We have had the most insane run of surf this past week, all at Teahupoo. Andy and I have been doing two sessions a day, with the surf being 3-4 foot with well overhead sets. Sheet glass, no wind, just perfect barrels reeling down the reef. And with almost no crowd. Teahupoo has developed a weird anomaly: On the really big days, predicted well in advance, there will be crews of chargers out. But as soon as the swell drops these guys disappear. Teahupoo does hot have a dedicated daily local crew like on many of the “easier” waves further down. Also, as with most of the waves, you need a tinny to get out there or face a fairly long endurance paddle out to the pass. And as we have come to realize this past week, even small to medium Teahupoo is still world class.

Crisp barrels, whackable sections and it only gets too shallow right at the end of the wave. Even the really small shoulder high one’s are fully surfable, we surfed it the whole week, even today, with absolutely no swell on the charts, there are some fun head high waves with no-one on it. Another factor with the crowds is that there are just so many other waves in the area, immediately north and south of Teahupoo. Not only on the reef passes, but also on sections of the fringing reef which has a few interesting corners, especially when the swell is small. Teahupoo also has such a “heavy” reputation that it does not really attract your joe-average traveling surfer… So its perceived to be too heavy for travelers, it has a light local crew, and it only gets crowded on the really big days…. That leaves 100’s of smaller days with no-one. STOKED!

first proper T shack

Our anchorage at Teahupoo

We have shimmi anchored at 17deg51.571S and 149deg15.093W. Its basically at the back of the Teahupoo reef pass, in the lagoon behind the judges tower. From the back of shimmi we have a nice front-on binocs view of Teahupoo, its kiff cause we can constantly monitor the crowd and be on it when it thins out. The area here is just mind-blowingly beautiful: emerald green mountains in the shape of giant pyramids, streams full of lillys, crystal clear water, the tranquility of these endless blue lagoons, the white surf crashing out on the coral reef.

Josh, the anchorage and the judging tower

At the back of the Teahupoo basin is a little perfect A-frame beach break, Josh has caught about a 1000 of these waves, i push him in on Chantal’s mini mal. In the late afternoon we go for a stroll along the lagoon egde, there is a small headland where all the homes have massive green lawns and trees rolling down to the lagoon, Indie finally gets a chance to stretch his legs and just run! Least but not last, yesterday Chantal paddled out at Teahupoo and caught a hand full of waves, she is just grinning. This weekend a massive swell is supposed to hit, I overhead Raimano V Bastolaer talking that it may be a tow situation. Will keep you posted. Au revoir.

We surfed Faaite for 3 days. Then the surf went flat so we focused on fishing. Only problem is that ciguatera is rife in this area. Ciguatera poisoning is caused by eating certain reef fishes whose flesh is contaminated with toxins originally produced by dinoflagellates that adhere to coral, algae and seaweed, where they are eaten by herbivorous fish who in turn are eaten by larger carnivorous fish. In this way the toxins move up the food chain. Predator species near the top of the food chain in tropical and subtropical waters, such as barracudas, red snapper, parrot fish, groupers and trevally are most likely to cause ciguatera poisoning. Ciguatoxin is very heat-resistant, so ciguatoxin-laden fish cannot be detoxified by conventional cooking. It is so bad in certain areas that researchers reckon it was a major reason for the migratory voyages of the Polynesians… Symptoms of ciguatera include nausea, vomiting, head aches, numbness, hallucinations and a burning sensation on contact with cold. Many people have died from it.

During one spearo session I was surrounded by big Trevally, but alas, its not worth pulling the trigger. Food and water on board shimmi is at an all time low. Our watermaker has stopped working, so we went ashore to try and bum some water off the locals. But they dont have much either! There are no mountains or even high ground on the atolls, so there is no run off, no ground water. The only water they get is from rain. We managed to buy 6 jerry’s of drinking water, so were ok again for a few days. The charts dont show much swell for the next week, so we decided to get moving again: Destination TEAHUPOO!
We left Faaite Atoll mid morning with initially blustery squally winds and a rough ocean, now things have settled, wind is around 12 knots apparent. After a few sail changes we are now running on spinnaker only, doing around 5-7 knots, should make it a 2 day cruise. We should be at Tahiti by Sunday morning, we will probably stop off at Teahupoo which is down on the south west coast. Kiddies had a bit of “first cruise day” niggles … but have now settled. Josh is amping on what stock the Tahiti toy shops may have. We are very low on food, basically eating crusts and re-opening garbage bags. By the time we get to Tahiti, Andy and I would have hand steered shimmi more than 1000 nautical miles. But our autopilot is fixed and waiting for us in Papeete, the capital of Tahiti. Nothing much more to report …
Next evening:
We are rounding the southern tip of Tahiti. We got here faster than expected, sleigh riding at 100-120deg under spinnaker alone with solid 14-18knots of true wind. We averaged close to 8 knots for the day with plenty 10 knot spells and a 12.4 knot top speed! We are about to sail past Havae reef pass which is where Teahupoo is situated. Its too tricky to go in there now at night so we are going to enter one of the reef passes a few miles further north. Its almost full moon so it should be fine. The pass I have in mind, Tapuaeraha, has two lead lights up on the hill. We hope to anchor next to Vairao village and do some food shopping tomorrow. Then its back down to Teahupoo, rumour has it that there is a big sw swell arriving mid week. Few nice 12 ft Teahupoo barrels should be fun. Get the old heart pumping.
Its worth checking out this southern coast of Tahiti on google earth… most of Tahiti is surrounded by a lagoon and outer reef, you can almost cruise around the whole island inside this protected lagoon. There is a multitude of reef passes to access various parts of it, the wave Teahupoo happens to be on the south side of one of the most southern passes (Havae reef pass). So we can actually drive shimmi right up to the wave. OMG, what if its massive? Insert nervous drumroll…..

We ended up in the south of Fakarava atoll, in the Tuamotu archipelago. I fixed the gennie which broke down during the crossing whilst Andy and Chantal baked bread and banana loaf. So kiff to just potter around the boat at anchor after a hectic 5 days at sea. Our course from Fatu Hiva was quite southerly, which meant that we had to cut 90deg across the prevailing seas.

Our first night at anchor turned out to be in the middle of a strong outflowing current and opposing winds, so today we scoped out the area for a better anchorage. We eventually found an old mooring, right in the best spot, halfway out the reef pass, off to the side in a big eddy. I dived on the mooring and its a huge old anchor, nice and strong. Across the reef pass is an abandoned old village and a small rustic dive resort with all its bungalows and little bar/restaurant out on stilts, jutting into the pass, awesome. Tiny but perfect lefthanders peel down the other side of the pass. Unfortunately too small and onshore with the current SE trades.

The diving just below shimmi is out of this world, just 1st class tropical snorkelling with plenty black tip reef sharks, Napoleon wrasse, trumpet fish etc etc. My cruise guide rates Fakarava as one of the top 5 dive sites world wide. Josh was in his element, not scared to snorkel with the sharks which are bigger than him. He now dives down to about 4m (same depth as his age), even more if there is an audience. We joined the resort for dinner, about 15 other people, buffet. Indie and Josh were running around laughing their heads off. To get to the restaurant we simply drive the dingy up to the edge of their deck, voila! Now its tummy’s full and of to bed. Andy is catching sharks with a spoon off the back. If you know nothing about fishing that might sound strange. Just a loud yelp from him every now and then. First thing tomorrow morning we cruise 12 miles across to Faaite, hold thumbs for swell, offshore wind and big empty barrels.

Few days later:
We finally scored the surf to cancel out the 2 month slog to get here. Just two of us in the water, emerald green barrels reeling through. Well overhead, low tide and light offshore. As the swell grew it just got better and better. Golden sunset over sheet glass perfection and i am not blowing smoke up yer ass. Two wave sets every 5 minutes with just 2 of us out makes for a pretty special session. I had one stand out wave, I backdoored a solid 6 foot pipe, which I had to claim. But nobody saw, so does that count? My pigdog was amping right off his leash, what a lovely pet he is. Yes it was a dream day, an entry on the good side of shimmi’s ledger.


Its a class wave, medium length, a tight and tricky barrel until it goes overhead, hard lip to hit, dodgy to cutback, many menacing coral heads if you cock up. I wont bore you with wave descriptions any further. Also knocked two fins out of my 6′4, now riding my 6′0 four fin which is a bit twitchy. In the end we are just so stoked to have found a wave which is offshore all day long and picks up the regular swell. Those are the 2 most important ingredients when you explore for waves. Who knows how good or long it will get on a really solid swell?
STOKED!