping Teahupoo are the most enjoyable to watch, but the hardest to write about. The hype and the superlatives can't do it justice and all you can really do is sketch a rough outline of the day's events. To wit: Vahine Fierro offered a reckless, brazen, and diamond-brilliant performance over three heats in 6 to 10 foot full pumping Teahupoo to highlight another transcendent day of women's competitive surfing.
Once a blue moon, surfing does take on the dimensions of a combat sport, in terms of what must be endured and the courage required to face it. Vahine started the Semi getting caught inside by a monster set, which grabbed her by the feet, dragged her backwards over the falls and over the reef, where she was pounded by huge sets in the worst possible position before getting a ride through the lagoon from the water patrol. A single event of this magnitude would drain the tank of most surfers.
Vahine took three more trips through the lagoon after pounding wipeouts. At times it seemed this recklessness would be her undoing.
After one such misadventure she left Tati in the lineup alone with priority. Both the best and worst place to be as a professional surfer when you paddle over a lump and the horizon turns blue-black. There wasn't a moment's hesitation from Tati as she whipped it and put her head down, but for a micro-second her nose caught the square of the wave and it looked like a punishing wipeout was imminent.
Not so. She needed a 10 to take the lead, and judges duly awarded the 10, unanimously. The best wave a woman has ever surfed in a jersey..? No other candidates come immediately to mind. Pickles 10 at Pipe was the closest thing we've got and this definitely shaded it. I'm so habituated to the religious underpinnings of elite pro surfing that the talk no longer jars.
