A fierce competitor and blessed with natural talent, Vaast seemed born to tame the waves -- his name means "the one who goes in the ocean" in Hawaiian.
"Teahupo'o is his garden," said Pascal Luciani, former president of the Tahiti Surfing Federation.
Vaast, 22, seemed destined for surfing glory from a young age. He first stood on a surfboard aged four with his father and won his first junior title in Tahiti at the age of eight.
"From that day on I knew that I wanted to surf all the time and to this day I haven't stopped," he said. Читать дальше...