Raimana Van Bastolaer is one of the greatest surfers in the world, he is also one of those who best master the famous wave of Teahupo’o in French Polynesia, chosen for the surfing event of the Paris Olympics in 2024.
At the microphone of Bixente LizarazuRaimana Van Bastolaer talks about her career and the role of guardian of the Teahupo’o wave.
Teahupo’o, the most beautiful wave in the world, but also the most dangerous
Originally from Tahiti, Raimana Van Bastolaer began by bodyboardingbefore going to surf, almost overnight, and attack Teahupo’o. “I understood very quickly that this wave was special, because foreigners came to surf it, I did not understand why, and from year to year, competitors tried to surf it, then I understood, and the sponsors told me to stay in Teahupo’o,” says Raimana Van Bastolaer.
It is indeed a wave that fascinates surfers all over the world. Kelly Slater, Laird Hamilton or even Jérémie Florès, among others, call Raimana Van Bastolaer to come and face him.
“The energy around this wave is unique, the power of the wave, the reef, the culture, the people, everything that makes this wave really special says Jérémie Florès of her.
– Gregory Boissy
This wave, which was chosen to welcome the surfing event of the Paris Olympics in 2024, is very beautiful but also dangerous. His particuliarity ? ” It’s a tubing wave, not a maneuvering wave. When you arrive, you have all this mountain in front of you, you have all this greenery, you have this transparent blue, you see the reef, we don’t even know if the bottom is 1 meter or 4 meters away, it’s so translucent. And afterwards, the wave itself, when it arrives, it’s right in front of you, it’s beautiful. And then it has different directions, and each direction the wave takes has another shape, it is more or less thick, and that’s where the danger of the wave comes from, it all depends on the direction.” describes the surfer to us.
Raimana Van Bastolaer himself suffered several falls at Teahupo’o. ” I had falls, I had several, and my last fall hurt me very, very badly”, he confides.
However, it shows very confident for the olympics.
I am honored that Teahupo’o has been chosen for the surfing event for Paris 2024, it will go very well. Raimana Van Bastolaer
Lucid, he specifies that of course “Teahupo’o must not be in code red mode as it can sometimes happen, because already the wave, at 2 meters, is technical, but if it goes above, we will have to wait and let it pass A few days “.
The choice of this spot is very well received in Polynesia, and, as a good guardian of Teahupo’o, he concludes that this is true recognition for the wave.