Tahiti’s Below Sea Level Slab Looks Too Violent To Be Real (Video)
Once upon a time, there was an archetype of the perfect wave. The type of reeling pointbreak one would doodle in their notebooks, whilst daydreaming in class.
And thus, when that perfection was so rarely found in nature, enough money was poured into the synthetic surfing business, and in 2015, the Kelly Slater Wave Company was forged, creating the perfect wave from manmade hands, a Frankenstein monster in a lagoon 100 miles away from the ocean. But still, there is beauty in the imperfections.
Like the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi, which embraces aesthetic value in flaws, surfers and bodyboarders have been returning to the ugliest, most imperfect, practically unrideable waves they can find. For example, this ungodly below sea level slab below.
Details on this specific slab wave are scarce. Only that it’s the “most insane slab in French Polynesia,” and “only a few can manage this wave!” One commenter, impressed by the sheer power of the wave, wrote: “1-3 foot of pure raw energy exploding with enough force to snap a femur or spine in half. It's extremely impressive.”
It just so happens that there’s another, hugely infamous slab wave in French Polynesia. That wave played host to the Paris 2024 Olympic surfing event, and served up one of the heaviest days of surfing competition in history. (And the Gabriel Medina image seen ‘round the world.) For more on that wave, here’s oceanographer, Dr. Paige Hoel:
“Teahupo’o is a slab of water born from a miracle on the ocean floor. There is a super abrupt change in the height of the ocean floor. It goes from 150 feet, to six feet, in a matter of seconds. As swell approaches the shore, it’s not going to uniformly reach that ocean floor. Instead, the top of the wave is going to heave over. The result is a magnificent wave.”
Slab Science 101 – sign us up.