In Search of a Surfboard, Tahiti

Tahiti, one of the worlds most iconic surf destinations, home to the infamous Teahupoo monster wave; it must be easy to rent a surfboard here, right?

Wrong. It wasn’t quite as easy as I’d imagined.

Where to rent a board in Tahiti

Although I’ve been surfing for several years now, my novice-level skills certainly don’t match up to the big wave surfers who flock to Tahiti every year. Even so, from the moment we touched down on the beautiful Pacific Island, my friend and I were keen to hire a couple of longboards and get out on the waves.

Unlike a lot of other surf spots around the globe, which often have anything from a few boards lined up against a palm tree to a surf school on hand to lend you your equipment, we couldn’t find anywhere to rent a board.

On the road to Papeete

After some online research and talking to locals, our wild board chase eventually led us to a surfboard workshop where we spoke to a craftsman while he sanded down his latest shortboard creation. He explained that our best bet was to speak to one of the surf schools in the capital, Papeete, and he handed us a couple of flyers that he found lying around his desk.

Booking a lesson with an instructor seemed like our best bet as not only did they offer to supply the boards, but they’d also be able to take us to the spot with the best conditions and least crowds on that particular day.

Seeking out the waves

A French guy picked us up and after driving around the island for a bit, we pulled up to as stunning stretch of black sand beach. It was set in between Papenoo and Rocky Point, with coconut trees swaying as 5-8 ft waves rolled in at high speed.

We asked our instructor why it was so hard to track down a surfboard rental at any of the beaches. He believed that it could have had something to do with high taxes, the fact that boards often get broken here due to the sheer power of the waves and also because most surfers that visit are pros and travel with their own boards.

Whatever the reason, we were happy to have finally found ourselves some elusive surfboards and enjoyed an afternoon to remember out on the warm Tahitian waves.

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Transport yourself to the sunshine with our Tahitian Tunes playlist

24 thoughts on “In Search of a Surfboard, Tahiti”

    1. Yes, the beach there were exceptionally beautiful! And it’s great watching the pro surfers. Although body boarding is also a fun way to enjoy the waves without needing to stand up on a board 😊 x

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  6. My husband loves surfing so thanks to your post he read his first ever blog post:) He was also really jealous, it’s one of his bucket list destinations. So glad you found a way to go out in the water and live the dream:)

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Thought i would leave a comment as this was one of the top articles which came up when I searched for where to rent a surfboard in Tahiti in June 2019. No, it is not as easy as other surf destinations, but I found 2 places willing to rent me a board and had a list of a few others to call if need be. Stonefish surfboards in Papeete have a selection of nice boards for $50/day, and I rented a TORQ fish from Julien at Taie Faahee Surf School for 7500 XPF (~$100AUD) for 3 days.

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