iStockphoto / yann vernerie / haumaru
An American surfer has reportedly died last week while surfing Teahupo’o in Tahiti, French Polynesia. Teahupo’o is one of the most famous big wave breaks on earth and the site of the 2024 Summer Olympics surfing competition, with surfers coming from all around the world to test their mettle.
This infamous ‘slab’ wave produces some of the heaviest surf on earth and when the swells are big it can create treacherous conditions as the wave breaks over a dangerous coral reef.
American Surfer Dies After Wiping Out On Teahupo’o
According to StabMag, a 56-year-old unnamed American surfer died after wiping out and breaking vertebrae in their neck. The local mayor, Milton Parker, released a statement saying “the victim fell off his board, hit his head on the reef and broke two vertebrae in his neck.”
According to reports, the unnamed 56-year-old was pulled out of the water by another surfer in the lineup who was able to reach them and get them to a boat. Following the incident, the surfer was moved to Taravao Hospital and then French Polynesia Hospital Centre (CHPF) while listed as being in critical condition but they succumbed to their injuries and passed away on June 19th.
Legendary surfer Laird Hamilton once famously called Teahupo’o the “heaviest wave” he had ever ridden in his life. And this was not the first life lost to this wave. Back in 2000, local Tahitian surfer Brice Taerea tried to duck-dive under an incoming wave and didn’t make it, got sucked backward ‘over the falls,’ and was thrown onto the reef resulting in two broken vertebrae and a severed spinal cord.
Recent swells at Teahupo’o have produced enormous waves and at this slab break that means some of the heaviest surf on earth.
Thoughts are with the family and friends of the surfer who lost his life last week.