Local Tahitian Surfer Narrowly Rescued + Resuscitated After Teahupo’o Wipeout
“It was so heavy. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I would say Wednesday was probably one of the most beautiful and best days I’ve ever seen at Teahupo’o in my entire life,” photographer Morgan Maassen tells me. “It was truly glassy all day, nothing crossing it up. It was just big glassy bombs coming through.”
“There were probably 8 to 10 people sitting in the lineup. And a few guys doing tow-ins on all the mid-size ones and then the occasional tow wave that would come through. I would say it was probably around 3:30 or 4:00 PM when this two wave freight train set came through. Peio Ostolozaga went on the first wave. He got whipped in and completed his ride and got a really beautiful, sketchy barrel. And then Lorenzo [Avvenenti] got whipped in on the second one. I was shooting in the water, swimming for my life towards the channel as this thing came through.
“As I floated over, I basically saw him fall, and start ragdolling up and over the falls on the section of the reef where all the energy of the swell was focusing,” continues Morgan.
At 32-years old, Lorenzo is a beloved local surfer, father, and MMA fighter — who is very familiar with the sketchier parts of the Tahitian reef pass.
“He tried to go straight down and then hit this lump,” says an anonymous source who was in the water on Wednesday. “He just kinda belly flopped at the top of the lip, and then went Nicolo Porcella style with the lip over. It was so fucked up. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The Tahitian water rescue immediately mobilized — but the rescue was anything but straightforward.
“He just got absolutely demolished and the wave detonated on the reef,” explains Morgan Maassen. “It had the current and the sweep and the energy of the previous wave as well. All the skis scrambled and there was just so much soup. It took them maybe 20 or 30 seconds to push through the other surfers, the cameramen, the boats. Then they started looking for him in the soup, and he didn’t pop up for maybe another 20 seconds or so. And then a set was mounting so they had to get out of the way.
“I was floating over the first wave of that next set, and I looked over and saw his body floating on the right. And at the same time, Kim Mean who was on the top of Cindy Drollet’s two story boat, looked over and just started screaming “He’s on the right! He’s on the right!” So all the skis rushed over, but the right just exploded again. It was probably another 30 seconds before someone was able to get him up onto a ski.”
From what we know, it was Matahi Drollet who found him.
“I guess he got lifted up on the ski and they were pumping his lungs and trying to do CPR on the spot,” says Morgan. “And, they saved him. At that point, basically every single boat and every surfer went in, both out of solidarity and being really spooked, especially with no more skis in the water doing safety.”
This rescue comes jus three months after Tom Lowe’s recent near-fatal scare.
Yesterday, Lorenzo’s partner Mia posted the following quote on his Instagram story:
Hello everyone, it’s Mia. Lorenzo got out of réanimation late last night/early morning and now is in stable condition in hospital, slowly draining the water of his lungs. He can’t drink or eat anything, and he can barely talk. He wants to thank God, Teahupo’o and everyone involved in his life saving rescue. Thank you Matahi for finding daddy. We are so happy he’s still with us. Thank you all for the prayers and support. He wants to thank Tahurai Henry for the kiss he felt, even if he couldn’t see and Biglush, for helping Matahi manage his rescue and all the other boys that were pushing for him to come back to us. He loves you all and said that this tax was long overdue, with positivity. Last but not least, he wants to thank Tereva and Lion for whipping him all afternoon. He was so happy and enjoying it before it happened. Thank you all
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