El Cotillo Local Surf Scene | Meet Teiva Joyeux

Some of the best parts of the El Cotillo local surf scene aren’t about waves at all. Rather, they’re about the people. One of mine is Teiva.

Teiva Joyeux has lived in El Cotillo for years now, same as me. We met the way most real friendships start out here: in the water, at Punta Blanca, trading waves. From there, we started collaborating too, whenever our schedules overlap. These days, we surf together whenever the swell and our calendars allow it.

A Legend Where He Comes From

What most people in the water with him don’t immediately realise is that Teiva is a legend where he comes from. Indeed, he grew up in Tahiti, at the edge of the most famous, heaviest wave on the planet: Teahupo’o. This reef break hosted Olympic surfing in 2024. It has also earned its reputation as one of the most dangerous waves in the world.

Teiva is a local big wave rider there. Beyond that, he’s a genuine all-round waterman: windsurfing, kitesurfing, tow-in surfing, stand up paddling, longboarding, outrigger canoe paddling, and bodysurfing. In fact, Quiksilver sponsored him for 18 years. Years ago, he even designed a pair of boardshorts for them.

More Than an Athlete

Teiva isn’t just someone who rides big waves. Rather, he’s one of the most fascinating people I know, full of stories about the ocean. He tells them like someone who has actually lived every one of them. There’s a depth to him, something almost mystical, that comes through the moment you spend real time with him.

That same depth shows up in his art. He paints in a Polynesian style, with an eye for it that most people simply don’t have. In fact, he once painted a set of my own surfboards using paint pens, and the result still surprises me every time I look at them.

Brothers Tahiti: A Brand Born from Family

In November 2005, Teiva and his brother Malik were planning a new project together. It would eventually become Brothers Tahiti. However, just days after they started talking it through, Malik, one of Tahiti’s most respected big wave surfers, passed away while surfing at Pipeline, on Oahu’s North Shore.

Teiva could have let the project go. Instead, he carried it forward as a tribute to his brother. Today, Brothers Tahiti is still alive: apparel built around the same philosophy Teiva lives by, one built on ocean, movement and family. It’s just one more thread connecting Tahiti to the El Cotillo local surf scene, through the people who carry that spirit with them wherever they go.

Part of the El Cotillo Local Surf Scene

I’m not writing this because Teiva needs an introduction where he’s from. Rather, I’m writing it because it says something about the El Cotillo local surf scene here in Fuerteventura. People with real stories, real depth and real talent end up surfing together, simply because that’s where the good waves are that day.

So if you’d like to meet him, you’ll most likely find him teaching at one of the North Shore’s spots.