“This Year Has Been a Complete Disaster”: As Championship Tour Nears 2024 Olympics Venue, Fans Left Divided Over the Wave Conditions

The 2023 Shiseido Tahiti Pro is scheduled for 11-20 August. A total of 34 surfers will hit the big waves at the ionic Teahupo’o as the event acts as a last stop before next month’s Rip Curl World Surf League Finals at Lower Trestles, California. But even before the 2023 Tahiti could begin, surfing fans are already worried about a number of things related to the tournament. For starters, recently world number two Ethan Ewing announced he is pulling out of the tournament due to a fractured back, just days before the event.

He was followed suit by Bettylou Sakura Johnson, who is also out due to a shoulder injury. Now, as the 2023 Tahiti Pro is just on the horizon, the WSL has shared a social media post that highlights the iconic break of Teahupo’o. With the help of infographics, the post signifies the beauty of the iconic surf destination and details how the prestigious tournament unravels each year.

WSL highlights what makes surfing at Tahiti so iconic

Taking to their Instagram, the official account of the WSL shared a video about how the tournament at Tahiti works. The video, which is full of infographics, talks about how this island in French Polynesia hosts one of the most revered surfing tournaments each year. Once surfers arrive on the island, they have to travel to the End of The Road, after which the surfers have to hike. Each surfer stays with a local family on the island, in their house, and the bond formed is so strong that surfers often stay with the same families every time they come to Teahupo’o.

The video further talks about the placement of the judges’ tower, which is usually put in place a few weeks before the tournament. One can see that the judges have a great vantage point to assess the surfers competing in the tournament. WSL’s infographics also emphasize how the reef was created over thousands of years of fresh water. A part of the post’s caption read, “With the @shiseido #TahitiPro just days away, let’s take a look at what makes this break so iconic.⁣”

Later on in the video, users can see visuals of how the majestic waves of Teahupo’o are formed and the post also suggests that the iconic waves of Teahupo’o were in fact not surfed for a number of years. However, surfing fans did not seem impressed with a number of things related to the upcoming tournament and they displayed their dissatisfaction in the comment section.

Surf fans voice their disappointment with the upcoming fixture

Teahupo’o is a surfer’s paradise, which is why it is also the surfing venue for next year’s Paris Olympics. But with just a day for the 2023 Tahiti Pro to begin, surfing fans talk about why this year has been terrible for the iconic Teahupo’o. One surfing fan pointed to the waves not being up to the hype and wrote, “Omg, this year has been a complete disaster, contest start always 2 days after swell is gone…that’s why we having mostly sm/med wave surfers for the final 5 trials has been 8-10ft and contest 4-6ft.WSL have to go back to the old sched with end of Feb-Dec when finals are at Pipe and no mid year stupid cut off” Another fan urged WSL to change their system and commented, “just change this old “window” system with fixed dates for events and start chasing real, powerful swells, its 2023, make it the real dream tour!!”

Read more: “Been Quite the Journey”: After Qualifying for 2024 Paris Olympics, American Surfing Prodigy Sends Out Candid Confession

One user compared the waves of the heat against the event and wrote, “Conditions: Before the contest : 8-10 ft During the contest : 1ft and hundreds of boring airs. Yay :////”. Another fan agreed with this comment and commented, “Unfortunate that the trials ran in 10ft surf but the CT forecast looks really terrible.” One user ominously wrote, “The curse continues…” As fans remain glued to the latest weather developments in Teahupo’o, it remains to be seen if one of the most iconic surf destinations will live up to its billing.

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