Kauli Vaast didn’t have to share his home lineup with many people the past couple of years thanks to COVID-19. In fact, Tahitians were given back-to-back exceptional Teahupo’o seasons in 2020 and 2021 with few to no visitors allowed to come to their South Pacific paradise. This summer has been a wildly different story, with a series of heavy swells — most notably and most recently, Code Red 2 — bringing a flood of out-of-towners to the “End of the Road.” It turns out those two years were a productive opportunity for Vaast.
“We were lucky to have a lot of swell and locals only in the water,” he tells The Inertia. “Tahitians were able to make more waves and progress even more.” He adds that now that the lineup is filled with visitors again he’s noticed those same Tahitians are now pushing their limits even more. By his estimate, they’re the best you’ll find out there right now.
Praises to his hometown crew aside, Vaast has undoubtedly been a standout through it all. And after winning the trials for the Outerknown Tahiti Pro he’ll be surfing a CT event at Teahupo’o for the second time in his career. His first came in 2019, earning an equal ninth, but few people will be surprised if he does far more damage this time around. We’ve all seen how much Kauli Vaast has progressed at home since that last wildcard appearance. His newest edit is exhibit A: 99 seconds of his best this season.
Will all those crazy freesurf highlights translate to a heat? If any place requires little-to-no adjustments from freesurfing to a contest scenario it’s Teahupo’o, where sniffing out the deepest, most critical barrels is the only thing that truly matters. Vaast at least somewhat agrees that his approach doesn’t need to change once he puts a jersey on.
“I think it’s the same thing,” he says. “Just having fun and enjoying it, but be super focused and ready at the same time.”
