iStockphoto / yann vernerie / haumaru
An American surfer died last week while surfing Teahupo’o in Tahiti, French Polynesia. Teahupo’o is one of the most famous big waves in the world and the site of the 2024 Summer Olympics. surfing competition, with surfers coming from all over the world to test their mettle.
This infamous ‘slab’ wave produces some of the heaviest browse on land and when the swell is large it can create dangerous conditions when the wave breaks over a dangerous coral reef.
American surfer dies after being wiped out in Teahupo’o
According StabMagAn unnamed 56-year-old American surfer died after wiping and breaking vertebrae in his neck. Local mayor Milton Parker issued a statement saying “the victim fell off his board, hit his head on the reef and broke two vertebrae in his neck.”
Another surfer in the lineup reportedly pulled the unnamed 56-year-old man out of the water and was able to reach them and take them to a boat. After the incident, the surfer was rushed to Taravao Hospital and then to the French Polynesia Hospital Center (CHPF) while listed in critical condition, but he succumbed to his injuries and passed away on June 19.
Legendary surfer Laird Hamilton once called Teahupo’o the “strongest wave” he had ever ridden in his life. And this was not the first life lost due to this wave. In 2000, local Tahitian surfer Brice Taerea attempted to dive under an incoming wave and failed, was sucked backwards “over the falls” and thrown onto the reef, resulting in two broken vertebrae and a severed spinal cord.
The recent waves at Teahupo’o have produced huge waves and in this slab break that means one of the strongest waves in the world.
Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the surfer who lost his life last week.
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