Online Video Guide

The day documented in this surfiving video was a miracle, plain and simple. The Spring 2003 Tahiti sessions saw forty-four of the world's best touring surfers, a handful of hellmen and a local crew whose knowledge and talent is unmatched in these waters meet The Swell From Hell head-on. The heaviest waves on the planet exploded on Teahupoo's reef as Malik Joyeux, Strider Wasilewski and Cory Lopez towed into bombs that flat-out dwarfed Laird Hamilton's historic ride from 2000 and (barely) lived, to the amazement of the gallery in the channel. Tahitians Raimana Van Bastolear, Vetea 'Poto David and Manoa Drollet showed their familiarity in the cavernous barrels. And Bruce Irons and Jamie Sterling scored giant tow-ins, with Sterling blowing out his eardrum in the process. Meanwhile, at The Right, death-defying barrels are forgotten for an afternoon as Chris Ward, Kalani Robb, Joel Parkinson, Shea Lopez and Taylor Knox blow the tops off of some of the best high-performance waves the world