What are the singularities of this wave?
It’s a wave that breaks over a reef, which makes it very powerful and very hollow. She is quite impressive. It can be small or large, but in all its sizes, it offers a level of power found nowhere else in the world. It is therefore necessary to spend as much time as possible in the water to adapt to it and feel as comfortable as possible.
Tim McKenna / Roxy
How many hours do you spend in the water per day?
The ocean is constantly changing, so you have to constantly adapt to the conditions. Some days I spend six hours there and others only three. But I always try to stay at least two hours in a spot. When I’m in Teahupo’o, I do two three-hour sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, because the conditions are different depending on the time of day.
What other sports do you practice to improve your surfing performance?
My physical training is based on gym, cardio and a little strength training with weights. As I am quite small, we mainly work on explosiveness and power. The goal is not to develop mass but a muscle that is capable of exploding at the right time and being able to hold up under heavy conditions. Then, I also like to run to work on explosiveness and cardio. I don’t do very long running sessions, but split ones, which allows me to get going again after rest periods. It’s like in surfing: downtime precedes the moments when you will have to get back on a wave, with a lot of reactivity. At the same time, I do freediving which not only allows me to manage the time spent underwater without panicking, but also and above all to boost my self-confidence.
