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Waves in Nazaré (2019)
Photo: Rafael Marchante/ REUTERS
They are spectacular images of wave crests that go around the world every surfing season from Nazaré on the Portuguese Atlantic coast.
But the athletes who venture into these waves are taking a significant risk.
Now a Brazilian surfer has died in the place.
The 47-year-old died after falling while surfing at Praia do Norte beach area, Portugal's National Maritime Authority said.
Accordingly, the crashed surfer wanted to ride a wave with the controversial tow-in surfing technique.
The sea area off the coast of Nazaré is considered one of the most challenging places for surfers in the world because of its giant waves.
Several accidents had already occurred off the coast, but as of Thursday none had been fatal.
Tow-in surfing allows surfers to access particularly high, otherwise unreachable waves by being towed into a breaking wave using a jet ski or helicopter.
As the AFP news agency learned from local sources, the fatality is said to be an experienced surfer who had lived in Hawaii, the homeland of water sports, for 20 years.
Local conditions not too extreme
Accordingly, the sea conditions on Thursday were not particularly dangerous.
According to the Portuguese Maritime Authority, rescue workers found the crashed surfer in cardiac and respiratory arrest and immediately began resuscitation measures on the beach.
However, these were in vain.
The five-kilometre-deep and 170-kilometre-long “Nazaré Canyon”, in which the huge waves are created, lies directly in front of the Portuguese Atlantic coast.
US professional surfer Garrett McNamara introduced the waves of Nazaré to a larger audience in the early 2010s.
Since then, numerous surfers have traveled to Nazaré year after year, especially in winter.
On October 29, 2020, the German surfer Sebastian Steudtner set the world record for the highest wave ever surfed on a 26.2 meter high wave at the site of the Nazaré accident.
jok/AFP
