What will it mean for surfing if a tweenie girl outshines a two-time men's world champ at the world's heaviest wave?

The two-time world surfing champion Filipe Toledo is under immense pressure tonight after a twelve-year-old girl stunned surf fans by winning the trials event precursor to Teahupoo’s Lexus grand slam.

Teahupoo local Kelia Mehani Gallina, a twelve year old who operates her socials under the @missteahupoo handle, will now face tour leader Molly Picklum in her opening heat when the contest starts in August, a scenario the kid says is a “dream.”

Gallina caught her first wave at Teahupoo when she was four, giving her eight years experience at a joint that is easily the heaviest on tour. The kid gets legit lightly slouched stand-up tubes and she ain’t afraid to grab a rail and weave through a stretched-out cone, if you’ll allow a brief detour into the wonderfully performative dialect of the great Vaughan Blakey and Jedaum Smith.

This win, and the recent performance of seven-year-old Uriah Anchor there, means Filipe Toledo, who has been flummoxed by Teahupoo for over a decade, will now be under an extraordinary weight to perform.

Toledo, you’ll remember, was in the running for a shock gold medal at the Olympics last year, even clocking an almost perfect ride while the surf remained small.

However, his hopes of glory were shattered when the surf got a little bigger and he threatened to reprise his famous zero-point heat total there.

Thoughts, prayers etc.

 

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Demos have started at Bingin Beach, targeting over 45 illegal villas, restaurants and businesses along the cliff.

You might’ve already heard that all those rickety lil cliffside warungs at Bingin, the world’s easiest tube which you can find just north of Uluwatu, were about to be pulled down after an edict from the local administrative authority the Badung Regency government.

Badung Regency’s got Kuta, Nusa Dua and Ulus, which includes Bingin, on its remit.

Earlier today, demolitions started, targeting over 45 illegal villas, restaurants and businesses along the cliffside.

The Badung Regency government issued eviction notices in June for violations including unpermitted constructions in protected coastal zones, nominee schemes by foreigners, and zoning breaches. Officials cite environmental preservation and legal compliance, amid Bali’s crackdown on overtourism-driven encroachments.

Local villagers, some of ‘em who’d been operating their joints since the eighties have protested fiercely, see the Instagram post below, claiming the actions disrupt livelihoods for 48 families and ignore cultural sites.

A Balinese ceremony was reportedly interrupted by demolitions today, sparking accusations of corruption favoring wealthy foreign investors. Some owners filed legal challenges to halt proceedings, but authorities proceeded after court validations.

Critics argue it’s selective enforcement, while supporters see it as reclaiming public land. The full operation may reshape Bingin’s bohemian vibe, shifting investments elsewhere like Sumba.

My favourite memory of Bingin is being seventeen years old and getting shook down for cash in the carpark by the local heavies.

Least favourite was twenty years back when I vowed never to surf the joint again.

 

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“It touched me in a way that I’m still tearing up, and I’m not entirely sure why.”

It’s been three years since Griffin Colapinto was crowned the Gandhi of surfing for his search for meaning amid the chaos of a port surfing life and two years since he fell under the spell of charismatic faith healer Joe Dispenza.

The almost twenty-seven-year-old Colapinto, you’ll recall, pivoted to Sādhanā, an ego-transcending spiritual practice from India, a move that was quickly dismissed by Kolohe Andino, a believer in the Christian doctrine, who advised, “No false idols.”

According to Colapinto,

We are all part of a web, each and every one of us is connected to it. A change or healing in just one person affects the web and Change creates new possibilities. Your personality creates your personal reality!

Clearly our world is not in its best state right now. But don’t worry because there’s a higher consciousness emerging! I saw it and felt it.

But if you were to think that Griffin Colapinto was the only pro surfer to seek higher truths, a desire to examine the machinations of the universe and so on, you would be very wrong.

For today, it was Italo Ferreira’s turn to find magic in the most unexpected corner. In the Olympic gold medallist’s case, it was a pudding salesman that showed him the god within us all.

Today, I witnessed something truly special and was struck by the humility and strength of this couple as they shared their work. They were selling pudding, and when I looked at the man for a moment, I could clearly see the happiness on his face, just from selling pudding alongside his partner. It touched me in a way that I’m still tearing up, and I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe it was their simplicity, their determination to make it work, or the powerful connection between them. I found that moment so beautiful, and I truly believe I was meant to be there to experience it.

I’ve found profundity in many varied places: at a shiatsu joint in Padang, in a back street in Kuala Lumpur, on the deck of a catamaran during the early-ish days in the Ments, in a carpark around the side of Bondi and, three times, in a birthing suite.

You ever felt the breath of God?