"Teahupoo": When prayers are answered

Australia’s Jason Polakow, who has twice won the PWA Wave Sailing World Championship and is one of the world’s finest surfers, gives a highly personal account of his most recent surfing projects in Bali, Tahiti and Jaws. In this travel report, he continues to talk about his extraordinary trip to Tahiti.

"In the meantime I was still in the boat, busy 'mind fucking' myself. A common problem that emerges if you wait too long. One side of my brain was content watching, and the other was calling me a pussy for not getting out there. Robert obviously does not have this inherited gene, so he would probably not know what I’m talking about. In some instances, this gene could save your life, but for the most part it's just there to really piss you off! An entourage of painful scenarios leap in and out of your brain.

I've found that the simplest way to execute a decision is to take the road less travelled. It may not be the straightest of roads, but it guarantees one hell of a ride. Once you have that mind-bending experience behind you, the rest is bliss. Perfect 12 to 15-foot surf awaits you, with tubes so hollow you could invite a small Greek family along for the ride.

Dropping your surfboard into the water for the first time and leaving the safety of the boat is a little nerve-racking. Your muscles are stiff and you know that, before too long, you're going to be experiencing one hell of a ride. I choose a few smaller waves to familiarize myself with the conditions and then decide to wait for a set wave. The same symptoms apply when you're sitting in the water waiting for a set as they do sitting on the boat. If too much time passes, you start 'mind fucking' yourself all over again.

I knew I needed a wave soon. With a good size set approaching I was up, and before I could compose myself, I was on the wave, setting myself up for a barrel. As the wave hit the reef, it just barrelled over me and I thought I was too deep, but it just opened up and I had a real taste of perfect big Teahupoo.

The rest of the day was pure adrenaline, with the occasional bounce off the reef. No drug in the world offers you all the human emotions in one single ride. If you're asking yourself if it's worth paying a visit to the hospital, then you're already asking yourself the wrong question!

Fear and commitment go hand in hand. One feeds off the other. There's no better feeling than putting yourself right in harm's way and coming out unscathed. After you get a taste of Uncle Sam's medicine, you just want more. Seeing people getting double barrelled out there elevates your spirit and pushes you to find the bigger, better ride.

With daylight slowly turning to dusk, it was time to call it a day. We all celebrated that evening, each of us with our own tall story, and then without a fuss retreated to the solitude of our rooms to reflect on what had just taken place, hoping that tomorrow would bring similar conditions.

It seemed our prayers had been answered, with wind filling in the lagoon at around 9 am. We could see that it was still big and decided to rig up at the harbour and then jetty the equipment out by boat. The wind still seemed light, but it was a damned sight stronger than Robert's windsurf attempt the previous day. Robert was still getting towed in on the windsurfer while I opted to hang right in the impact zone and squeeze into a few late drops.

Hanging so close, the impact zone reminded me of a day last year when Robby Naish and I had Jaws all to ourselves. We would hang just a hair's breadth out from the reef and pick off the big sets. The only problem is that if a freak set rolled through, you would get totally mowed, but in the end it's all worth it.

The difficulty at Teahupoo was picking the right wave. Some bend inward as they hit reef and dissipate as others bend away and grow in size. The monster sets seemed to have disappeared, leaving some nice solid walls to work with. Every so often, I would see Robert fly past on the windsurfer, hanging onto the tow rope, trying to catch another wave.

In my eyes, it was really shaping up to be one of those memorable windsurfing days. I cannot express how wonderful it is to finally bottom turn without any chop or hindrance from other sailors."