Wednesday the 17th of March was surfing's greatest St Patrick's Day ever!

A giant low-pressure system, creating a massive 15-20 ft swell that developed and battered the New Zealand coastline, then intensified in the Pacific gaining strength and size on its way to Teahupo'o.

All surfers regard Teahupo'o as the heaviest and deadliest wave in the world. Big open ocean swells move from extremely deep water onto very shallow coral reef causing the wave to break below sea level and with no back. When Chopes gets big the only way to ride it is with the help of Jet Skis, not only to get into the wave but also to save any surfers that wipeout on the reef.

Having already surfed Teahupo'o twice before (with one wave getting nominated for biggest barrel and ride of the year at the Billabong XXL Awards), Doug Young woke up to write his local surf report and realised what he was looking at on the swell map. Doug had 1 hour to organise. He grabbed young surfer Sam Hawke, rushed to the airport and managed to get the only flight heading to Tahiti for the week. Reaching Tahiti late and exhausted Doug and Sam slept on the beach and woke up to what locals are calling the biggest day ever in Teahupo'o. "I scored one of the most amazing barrel rides of my life only to be swallowed by the foam ball and dragged across the reef, I then had another five more waves on the head before finally being rescued by the Jet Ski. It was a very special day with many of the best big wave chargers from all around the world claiming to have ridden the best waves of their lives." Doug recalls. Having the right tow partner plays a crucial role in riding these waves; one small mistake by the driver can turn into a big mistake for the surfer. This was not the case for Young and Hawke. Wearing as much green as they could, it was the luck of the Irish when Doug raced toward the largest set wave of the day and towed Sam into the biggest, gangliest wave of his life. The wave of the day which everybody called the biggest ever ridden at Teahupo'o!

After getting washed into the lagoon Doug pulled Sam out of the water, struggling for breath, blood rushing out of his nose only to be greeted by a standing ovation from an all star cast of surfers including; Shane Dorian, Ian Walsh, Vatea David, Carlos Burle, Raimana Van Bastolaer and the rest of the local crews. Sam explains, "The who's who was there, ten skis were out so we picked off small and medium ones and I was happy, we got good waves. We looked out and there was only one other ski out, Shane Dorian and Ian Walsh were waiting for the bomb, we started to laugh, threw the rope out, they took the first wave we took the second and knew it was the bomb. Doug screamed at me to F@#$%*$ go bro! As I looked at a dry patch of reef all I was thinking was that every muscle of my body was set to make the bottom of this wave". Sam made the drop and set his line, the wave had so much water on it sucking the reef dry on the inside eliminating the safety of the channel. Both Surfers rides will now be amongst the top contenders for the Billabong XXL Big Wave awards. Hawke and Young's rides will be entered in the 'Ride of the Year' and 'Monster Tube' categories. Hawke also has entries in this year's awards from his perfect 10 ride as part of the Fantastic Noodles Intense Wave Invitational and Doug with his biggest paddle in wave award at the Australasian Oakley ASL Big Wave awards. The event-waiting period ended on 19th of March 2010, with this spectacular session in Tahiti set to dominate the podiums at the gala awards night in two weeks in Los Angeles. Check out some action from the day at http://www.youtube.com/teahupoo3. Or the full story coming out on www.surf.co.nz

Doug and Sam want to thank:

Gravis. www.gravis.com Byrning Spears www.byrningspears.com Quiksilver New Zealand www.quiksilver.com