After almost a week of waiting for the swell and winds to cooperate, the Tahiti Pro is finally under way. The waves have been slow to show, but currently the sun is poking through the clouds, it’s glassy, and the swell is rising. A surfer’s instinct will tell you that we’ve got a couple of very good days of pro surfing in the forecast at one of the best waves in the world.
Yesterday, things got underway with the women’s opening round heats and all eyes were on Carissa Moore. She’s had a dominant points lead the second half of this season, and she capped things off yesterday by clinching the number-one spot in the WSL Finals at Lower Trestles this September. That means, same as last year, she’ll be sitting and waiting, “Queen of the Hill” style for the rest of the top five to duke it out and come up with a competitor to face her in the final heat.
Before Teahupo’o, her competitors at Trestles would have been Johanne Defay, Tatiana Weston-Webb, Steph Gilmore, and Brisa Hennessey. However, with Johanne falling in the elimination round this morning, those final five rankings are sure to change. Stay tuned.
