Both Alain Riou and Manoa Drollet surfed the swell in Hawaii and flew out shortly after.  Alain surfed Waimea on Dec 7th when it was big and ugly and made the home page of Surfline with a heavy wipe-out.  The next day, he followed  the show at the bay.  Kelly Slater and Greg Long battled it out for the biggest prize in a big wave paddle surfing contest.  Manoa, on the other hand, made it to Maui and dropped into a few bombs at Jaws with his team mates Mike Parsons, Luke Egan and Rasta.
Both Alain and Manoa arrived back home as the swell started to hit on a secluded reef-break somewhere in French Polynesia. 
Raimana Van Bastolaer came for the first 2 days and scored a few rides on his short board and some crazy drops on his stand-up paddle board.  Having other commitments in Hawaii, he had to leave early.  On the last trip we did to the break back in 2004 Arsene hurt his neck on his first session and missed out. Thierry never made it and Teiva was still living on the North Shore.  All three did not want to miss any of the action this time round.
Vetea David happened to have been on the atoll for nearly a month with his girlfriend Teina, fishing and surfing perfection every day, mostly by himself.  To happy to go right .  Sometimes Teva and Steve, the only locals willing to challenge the break, would join in.  On news of the large swell, Poto got us all motivated to pay him a visit.  He even built a 12-foot-high wooden scaffolding the morning before the swell, just for the camera crew.  The extra height made his tower the ultimate vantage point for filming and checking the line-up.
A jet ski, sled, boat, tow boards, food, beers in the cooler,  Poto had organized all we needed to make the best of this historic swell.
From the Thursday to the Sunday, the right reef break turned into an awesome wave machine increasing and decreasing in intensity as the tide went out or in during the day.  Timing the session was the hardest call.  We would spend hours on the beach looking at huge tubes grinding away through the current. When the tide was going out you could paddle in no problem. The boys used the jet-ski when the incoming current was too strong or when the peak was too big and shifty.
Days after it was generated, a great mass of water was still being moved around by this North Pacific swell. Our nights were steamy and noisy with the constant rumble of the sets.  
Raimana and Vetea managed to catch a few set waves on their stand-up paddle boards without any casualties.   Teiva, Poto and Thierry Domenech scored the biggest bombs on short boards with the help of the jet-ski.
All the boys caught some of the largest right-handers they had ever ridden in French Polynesia.  Veteran chargers like Arsene, Thierry and Poto got their fair share of big rides.  Alain was in great form carving up the faces as if it was Rocky Rights and Manoa as usual managed to sneak into some tricky barrels. 
Our private escape to the Tuamotus during that swell was pure bliss when compared to the crowds, traffic jams and media frenzy in arenas like Waimea Bay, Pipeline or Peahi on Maui where jet-skis, boats, helicopters abound and not a wave goes unridden or un-photographed.
Down around Tahiti,  same swell but different vibes.  It was comforting to see that ,in the southern hemisphere, the real island-style surf trip was still a reality.  Nothing has changed much since our first trip 5 years ago.  Sonia took great care of us. There was awesome fresh fish at every meal in the shade of a tree in full view of the line-up.  Such perfect waves and such perfect surroundings.  An uncrowded line-up and a few mates catching up and having fun in between Hinano times. Panihi atoll at its best.
Eddie should go more often.