Read this great feature at WSL as they breakdown how the best Tackle Tubes at Teahupo’o

Throughout the years, the Samsung Galaxy Championship Tour’s Billabong Pro Tahiti has provided some of the most exciting moments of a given season. But with the excitement comes equal parts danger as the Top 34 surfers in the world battle each other and Mother Nature at one of the world’s heaviest waves, Teahupo’o.

TEAHUPO’O BEST CONDITIONS
Swell Height: 4′ – 12′
Swell Direction: South – Southwest
Wind Direction: East
Tide: Mid-Tide, but works on all tides
Water Temp: 80F
Bottom: Coral Reef

From the lineup, the island of Tahiti violently juts up from the sea in sheer cliffs, simultaneously beautiful and terrifying. Teahupo’o is a spot where the entire Pacific Ocean seemingly stacks up to eat itself whole: It’s French Polynesia’s razor-thin line between glory and disaster. That striking geography is mimicked in the design of the offshore ocean floor — steep, jagged and extreme.

Energy from powerful maelstroms that blow over the waters off Antarctica (strongest from March to November) travels thousands of miles to arrive in the form of south and southwest swells. What’s unique about the spot is that, because the ocean stays deep close to shore — less than a half-mile out, the water is still about 1,000 feet deep — not only do those swells maintain all their power, but that energy actually gets funneled toward the break, increasing the speed of the wave.

Raimana Van Bastolaer during a recent swell event at Teahupo’o.

READ the Rest of the story HERE