Tahiti needs no introduction. Its status is seared into the upper echelons of surf lore alongside Hawaii and Fiji. Together the three represent the ancient Polynesian art of surfing with unmatched intensity and modern-day flair.
Surfers like Matahi Drollet, Kauli and Aelan Vaast, and Eimeo Czermak represent just a small fraction of the incredible depth of surf talent found on the islands. Filmmaker David Biner has captured some of the magic in his new film that will make you want to drop everything and book a flight to Papeete ASAP.
Biner, an Indonesia-based filmmaker who goes by @indoeye, spent a month in French Polynesia — long enough to move past the Teahupo’o strike-mission playbook and get inside something closer to the daily rhythm of the place. In a recent Tracks interview, he described the visual saturation that had drawn him there in the first place.
“There are so many different hues of blue across the lagoons and outer reefs, and the clarity is unlike anything I’d ever seen,” Biner said. “Combine that with the thriving life of the reefs, the quality of the waves and the surrounding landscape, and you’ve got a photog’s goldmine.”
South Pacific celebrates that goldmine and the distinct surf culture found there. Tahiti gets hundres of thousands of tourists a year, and surfers arrive as a subgroup inside a population that may just be coming for a tropical vacation sans cultural appreciation. Biner’s experience was different, he came as a grateful visitor and savored every experience that makes Tahiti unique. Every paddle-out at every lineup, he noted, still involves shaking every surfer’s hand before you take a wave.
“Respect gets respect, period,” Biner said. “They really do show outsiders respect on land, and they will show you that in the water as long as you show the same.”
David Biner
That ethos runs through the film alongside the water shots. The Tahitian talent pool, including heavies like Matahi Drollet, Kauli and Aelan Vaast, and Eimeo Czermak, is deeper than you can imagine and Biner captured it up close over his month-long stay. “Teahupo’o is one of the heaviest tubes in the world, so having that as a training ground naturally produces local talent who are incredibly comfortable slab surfing,” he said. But the versatility is what surprised him. A river-mouth beachbreak on Tahiti, he added, functions as a de facto training gym for aspiring CT surfers, “it’s like a skate park for performance surfing.”
David Biner @indoeye
The time allowed him to move at an intentional pace, unlike the sometimes frantic energy that can come with strike missions. He go to venture past the transactional-tourist dynamic that comes with short trips. He describes an afternoon at a French-style bakery near where he was staying when his order of an almond croissant was upgraded to three, no charge, with a smile from the woman behind the counter. All just because he had been coming in every morning for a week.
“That small act of generosity really did pull at my little heartstrings,” he said. “I had arrived as an outsider, possibly perceived as a weirdo that was fair-skinned with a shaved head and a beard. But that little gesture made me feel, even in a very small way, like I belonged there.”
Don’t miss South Pacific, do yourself a favor and watch it on a big screen, and be sure to follow @indoeye on Instagram.
Related: 54-Year-Old Kelly Slater Goes Near Perfect at Psycho Tahiti