COCO FOVEAU: SURVIVAL INSTINCT
COCO FOVEAU: SURVIVAL INSTINCT
COCO FOVEAU: SURVIVAL INSTINCT
Coco Foveau looks back on a gnarly wipe out in Fiji and manages to see the funny side of being punished by an eight-metre set!
When survival instinct has a sense of humour: My first beating in Fiji!
SURVIVAL INSTINCT
CF: “You can never predict what survival instinct will make you do in certain situations. Looking back, I think mine had quite a sense of humour that day.
In 2023, a competition was held in Fiji. Since that doesn’t happen every day, I decided to join some riders earlier to enjoy the mythical spot.
On my 3rd day there, conditions were extreme: 8-meter waves, little wind but enough to get in the water. Around me: Morgan Noireaux, Antoine Martin, Ricardo Campello… true legends. I was proud to be among them but also intimidated: I had never sailed in waves that big. But JAWS was one of my dreams, and that day, I felt I was getting closer to it.
CAUTIOUS APPROACH
I started cautiously, on the smaller ones, 5-meter waves. Already a big challenge. I focused: surf clean, climb a bit toward the lip without getting ejected, find the balance between being “suicidal” too far inside the wave and being “chicken” too far outside.
Now let me ask you a question: What’s between the small waves? While you think about it, I’ll continue my story.
I take a “small” wave, handle it well to the end, jibe, turn around… and realize my mistake: a GIGA set is coming. And me, totally inside. No inertia, impossible to escape the 8-meter Big Mama rushing at me.
I tell myself my gear is done for anyway, so better not hold on. I jump away from it. Antoine is on the wave, right in my axis. Only one strategy: breathe as much as possible. The wave swallows me.
Underwater, I panic. Then I reason with myself:
DON’T PANIC
“Don’t panic. You run out of air when you panic.”
“True… you love playing in the shore break usually, it’s the same thing, right?”
I resurface, just in time to see Morgan on the next one. Panic: he’s further inside, I’ll be in his path. I scream, he turns his head, sees me… and keeps going. In the end, he passes much farther than I thought. My perception was completely skewed. And I catch myself thinking: “Actually, I’ve got a great angle to watch them surf.”
New wave, new washing machine. I panic again, then reason with myself:
“Why are you panicking? You’re not going to die, otherwise you’d have already seen your life flashing before your eyes.”
That thought calms me.
I resurface, take three breaths, Ricardo charges down the next wave… and I dive again. By now, I know I have to move. No jet ski to save me, the surfers who had one already left. So, I alternate between washing machine mode and breaststroke to reach the channel. Luckily the waves are smaller, but still 4–5 meters.
BACK TO SAFETY
Finally, out of range, I breathe. On the boat, my friends are stunned. They were counting sails, saw one missing: Mine. Panic. Especially since I was rightly considered the rookie of the moment. When they hear me laughing (nervously) and saying: “I just got wrecked like never before!”, they sigh with relief.
Morgan and Antoine are relieved too, but remind me of the lesson: always look behind before going. Clearly, I needed that beating to get it.
We head to recover my gear on the “Hachich kebab” reef, a name that fits perfectly given how destructive it can be. Surprise: my gear is intact! The wave had thrown it so far away that no other wave could break it.
BACK ON THE HORSE
Still full of adrenaline, I see them derigging for me and I go: “Oh really? So, I stop here then?” They look at me, shocked. But I insist: after a fall, you need to get back in the saddle quickly. So, I regain some strength and head back out.
Out at sea, the guys congratulate me. Ricardo Campello even tells me:
“You have big balls, girl.”
Honestly, is there a better ending to this story?
Well, yes… A few days later, the competition starts, and I grab my very first world podium: 3rd place, right next to Sarah Hauser and Sarah-Quita Offringa.
One note: this story happened back when I still had my former equipment sponsors. I couldn’t share the story without images, so they appear in it. But barely three months later, that partnership ended.
Luckily, GUNSAILS and Flikka picked up the torch…and what a torch! Just a few weeks after receiving their gear, I was already landing my second world podium in Hawaii, which propelled me onto the Overall World Podium.
Today, I am more grateful and motivated than ever to have found in them partners who believed in me and chose to support me. I can’t wait to create new memories in Fiji with them.
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