hellwoman
03-02-2007, 09:44 PM
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r63/k38rescue/K38ShawnandVeteaDavidatTeahupoo.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket - Video and Image Hosting"></a>
I met Vetea at the ISA Big Wave World Team Championships in 1999, he's become a good friend and calls me 'teacher'..LOL
We have had some great training sessions together over the years and he taught me a lot about Teahupoo...I remember him telling me, 'teacher, imagine 80 perfect barrels in a row?!'
It's hard to imagine, but it is his truth.
Andrew Kaufman a professional photographer came on one of our trips to work a surf contest there, he took this picture from a boat in the channel. Vetea wanted me to drive during the contest, since we were working the water patrol. I told him 'no, this is your water, you own it, I work for you now'. K38 helped Vetea get the Tahitian water patrol going in the early years by shipping over a Waverunner, rescue board, gear and enough spare parts to build a new ski.
It isn't always easy to start something new, and it's harder to get support, but he did it, and he started the program with friends there in 1999, looking to the future.
Teahupoo has changed so much, from a quiet 'country village' to a hot spot for the surfing elite, I was fortunate to go to many breaks before they became exploited for their natural essence, they will never be the same again. Nothing goes backwards, only forwards, and most of the big wave breaks, the change has been swift. If you weren't there then, you can't appreciate the difference.
Maruru
I met Vetea at the ISA Big Wave World Team Championships in 1999, he's become a good friend and calls me 'teacher'..LOL
We have had some great training sessions together over the years and he taught me a lot about Teahupoo...I remember him telling me, 'teacher, imagine 80 perfect barrels in a row?!'
It's hard to imagine, but it is his truth.
Andrew Kaufman a professional photographer came on one of our trips to work a surf contest there, he took this picture from a boat in the channel. Vetea wanted me to drive during the contest, since we were working the water patrol. I told him 'no, this is your water, you own it, I work for you now'. K38 helped Vetea get the Tahitian water patrol going in the early years by shipping over a Waverunner, rescue board, gear and enough spare parts to build a new ski.
It isn't always easy to start something new, and it's harder to get support, but he did it, and he started the program with friends there in 1999, looking to the future.
Teahupoo has changed so much, from a quiet 'country village' to a hot spot for the surfing elite, I was fortunate to go to many breaks before they became exploited for their natural essence, they will never be the same again. Nothing goes backwards, only forwards, and most of the big wave breaks, the change has been swift. If you weren't there then, you can't appreciate the difference.
Maruru