A Look Behind The Curtain Of The Year’s Most Thrilling CT Event

Europeans first set eyes on Tahiti in the 1500s. Two hundred years later, Captain Cook and his crew enjoyed a short residency, before western influence finally got its hooks in the island, commencing with the famed mutiny of the SS Bounty. The mutineers, as well as the ship, remained on Tahiti permanently, and with them came whalers, penal colony merchants from Australia and elsewhere. 

Over the next three hundred years, the island’s mannered, communal culture, lush green volcanic mountains and gorgeously tanned locals captured the imaginations of the French, most famously intellectuals and artists like Paul Gaugin as well as painter Henri and political philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau. 

How’s this curvaceous Tahitian stunner?

Photography

Domenic Mosqueira

What Hawaii is to the US, Tahiti is to France, and in 1946, Tahiti became an official French overseas territory, along with the rest of French Polynesia. 

“It feels like Hawaii in the old days, I bet,” says Nathan Florence. “Even though the island is older, it has that same feeling.”

On this episode of No Contest, we get a lay of the land at The End of the Road and spend a day in the channel during the biggest, most impressive swell since 2014. 

Teahupoo wildcard and perennial standout, Matahi Drollet.

Photography

Domenic Mosqueira.

Where most destination on the World Tour are relatively developed, Tahiti is the epitome of a humble little island village. Instead of hotels, resorts, or even AirBnB’s, surfers stay at local’s Homestays—idyllic homes on the Teahupo’o Point, with host families they’ve often known for decades. For our visit, we landed on our feet at local lord Tahurai Henry and Miss Tahiti Hinatea Boosie’s beautiful pad, along with Sebastian Zietz, Yago Dora, Wade Carmichael, BadBoyRyRy, aka Ryan Miller, and a host of others.

Ace Buchan’s no stranger to Tahiti’s remarkable beauty.

Photography

Domenic Mosqueira.

Tahurai walks us through his recipe for poisson cru, a Tahitian take on ceviche or poke, comprising fresh, raw tuna, grated, milked fresh coconut, and plenty of lime and veggies. Trust us, this is a dish you’re gonna want to have a swing at: “break the mouth” poisson cru, as Tahurai calls it. 

Winding down the seventh episode this season, we get in the water with Jacob Wooden during one of the handful of “playful” days at Chopes, and ride off into the Tahitian sunset. 

This No Contest Tahiti.

Tyler Newton up front: all hail Chopes!

Photography

Domenic Mosqueira.