Who are we to judge? That’s not what this post is about. But this has to be one of the gnarliest drop ins you’ll ever see. And it was at Teahupo’o, one of the gnarliest waves in the world.
To set the scene, Justine Dupont, who was towing, had let go of the rope moments earlier and set her line. Just as she was about to get barreled, boogie boarder Tupuai Alvino fell from the sky. He was then ragdolled in the barrel as Justine ducked and shifted lines to avoid him, a hectic scene, to say the least, which legendary lensman Tim McKenna caught on camera, above.
It sounded as though it ended well, so Justine chalked it up as a good day. “The atmosphere was really great and there was no animosity between paddlers and tow surfers,” Justine wrote on social media. She’d been paddle surfing earlier in the day.
“The vast majority of surfers in the lineup had alternated between one and the other. When the opportunity came with Tahitian legend #Poto Vetea David, I took it to go tow a few waves. I didn’t surf the first one well, I found myself in front of the tube 😅 I’m happy with the second one, I got a better line (I’ll post it soon). And then there was this one 🤷♀️ The wave looked really cool, I took my line and saw the bodyboarder turn around and paddle. I hesitated whether to go straight or jump off my board and finally I thought that maybe I could avoid it 😅 He touched my arm, it was super close but I could make it😃 He told me he was sorry and hadn’t seen me. It’s part of surfing and there are no problems👌🏼 The main thing is that neither of us got hurt. Thanks to all the locals for the encouragement and the good vibes 🙏🏼 Thank you Uncle Poto 🤙🏼 See you tomorrow in the lineup.”
Other than that, just a normal day at the end of the road.
