Controversy over the Games’ dangerous surfing venue

More then 15,000 kilometers away from the Olympic’s epicenter, nestled right in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean, about halfway between Australia and Peru, lies Teahupoo — a tiny Tahitian village in French Polynesia with a population of just 1,500 people.

There’s only one road leading in and out of the town, and although its pristine coastline is comparable to some of the globe’s most popular holiday spots, for surfers the beauty of the area contrasts with what lies off the coast — the feared Teahupoo reef break — one of the most frightening waves in the world, and one that has claimed five lives.

While it may seem an unusual spot to host an event for the Paris Olympics, given its long distance from the host city, surfers know what to expect, or rather what to fear, from the spot.

Only 230,000 people visit Tahiti each year, roughly the same as Hawaii sees in a day, but this week, all eyes have been on the incredible Teahupoo break, as Olympic surfers took on waves over 10 feet breaking on a shallow coral reef.

Australia’s Jack Robinson who is through to the men’s semi-finals said he nearly drowned during his round three heat on Tuesday (AEST) surfed in the huge, unpredictable waves.

Why is surfing at Teahupoo considered ‘so dangerous’?

Speaking to Yahoo News Australia, oceanographer Ruth Reef with Monash University said athletes and sport fans have no doubt been glued to their televisions for the spectacular competition, but she questions whether controversies shrouding the event would overshadow it.

Reef explains why it’s “so risky” to surf here, and why Tahitian locals are up in arms about hosting a normally welcomed event.

“This part of the world is known for very big waves, and very big waves are of course very dangerous,” she told Yahoo. “There are just a few places on Earth that get waves as big, including here in Australia, and they are not for the inexperienced.

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“The reason waves break close to shore is because the topography is getting shallower, causing what’s called shoaling of the waves coming in. As they come in, they become steeper and the wavelength — the distance between the crest of the waves — become smaller, and they kind of crowd together. And these things happen naturally on a regular beach.

“But when you have abrupt topography, like a reef, or like a sandbar, they can create those excellent wave breaks — as seen in Teahupoo.”

Robinson of Western Australia, branded the spot “the most dangerous place in the whole world” after being held under a wave during his heat against World No.1 surfer John John Florence of the USA. According to Reef, he’s not wrong.

“This is a real danger, people surf here with helmets on for a reason,” she said. “The force of a wave is incredible. Water weighs a lot. Even if you think about lifting 10 liters of water and imagine that falling onto you, that’s very heavy,” she said.

According to physicists, a breaking wave can apply a pressure of between 1,220 to 29,294 kilograms per square meter, depending on its height. Reef said being dumped under such pressure could easily kill a person, particularly if they slam into Teahupoo’s extremely shallow coral reef.

Why is the judging panel at Teahupoo controversial?

It’s this reef that’s causing a stir among Tahitian locals, who have blasted Olympic officials for erecting a new judging panel directly on top of it. Residents of Tahiti, surfers, environmental campaigners and even the biggest surfing organization in the world — the World Surf League (WSL) — spoke out against construction. It went ahead anyway.

A wooden judging tower stood on the surf break for two decades, but Olympic organizers said it no longer met the required safety standards. An almost $8 million, three-story-tall, aluminum structure with air conditioning, toilets and space for 40 people was initially proposed to replace it, but was eventually scaled down after complaints.

Now, a state-of-the-art collapsable tower with space for 25 to 30 people lies in situ, though Reef said she wished “there would have been a better solution.” She said while coral reefs die all over the world, especially in Australia, Tahiti is one of the few places where they’re thriving.

“Tahiti is one of the few places left where we have good coral cover,” she said. “I think, even optically, doing something that damages what is essential for livelihoods of people over there is questionable.

“I think this should have been better thought out. And indeed, they did end up with a smaller structure, digging less into the reef, causing less problems, but I think it was a bit of an irresponsible decision.

“Personally, I would have liked to see technology be put to better use. We could have built a structure on land, we could have used a lot of different techniques to do this without digging into one of the world’s last pristine reef.”

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