Some of the world’s best surfers flocked to Tahiti this week after a huge swell arrived at renowned big wave spot Teahupo’o.
It takes serious courage to charge one of the heaviest waves on the planet — as highlighted by Hawaiian surfer Niccolo Porcella’s insane wipeout, which has been rated one of the worst ever seen.
“It was the most violent thing — I got annihilated,” Porcella told Surfing Life magazine.
“I was bounced, pin-balled on the reef, the whole nine yards. Just up and over and up and over. It held me under pretty long. My life vest got blown off right away, and then the second wave drilled me — I actually hit the bottom even harder. Hit my back, my knees, and then I got about four more waves on the head after that … washed over the reef …”
Miraculously, he wasn’t seriously injured.
Hawaiian female surfer Keala Kennelly was not so lucky.
Kennelly knows full well the dangers of Teahupo’o, having been slammed face-first into the reef by a wave in 2011 that left her looking like this.
The injuries, which took dozens of stitches to repair, left Kennelly with post traumatic stress disorder. She even started parting her hair on the opposite side because the touch of her fringe on the area of her face that was sliced open would make her jump.
“It felt like someone poured gasoline on my face and lit me on fire, it was such an intense pain,” Kennelly told the Surf Channel earlier this year.
It took Kennelly two years to build up the courage to return, but eventually she couldn’t resist. “It’s so intense and so gorgeous and you can get the ride of your life out there, if you get the right one,” she said. “To have an injury like that and to come back to that place was a huge personal triumph for me … I was beyond stoked. When stuff like that happens and you’re able to overcome that and you’re able to go back out there and stand up to your fears and succeed — there’s something so empowering about that.”
With all that in mind, what Kennelly did this week is off-the-charts impressive. She was on hand for the swell of the year and landed wave-of-the-day honors by pulling into this monster.
It made a huge impression on the action sports world. Pro skier Grete Eliassen described Kennelly as the “most bad ass chick on earth” while surfing king Kelly Slater offered his own tribute on Instagram.
“The stuff guys are doing these days is seriously nuts … into the oblivion not knowing what happens when you wipe-out. But the craziest guy of all is a girl … @kealakennelly,” Slater wrote. “Looks like someone challenged her to a #YouWontGo contest and she called their bluff!
“With all that happened, today was definitely one of the craziest days I’ve ever witnessed. To top it off my good friend @kealakennelly rode (in my opinion) one of the heaviest waves I’ve ever seen here. Stoked I was here to capture that moment.”
Kennelly, who described the wave as “definitely the biggest one I’ve ever caught,” copped a bit of a beating again this time. “I got the sh– kicked out of me,” she told Surfline.com. “My helmet blew off my head, I got whipped back over onto the reef onto the whole left side of my body and I thought I broke my hand. It’s still super swollen. But all in all, I just have a couple scrapes and bruises. Considering the beating I got, I’m pretty unscathed.”
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