Laura Enever’s Maiden XXL Teahupo’o Barrel

It’s been a banner year for Laura Enever. She copped huge floggings and scored the waves of her life at Cloudbreak and Shipstern Bluff. That would have been enough stimulation/adrenaline for most surfers, but Laura has a different motor. Earlier this summer Laura flew to Tahiti during a solid run of south swell to score solid Teahupo’o for the first time. The results are in, and Enever has landed her third entry into the 2024 SURFER Big Wave Challenge.

In April this year, the 32-year-old from Narrabeen became a Guinness World Record holder for sending it at an outer reef on Oahu during the 2023 Eddie, earning the mantle of largest wave ever paddled into by a woman. But the beauty of Laura’s approach is that she’s on the cutting edge of women’s surfing in paddling and towing. The latter is on full display from this wave at Teahupo’o, where Laura whipped into a bomb backside and hung on to the channel. It wasn’t a full-on behind-the-curtain pit, but she managed a bit of flair with a (probably) unintentional but nonetheless stylish lean-back in the most critical part of the heaving slab.

As Bethany Hamilton put it in Laura’s comments, “Best year yet or what?!”

Related: Laura Enever Surfed the Biggest Wave Ever Paddled by a Woman. Now What?