Teahupo’o made a real mark a few weeks ago. Not only on the internet — viral clips were stacked on top of viral clips — but on a few of the people who surfed it. And one of those people was 16-year-old Gilbert Teavetehuritaua, a guy who is making a name for himself by consistently charging the biggest and heaviest waves the end of the road can throw at him.
And on one particular day of that run of swell, the wave at the end of the road threw him a big one. Gilbert, by his telling, was brimming with confidence after successfully surfing a huge wave. When he paddled back out to the lineup, another even bigger one was looming.
“It was huge,” he said. “I turned around. I was a little hesitant at first, but Alvino [Tupuai] told me to go so I was downright confident. When I did the take off, I wasn’t touching the water. When I landed I was in the flats. Then I fell forward and bounced several times. I directly hit the reef.”
After he came back to the surface, another wave was coming at him. He ducked under it, then grabbed onto a Jet Ski and got out of the impact zone.
“I was feeling really bad,” he continued, “but I was so stoked to be on the sled.”
When he got out of the water, though, it was apparent that he’d paid his pound of flesh. While he’s thankfully on the mend, you can bet it won’t be the last pound he pays, because Gilbert Teavetehuritaua lives for Teahupo’o, and he’s willing to pay to play.
