Originally Posted by justinsain

While big wave tow-in surfing at ' jaws " is pretty extreme and takes balls of steel to do it, they have a pretty good system going with the jet-skis ready to pull them out of the impact zone in case of a fall. It's big wave surfing at it's best but it doesn't come close to the danger of surfing a break in tahiti called " Teahupoo ".

This wave breaks over a very shallow reef, sometimes even exposed, and if they fall and get drug over the reef chances are they will get cut to shreds. Watch this video and try to comprehend the shear volume of water that's moving forward at high speed, the critical position the rider has to get in to have a chance to ride the wave out and the fact that if you fall you can die.

On big days like this they tow-in with skis but on smaller days the best can paddle in. This wave is a freak of nature. Imagine your bedspread is the water surface and your mattress is the coral reef. As this huge wave approaches the reef the water sucks up into it off the reef just like if your were to pull up on your bedspread to form a peak the mattress would then become exposed. These guys HAVE to make the wave or risk being washed across the reef with all the power of the wave.

I've always wanted to go there to film the action from a boat in the channel where the waves can't reach. I need to move that up a bit on my list.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=qKN6vXBBowM