Vahine Feiro on his way to victory in Tiaupo. Photo: Ed Sloan // WSL
Vahine Fierro's victory at last month's historic Tahiti Pro came as a surprise to no surfing fan. Fierro grew up near the explosive barrels of Te Aupō, a waterfall that sends chills down the spine of many surfers. Vahine has that all-important X-factor known in surfing as “local knowledge” and equally known in the sport as “home field advantage.”
If Fierro wasn't already the favorite to win gold at next month's Olympics, he's now certainly in that position. But the equation might leave the non-surf-savvy Olympic viewers (the 99%) confused: How is a surfer who has never competed on the Championship Tour the favorite to beat the best surfers in the world and win the gold medal?
Home field advantage is pretty much universal across sports. Home teams consistently win more than half of their games, especially in MLS soccer (69.1%) and NBA basketball (62.7%). And interestingly, Chicago Booth ReviewThis is not necessarily due to the support of home fans or the long distances away teams have to travel, but may be due in part to referees' unconscious tendency to favour the home team.
Whatever the reason, home field advantage in surfing is extreme and unique. The idea that certain conditions give specialists an overwhelming advantage is unlike any other sport we see in the Olympics. Some tennis players excel on clay and some on grass, and some beach volleyball matches benefit from stronger winds, but only in surfing do we see victory derived from analyzing algorithmic formulas learned from nature.
Surfers have milliseconds to calculate how a moving mass of energy in an unpredictable medium like the ocean will react, then throw themselves onto a ledge above a sharp reef to see if their calculations were correct. It takes years, even a lifetime, to master this skill. We surfers are surrounded by it every day, and it's normal to see a local surfer stand out in a crowded lineup. That's why we weren't surprised by Fierro's recent success.
It's an age-old idea in surfing that locals excel. It's local knowledge that's why no one is surprised that South African Jordy Smith has six CT wins, two of which came at… you guessed it… Jay Bay. It's why Australian Steph Gilmore has six CT wins on the Gold Coast. It's why North Shore native Moana Jones-Wong, who has had little professional success outside of Hawaii, won surfing's most prestigious event, the Pipe Pro. And where did Kanoa Igarashi burst onto the world stage? In his own backyard, the Huntington Beach Pier, of course, when he won the 2017 and 2018 U.S. Opens back-to-back. That's why no one in their right mind wants to take on a healthy John John Florence in a Pipe heat… at least not if they want to win.
This concept can be hard to grasp for new surfing fans around the world who watch the Olympics: They'll watch the world's strongest athletes win gold medals in weightlifting, they'll watch the fastest runners win the 100-meter sprint, they'll watch LeBron James and Stephen Curry dominate the competition on the basketball court.
But on the other side of the world, in Tahiti, this notion will be turned on its head. Local Tahitians Vahine Fierro and Kauri Vaast, who are, if I may say so myself, great surfers but nowhere near the best in the world, will be able to make it onto the Olympic podium. If this happens, it will highlight different niches of surfing on different waves and introduce to the world an aspect of our culture that we call “local knowledge” or “specialization,” as in “pipe experts.” But this time, the experts of Te Aupo will be in the spotlight.
I'm not complaining, this is simply the result of putting all my eggs in one basket and having one wave decide the champion. This is a very unique opportunity for Tahitians to show a global audience the beauty and art of surfing one of the world's most notoriously dangerous waves.
Editor's note: Inertia Evan Quarnstrom also covers the NBA's Golden State Warriors.
