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Daughters of the Waves
8/10/2023 | 56m 46sVideo has Closed Captions
Polynesian surfer girl, Vahine, has her sights set on Olympic gold.
Although only 20, Vahine Fierro is undaunted by the Teahupo‘o wave, considered the most dangerous in the world. Vahine surfs as no other Polynesian girl has ever surfed. In Tahitian culture, riding the waves is an ancestral activity from which women had been gradually eliminated, but now surfing is open to women, just in time for the Olympics.
Funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts. Distributed nationally by American Public Television
![Pacific Heartbeat](https://image.pbs.org/contentchannels/1qOL8EP-white-logo-41-gxy1r0N.png?format=webp&resize=200x)
Daughters of the Waves
8/10/2023 | 56m 46sVideo has Closed Captions
Although only 20, Vahine Fierro is undaunted by the Teahupo‘o wave, considered the most dangerous in the world. Vahine surfs as no other Polynesian girl has ever surfed. In Tahitian culture, riding the waves is an ancestral activity from which women had been gradually eliminated, but now surfing is open to women, just in time for the Olympics.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -She's able to read the ocean to the point where she's like, "I can get a score on this wave."
-[ Speaking in French ] [ Waves crashing ] ♪ ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] [ Waves crashing ] ♪ -[ Breathing rapidly ] ♪ [ Inhales slowly ] ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ All conversing in French ] ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughter ] [ Indistinct conversation ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughter ] [ Indistinct conversation ] ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] Go?
♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughs ] [ Laughs ] ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] [ Women conversing in French ] ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ We've been waiting for you.
-Oh, wow.
Really?
-We're having lunch.
Yeah.
-It looks very good, huh?
-It is.
[ Laughter ] -To find out what you guys did in my shop, do I have to go to my shop to find out?
-I have a little story of it.
[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughter ] -So, I was going for bananas and I was going for avocados, 'cause I knew in the bottom of the valley there was these things that you could get.
So I was like maybe three quarters of the way down, and all of a sudden, there's this woman running at me with a horse sideways 'cause the horse didn't know how to gallop normally.
Her horse wasn't normal.
He was crazy.
-[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughter ] -She tried to kill me with the horse.
I knew -- I knew she was the one, so... [ Laughs ] -It was a sign.
-[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Chuckles ] -That's what you want.
Is that 24 inches?
[ Speaks indistinctly ] [ Sanding block scraping ] -[ Speaking in French ] -Don't go past.
Yeah.
Point to point.
And I can show you something that's kind of cool.
Come check this out.
The board you see over there.
-Yeah?
-Has a mermaid on it.
My wife painted the board.
That's Vahine's very first surfboard.
It only has one fin.
And she learned to surf with that little thing.
Same thing -- It was a board that I recycled, and we did the best we could with what was available here in Tahiti.
And then we'll go through, like, this board here.
Vahine was starting to do the QS for the women, so this isn't a pro junior.
But a QS, she got second place at pipeline.
She was in Hawaii also, Turtle Bay.
She won first place.
Was that a QS?
That was a QS.
It's kind of a mess, but... hang on.
This was a really big turning point for Vahine.
She won QS, and she started to perform really well in the QS.
Not as a junior but as a -- as a above 18.
18 and over kind of thing.
So, that was... Yeah.
That was a good result for her, and it was, like, when we saw, "Okay, we're going in the right direction."
♪ I don't even know if we even... For quite a while, even up to probably until her world title, it wasn't like, "Oh, you're gonna make a career."
-Really?
-Uh, it was more for the love of doing it, and she had a lot of good things happening that just kept pulling her in that right direction.
It wasn't so much she went chasing it down.
And, you know, I watched her compete, uh... it would be three weeks ago, a month ago, and I'll tell you what.
I was... amazed by her level smarts.
It's like playing chess.
You have time, you have wave selection, you have wave quality, you need a certain point -- it's a mathematical calculation.
And she's able to read the ocean to the point where she's like, "I can get the score on this wave, and I'm gonna get it."
♪ -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] [ Chuckles ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ [Indistinct] my trophy, and it's right next to me [indistinct].
[ Laughs ] Hey!
-[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Chuckles ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ [ Laughs ] -Ooh, ooh, ooh.
-[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughter ] ♪ ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ [ Cheering ] ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Waves crashing ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughs ] ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Chuckles ] ♪ [ Laughter ] ♪ ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Waves crashing ] -[ Laughs ] [ Indistinct ] -[ Indistinct ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughs ] [ Speaking in Tahitian ] [ Laughs ] ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -Wow.
-Whoa!
[ Laughter ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughter ] [ Laughter ] -Oops.
[ Speaking in French ] Oh, my God.
-[ Gasps ] -What?
-[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Chuckles ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Chuckles ] -[ Laughs ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughter ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughs ] ♪ -♪ Hey ♪ ♪ 6:00 in the morning ♪ ♪ Have you heard the day's a rollin'?
♪ ♪ It'll be alright ♪ ♪ Goin' for a ride upon the sea ♪ ♪ ♪ Only way you know I feel so free ♪ ♪ ♪ 360, oh, welcome to the show ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Laughs ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ -[ Indistinct ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ [ Laughter ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] [ Chuckles ] ♪ ♪ ♪ [ Laughter ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Chuckles ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Chuckles ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Chuckles ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Chuckles ] [ Speaking in French ] ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughs ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Indistinct conversations ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ School bell rings ] [ Waves crashing ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -But don't give up, okay?
[ Speaking in French ] -Okay.
[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Exhales sharply ] Okay.
-Okay?
-Okay.
-[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Indistinct conversation ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughter ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughs ] [ Waves crashing ] ♪ [ Indistinct conversation ] ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Laughs ] [ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughs ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughter ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughs ] [ Chuckles ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Laughter ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -Uh... [ Chuckles ] -[ Laughs ] [ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ [ Waves crashing ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Chuckles ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ Applause ] [ Applause ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Waves crashing ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -I got third.
And I didn't surf well.
Yeah, I wasn't surfing well.
-Uh-huh.
-And, uh... Yeah.
I needed a five.
I had, like, two fours.
[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ ♪ [ Chuckles ] [ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] [ Chuckles ] -[ Speaking in French ] -[ Speaking in French ] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [ Waves crashing ] ♪ ♪ ♪
Funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the National Endowment for the Arts. Distributed nationally by American Public Television