Meet The Tahitian Longboarder Who Charges Teahupo'o

After working on her noseriding for five years, in 2022, Vai was invited to compete at the Mexi Log Fest, a prestigious annual classic longboard festival in Mexico, where she was finally exposed to traditional longboarding and connected with the global community. “I actually learned what the pocket was; I had no idea,” Vai said. “They [surfers in the contest] were like, ‘Oh, but you need to stay close to the pocket,’ And I was like, ‘What is a pocket? The pocket, for me in Tahiti, is the barrel that’s behind you, that you want to escape. It's the steepest section. Even if it's not a barrel, you don't want your board to be there because it's not going to hold.”

What she lacked in knowledge of traditional longboard style, Vai made up for in courage. In 2020, she started to surf Teahupo’o, becoming one of the only longboarders to regularly surf heavy waves around the island’s coast. Vai charges waves that many people are nervous to charge on a shortboard. “People who don’t know me look at me like I'm crazy,” Vai explained, “They think, ‘She doesn't know what she's doing’ or they're really interested like, ‘Wow, you like big waves? That’s crazy’ because they’re on the shortboards and they’re scared because it's pretty heavy for them already.”

“In Tahiti, [longboarding] is not well recognized as a sport, it's still developing. I think there's so much talent and potential in Tahiti since there are a lot more girls longboarding now.”

“People who live right in front of the spot who are always there every day, they're really supportive,” Vai said. “At Teahupo’o, I rarely see longboards out there, especially girls riding them. The last time that I was there I was the only one on a longboard but the local guys were the ones calling me onto waves.”

Two years ago, Vai created Wavehine, a meet-up for female surfers in Tahiti to support and grow women’s surfing on the island. More and more young women and girls are now longboarding in Tahiti and Wavehine is a way for them to support and learn from each other. Vai facilitates the meet-ups and invites some of the international friends she’s made in the world of longboarding to hold workshops and share some of the finer aspects of riding traditional craft. “In Tahiti, [longboarding] is not well recognized as a sport, it's still developing," says Vai. "I think there's so much talent and potential in Tahiti since there are a lot more girls longboarding now.”

“I just want to build a really caring community of women in surfing because I think it's more fun when women are in the water, you just have so much more fun," she continues. "I think women bring a really relaxed and calm vibe in the water when it's sometimes pretty hectic with shortboarders and the male egos.”

The current movement is spearheaded by 2025 CT rookie Vahine Fierro and followed by up-and-comers like Tya Zebrowski and Kiara Goold who have already started to make names for themselves in big barrels and serious competitions in their early teens. “Growing up I didn't think I would be a surfer and I didn't think I would make it as a surfer because there were no no girls," says Vai. "I would see Hawaiian girls, but they still didn’t look like me or Vahine. So, it was hard to picture and think that maybe I could do it.”

"I think women bring a really relaxed and calm vibe in the water."

Vaimiti Teiefitu

“Now Tahitian women are rising," she says. "And I think there's a lot more coming.”

Surfers like Vai and Vahine are building a fearless surfing culture amongst themselves in Tahiti, pushing each other to take on bigger and bigger waves. “My favorite surfer is Vahine," says Vai. "She's my friend but she's also my idol. She’s inspired me so much to surf Teahupo’o and to just send it, because that's what she does.”