Mike Stewart was one of the first surfers to surf Teahupo'o in the early '90's. Photo: Tim McKenna/timmckennaphoto.com

This wave ridden by Laird Hamilton in August 2000 opened new doors to surfers riding waves that were thought to be unrideable. Photo: Tim McKenna/timmckennaphoto.com

Garrett McNamara. Photo: Tim McKenna/timmckennaphoto.com

Map courtesy of Scripps Institute of Oceanography UCSD

The November swell of 2007 created treacherous currents inside the lagoon that swept debris out into the Teahupo'o lineup. Bottom photo: Garrett McNamara pushing the limits of how deep one can go, while Raimana uses local knowledge to make another great barrel. Photos: Sean Collins

Doug Young flew up from New Zealand and caught the best wave of this October 2006 swell. Doug's a bigger guy and his size helped him to hold his line on this wave where most smaller surfers would have been sucked up and over the falls onto the reef. Photo: Sean Collins

Kolohe Andino. Photo: Jeremiah Klein

Heiarii Williams is an incredible barrel rider with unique local knowledge of the Teahupo'o reef. November 2007 swell. Photo: Sean Collins

Ouch! Not liking what is going to happen next. This wave shows how much water and turbulence is swept off the reef leftover from the first wave. Photo: Sean Collins

Keala Kennelly. Photo: Tim McKenna/timmckennaphoto.com

Laird Hamilton in the front row seat watching Ian's whitewater monster. On the big days Laird often spends some time pulling people off the reef. Fortunately Ian made this one. Sequence: Sean Collins

You can spend all day just watching waves like this from the channel displaying such incredible power. Photo: Sean Collins

Once again, geology is the foundation of every good surf spot. Photo: Tim McKenna/timmckennaphoto.com

Jamie Sterling scoring a super clean double-up on the November 2007 swell. Sequence: Sean Collins

Photo: Sean Collins