Matahi Drollet made the surf world stop and stare last August. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
When it comes to Teahupo’o, there are few who do it better than Matahi Drollet. And last August, he hammered that point home with a single wave. That wave was part of a very good month of surf, and now, a year later (to the day, in fact), he has released a 15-minute vlog remembering just how good it was.
“A bit late to the party, but it’s better late than never, huh?” he says at the beginning of Better Late Than Never, which was so-named for obvious reasons. “I’m going to run through a few clips from last August. I think I got like 10 waves. I was teaming up with my brother, and it was a good day for me. I didn’t get hurt and I got some incredible rides.”
“Incredible rides” is a bit of an understatement. One wave in particular was described thusly by Rogue TV:
“From the first pulse to the final set, the action was relentless – but one ride stole the show. Local charger Matahi Drollet pushed the limits of possibility with a physics-defying, mind-bending wave that will be talked about for years to come.”
Although this vlog focuses on August 2025, it should be noted that Drollet also caught a wave late in July that Billy Kemper called the “best ever paddled at Teahupo’o.”
With the WSL’s Teahupo’o event just around the corner, it’s worth a look back at what the best Teahupo’o surfers can do when Teahupo’o does what it can do. It’s unlikely that the WSL’s event would ever run in conditions like you see here — tow only, for the most part, which isn’t exactly in the WSL’s contest wheelhouse — but back in 2011, when the now infamous Code Red Swell hammered the reef at the End of the Road, the Billabong Pro Tahiti was called off because it was deemed too dangerous.
