I adapted the above poem from Seamous Heaney's 'Beouwulf,' which he adapted from the original Anglo-Saxon version - the original poet's name is unknown. Like many late poets and their peoms, this verse -not unlike the Greek and Roman epics the Iliad and Odyssey - allow us to experience the exotic values of heroism.

The words above deliver the sanguinary goods in a harshly beautiful language that does justice both to the savagery of the poem's events as well as the 'medium' that the adaptation describes - the wave of Teahupoo!

The truth is that we, as humans, love action, drama and blood! The Beauty, in this case, is also the Beast. And a monstrous one, I must say. The wave of Pererure (the real name of the actual break in Teahupoo) provides us with plenty of action, drama and blood.

The vivid grisliness of the action hugely enhances the heroes' stature - in this case, the Top 45 and wildcards competing in the Billabong Pro Tahiti. Anyone who wins fights like these - anyone who has the courage to engage in them in the first place - deserves to be considered a great man and to be commemorated in a great enduring song. And make no mistake, to compete at Teahupoo is to engage yourself in a fierce fight, not only against your opponents, but against the wave itself!

At the end of 73 heats a hero will rise, shaped Gladiator-like through his skills in wave to wave combat. The winner's proficiency in eventually 'slaughtering' the wave is not a concept we can quite grasp from the comfort of our web cast seat, except metaphorically! When we're watching any sports event often we find ourselves urging our team to 'move in for the kill' or to 'finish off' its opponent. During this event we'll be always hoping, not urging, our surfers to survive to their main opponent, the Beast of Teahupoo.

Our recent fascination with the beauty of this wave and the warriors and heroes who defy its beastliness, has asserted in us a fully responsive audience eager to engage in an epic event. For us, the physical heroism of the combat between man and nature is purely entertainment, an escape from life rather than a model for living. We respond wholeheartedly to epic values, I think, a wilful reversion to a state of innocence, a childlike believe in the virtue of force.

That's what attracts us so heavily to this event every year. The wave and the surfers are so unlike anything in our everyday lives. We have this clear, collective nostalgia for this sort of physical bravery. There is fight, there is drama, there is blood and there are heroes!

Check out the photos and videos on the www.aspworldtour.com and www.billabongpro.com websites and you'll know what I'm talking about!

Come May 4th, schedule your day, take a center-stage seat in front of your computer screen and get ready for another Epic! We all will be 'responding'... to the Billabong Pro Tahiti 2007!

See you there!