Both a surfer’s best friend
and worst nightmare all
wrapped into one glorious
package of jagged, skin-
tearing perfection!
Reefs are the closest thing to a
constant in surfing, with a never-
changing bottom thanks to the
perpetuity of the reef and rock
below. All a surfer needs are the
wind, swell and tide to come to
the party, and you are scoring.
It’s lucky there’s some kind
of conformity and mechanical
nature to these waves, because
what awaits you below is death
on a stick. Sharp, live or dead
reef, coral heads in full bloom
and jagged volcanic rock or a
combination of all of the above!
All around the world our reefs
are given affectionate names such
as, The Ring of Fire, Shish-kebabs,
Razorblades, the Surgeons
Table, the Button, Boneyards,
the Cemetery and the list goes
on. Surfers being scalped, held
together by stitches, punctured
bodies, broken kneecaps ... the
list of injuries reads more like
a middle eastern casualty ward
catalogue then it does a pursuit
of happiness.
This wave and the reef lying
beneath need no introduction.
There’s so much skin on the
Teahupo’o reef, that if we took
a DNA sample, it would register
as human and be able to receive
welfare benefits. Nick Carroll
once described Teahupo’o as,
“The waves here create a space
within itself that no human was
ever meant to occupy.” And in a
place where waves break as thick
as they are high, Nick Carroll
is not breathing an ounce of
melodrama about it.REEFS
We’re here to
snorkel!