Marcio Freire, pioneer of XXL surfing, died Thursday in Nazaré, in central Portugal, becoming the first victim of this famous spot.
“A 47-year-old Brazilian man died this afternoon after falling while bodyboarding in Praia do Norte“, said the National Maritime Authority in a press release. “The rescuers found that the victim was in cardio-respiratory arrest, immediately beginning resuscitation maneuvers on the sand (…). After several attempts, it was not possible to reverse the situation.»
According to local sources interviewed by AFP, the victim is Marcio Freire, one of the veterans of XXL surfing who lived for twenty years in the American archipelago of Hawaii, Mecca of international surfing. Also according to these sources, Thursday, the sea conditions were not particularly dangerous.
Several professionals from around the world, also present in Nazaré on Thursday, paid tribute to Freire. “Today we lost one of our ownwrote big wave surfing expert Nic von Rupp on Instagram. “I’ve always had a lot of respect for Marcio. (…) Today I saw him surfing all day in Nazaré with a huge smile. It is with this huge smile that I will remember him“.
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Also on Instagram and from Nazaré, surfer Thiago Jacare, a compatriot of Freire, paid tribute to his friend who he said was “more than an idol” and one “true hero“.
The controversial technique of towed surfing consists in allowing the practitioner to access particularly large waves, which surfers cannot usually approach by rowing by hand, by means of a motorized machine (jet-ski or helicopter) which walks away after throwing the surfer onto the wave.
Every winter, the Praia do Norte is taken over by many surfers. This beach offers exceptional conditions for surfing giant waves due to the geological phenomenon called the “Nazare Canyon“: a fault at the bottom of the sea 170 km long and 5 km deep in which the swell of the Atlantic Ocean rushes before being propelled towards the surface when reaching the coast.
This is where German Sebastian Steudtner set the world record for the biggest wave ever surfed, for an 86-foot (26.2-meter) breaking wave, ridden on October 29, 2020.
Several accidents have occurred there since American Garett McNamara introduced it to the giant wave surfer community in the early 2010s, but none had been fatal until Thursday.
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