the last big swell at Teahupoo, Tahiti. there was a very close call regarding that orange/yellow boat. when i first saw it, i got chicken skin. being a captain myself, i understand the risks of putting your boat in the perfect spot so the photographer can get the photo. i’ve done it many times and i’ve had some close calls too. nothing compared to this, but still very dangerous. so after watching the video, i thought the captain absolutely did the right thing. it looked like he barely made it over the wave, but he knew exactly what he was doing. i can see people wondering why the captain didn’t go faster over the wave? if he did, the boat would have excellerated vertical in the air and somebody would have died. so purposely, he slowed down to the minimal just so the boat would make it over as gently as possible. only a captain knows the capability of his boat. thank goodness nobody got hurt. anyway, if you see a boat excellerating straight over a wave, that’s the sign of panic. if you panic, you die. if you keep calm, you live. so when you go on a boat, chose your captain wisely. just because he has a nice boat, it doesn’t mean he knows what he’s doing.
note: even for calm and experienced captains, close calls like this will humble you. then when you go home, you will thank Mother Ocean for protecting you. because that’s exactly what happened…
