Meet the tiny 12-year-old set to debut at pro-surfing's heaviest wave

22-07-2025

Twelve-year-old Tahitian local Kelia Mehani Gallina will become the youngest pro-surfer in competitive history when she debuts next month at Teahupo'o - the heaviest wave on the championship tour.
Gallina - whose self-styled 'Miss Teahupo'o' Instagram page has already gained a significant following - booked a Tahiti Pro showdown with Australian title hope and world No.1 Molly Picklum by taking out the local trials earlier this week.
Gallina's victory secured the first of two women's wildcards to surf the Teahupo'o event from August 7, with the youngster's 13th birthday falling a few days later on August 10.
Gallina first surfed Teahupo'o - which loosely translates to 'place of skulls' in the local dialect - when she was just four years old and has regularly pushed herself into waves twice her size at the feared break.
'I have no words. I'm so happy. I can't believe it,' Gallina said on the WSL broadcast, adding that a first-up Tahiti Pro heat against Picklum is a dream come true.
Gallina's Instagram page - run by her father Ryan - chronicles a childhood spent navigating the left-hand barrels over infamously shallow reef.
In an interview with Stab Magazine following Gallina breakthrough Tahiti trials win, her father said: 'when Kelia was only a little girl, she was always the only girl out there [surfing Teahupo'o],' in reference to the WSL mothballing the women's championship event from 2006 to 2022 because it was deemed too dangerous for them.
Since the women's event returned to Teahupo'o, women's surfing in waves of consequence on the WCT has shot to unprecedented levels.

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Bye Bye Baby: Australian music chart-topper Col Joye dies aged 89

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33 minutes ago

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Bye Bye Baby: Australian music chart-topper Col Joye dies aged 89

Australian music legend Col Joye, famous for his hit single Bye Bye Baby, has died aged 89. The ARIA Hall of Fame inductee, whose career spanned almost 67 years, was the first homegrown rock and roll singer to have a number one record Australia-wide. Joye, known offstage as Colin Frederick Jacobsen AM, had a number of chart successes in the country's early rock scene and achieved fame as the frontman of the Joy Boys. Joye covered Lloyd Price's Stagger Lee as his first release, followed by a string of acclaimed singles including Bye Bye Baby, Rockin' Rollin' Clementine, Oh Yeah Uh Huh and Yes Sir That's My Baby. Oh Yeah Uh Huh, released in 1959, was the first rock song recorded and produced in Australia to become a national number one pop hit. The song takes its beat from a typewriter. The singer played a part in the Bee Gees success, developing and promoting the band after meeting the young performers in Queensland. Joye was born in Sydney on April 13, 1936, and worked as a jewellery salesman before achieving stardom with the Joy Boys. As a regular fixture on Bandstand, Joye cultivated a clean-cut, boy-next-door image. He went on tour with fellow Bandstand acts including Little Pattie, Judy Stone, the De Kroo Brothers and Sandy Scott. Joye and his brother Kevin started businesses, including Glebe's ATA Studios, in entertainment management, publishing and recording. Australian music legend Col Joye, famous for his hit single Bye Bye Baby, has died aged 89. The ARIA Hall of Fame inductee, whose career spanned almost 67 years, was the first homegrown rock and roll singer to have a number one record Australia-wide. Joye, known offstage as Colin Frederick Jacobsen AM, had a number of chart successes in the country's early rock scene and achieved fame as the frontman of the Joy Boys. Joye covered Lloyd Price's Stagger Lee as his first release, followed by a string of acclaimed singles including Bye Bye Baby, Rockin' Rollin' Clementine, Oh Yeah Uh Huh and Yes Sir That's My Baby. Oh Yeah Uh Huh, released in 1959, was the first rock song recorded and produced in Australia to become a national number one pop hit. The song takes its beat from a typewriter. The singer played a part in the Bee Gees success, developing and promoting the band after meeting the young performers in Queensland. Joye was born in Sydney on April 13, 1936, and worked as a jewellery salesman before achieving stardom with the Joy Boys. As a regular fixture on Bandstand, Joye cultivated a clean-cut, boy-next-door image. He went on tour with fellow Bandstand acts including Little Pattie, Judy Stone, the De Kroo Brothers and Sandy Scott. Joye and his brother Kevin started businesses, including Glebe's ATA Studios, in entertainment management, publishing and recording. Australian music legend Col Joye, famous for his hit single Bye Bye Baby, has died aged 89. The ARIA Hall of Fame inductee, whose career spanned almost 67 years, was the first homegrown rock and roll singer to have a number one record Australia-wide. Joye, known offstage as Colin Frederick Jacobsen AM, had a number of chart successes in the country's early rock scene and achieved fame as the frontman of the Joy Boys. Joye covered Lloyd Price's Stagger Lee as his first release, followed by a string of acclaimed singles including Bye Bye Baby, Rockin' Rollin' Clementine, Oh Yeah Uh Huh and Yes Sir That's My Baby. Oh Yeah Uh Huh, released in 1959, was the first rock song recorded and produced in Australia to become a national number one pop hit. The song takes its beat from a typewriter. The singer played a part in the Bee Gees success, developing and promoting the band after meeting the young performers in Queensland. Joye was born in Sydney on April 13, 1936, and worked as a jewellery salesman before achieving stardom with the Joy Boys. As a regular fixture on Bandstand, Joye cultivated a clean-cut, boy-next-door image. He went on tour with fellow Bandstand acts including Little Pattie, Judy Stone, the De Kroo Brothers and Sandy Scott. Joye and his brother Kevin started businesses, including Glebe's ATA Studios, in entertainment management, publishing and recording.