The SHISEIDO Tahiti Pro, the last event before the Rip Curl Finals, is a few days away. Rookies have emerged, seasoned professionals have been ousted in the early rounds, and a major scoring debate that began at the Surf Ranch Pro has all contributed to a massive WSL season so far. Nevertheless, the surfing fandom can’t get enough of all the recent drama. However, during the interval, WSL posted something on social media that garnered a lot of attention from followers.

South African surfer Matthew McGillivray caught a 10-point wave during the 2022 Outerknown Tahiti Pro, and WSL posted a video of it. The perfect ride on Tahiti’s monster wave was an art form, and the video brought back fond memories for many aficionados.

The moment when wave size didn’t matter

The village of Teahupo’o, located on the southwestern coast of Tahiti in French Polynesia, is well-known for hosting World Surf League competitions and will also play host to the surfing competition at the 2024 Olympics. Large waves like those seen at Teahupo’o have the potential to wreak havoc on a surfer who isn’t prepared for them. Heat 2 of the Round of 16 at the 2022 Outerknown Tahiti Pro saw a tense contest between South African surfer Matthew McGillivray and Brazilian surfer Samuel Pupo. Even though the surfers understood that the Tahitian waves were particularly brutal, they still managed to push themselves to extremes in the elimination stages.

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Matthew McGillivray accomplished a daring trick on the Tahitian waves on the seventh wave of the round of 16 before any scores had been recorded. McGillivray had a hard time staying on his surfboard owing to the ferocity of the wave, but he managed to catch himself in a fantastic barrel and ride it out. As the surfer was swallowed up by the massive barrel, nobody outside could see what was happening. The South African surfer executed a cutback after emerging from the wave, demonstrating his dedication to the barrel even as the wave was fading. The judges had no choice but to give McGillivray a perfect 10 for this series of moves on a monster wave.

WSL posted the archival video of the surfer’s accomplishment on Instagram, giving surf lovers across the globe a look at the legendary wave. The South African surfer advanced rapidly in the 2022 Outerknown Tahiti Pro, eventually meeting the French surfer Kauli Vaast in the quarterfinals.

Wasn’t able to do much surfing

Kauli Vaast and Matthew McGillivray battled it out in the waves during Heat 1 of the quarterfinals of the 2022 Outerknown Tahiti Pro. In the 7-wave Tahiti event, both surfers knew it was all or nothing. As was to be anticipated from the last round of 16, the opening wave had little movement as both surfers struggled mightily.

However, French surfer Kauli Vaast scored 6.33 and 5.93 on the second and third waves, respectively. The South African surfer was under a lot of pressure to perform well because of his results, which were often around average. The French surfer advanced to the semi-finals after 7 waves, with a total score of 12.26 against McGillivray’s 5.23.

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