Events at Nazare

[tonka79]

Interesting article on The Inertia today about recent events at Nazare - Blood on our Hands: Maya Gabeira, Mortality, and the Perversity of Big Wave Surfing. For those who aren't aware, big-wave surfer Maya Gabeira had a close brush with death. I don't have much time to present my views at the moment but thought I would get the ball rolling on discussion. Thoughts?

[carpetman]

Agreed, one wave i watched; the surfer was towed in, cruised down the bumpy face, bit of a turn and off the shoulder without it even breaking.

Sure there's huge consequences when it does break and it's easy to judge sitting behind a computer but the excitement from big wave surfing comes from the danger doesn't it?

[Grooter]

You sign up for it you know the risks, no-one was forcing Maya to surf that wave

I don't see the issue

[crabmeat thompson]

That's the second time Maya has almost drowned.

... at this stage, she's just endangering the people who inevitably have to save her.

[Donweather]

... at this stage, she's just endangering the people who inevitably have to save her.

I'm not sure I'd be saying that based on her latest ski driver's inabilities. I'd go as far to say he (ski driver) was partly to blame for her near drowning experience.

[crabmeat thompson]

Not sure about that Don. You fall off your wave, you know you're screwed when it's 70-foot. You fall off right under the peak where Maya did ... you're pretty much on your own for a few hundred metres.

Skis gurgle & lose power in white water, let alone 30-foot walls of white water. I think Carlos was doing everything he could to get her, knowing he only has a 10-15 second window before the next wall of white water was coming, fact of the matter was Maya fell off in the most critical section of Nazare. I saw Carlos make about 5 passovers, and Maya couldn't grab the sled.

Like I said, this is the second time she's done it. She has form.

[tonka79]

Laird weighs in:

Surfing great Laird Hamilton describes the dangers and thrills of riding a monster

[Donweather]

My point was the ski driver looked almost as in-experienced as the surfer. If the surfer goes down in the critical part of the wave that is the most important time you want the ski driver to do his job. If she had gone down on the shoulder then I'm sure none of this would have happened as the ski driver's mistakes would not have elevated the situation to the extent that it got to.

Anyone with knowledge of boats/skis/water skiing/picking up skiers etc knows a few basic principles. Firstly, you should always face your ski in the direction of the oncoming waves when picking up a passenger so that you can maintain your position when the incoming whitewater hits you and not worry about the person in the water going under the ski. Secondly, when coming into to pick up a person in the water, you always go around the outside of them so that the sled and/or ski rope will come around and make it easier for the person to grab on to. How many times did the ski driver actually pass on the inside of her and miss her or in fact hit her in the head with the sled.

My point above is that I believe the incompetence of the ski driver in a very critical situation did not assist a girl who was clearly showing signs of significant stress in the water.

[alakaboo]

For mine the session at Chopes was far more ridiculous.
Noone told Nathan Fletcher or Bruce Irons to quit.

[crabmeat thompson]

I don't think Carlos could locate where she was, and he couldn't predict where she was going to surface in the soup, Don. Like I said, a 10-second window to zoom in & out between walls of whitewater, meant he hedging his bets.

Go look at Nazare again. You can't face the ocean with your ski and perform a classic three-point rescue using a (learned) technique you use at pipe, or cloudbreak or tahiti. There is no channel to zoom in and out of. You basically time the wave from out in the deep, deep water, and come from behind it into the impact zone, then sweep around and head straight back out to sea hopefully before the next wave pitches.

I'm not sure why, but it just doesn't sit well with me, calling Carlos a kook, or incompetent in this situation.

There was a girl surfing, who was in over her head, and not for the first time she had to have cpr performed on her.

If I were her, I'd be reassessing my whole big-wave bit ...

[channels]

Clearly none of us (except maybe NC?) have experience in towing in at that size so at the risk of sounding like an internet warrior, I wonder if tow boards for big waves might have gotten too short.

I know the whole point is the additional length of a paddle in board isn't needed, but the way she was bouncing off the bumps in the face, perhaps a longer and/or heavier board might have prevented the whole ankle snap in the first place.

[dUg]

I Maya looked OK when Carlos ran over her with the sled, a bit less OK when he ran over her with the ski, and fairly not OK while she got dragged 25m underwater. Things with the rescue seemed to go a lot better once she had been washed in, face down, to within 10m of the high tide mark.

I disagree with her non-presence among big wave surfers on the grounds that she looks considerably better in a bikini than almost all of them.

[Damage]

Well it was a bit of fcuken everything there wasn't it?

Female out of depth x not a great performance on the ski x big big surf = a massive fcukup.

I mean, fair dinkum, making spilt second decisions on some mechanical waterhorse with 30 feet of whitewater bearing down on you. faaaaark

Just how well trained are these guys to do that. ?

Part big wave surfer, part Hollywood stuntman?

[Buff_Brad]

I'm not sure I'd be saying that based on her latest ski driver's inabilities. I'd go as far to say he (ski driver) was partly to blame for her near drowning experience.

Jesusf.u.c.k.en CHRIST

Talk about NFI

Don , don't you worry about our macho man from the Bells area. He gets pretty fired up with all this big wave big dicked big noting. I totally agree re - the ski driver - it looked amateurish at best......not what you'd want in those fairly extreme conditions. He was the boyfriend right.....

Oh and back on your meds Ringer......we'll chat again sometime pal.

[Surfnsmurf]

I'm not sure I'd be saying that based on her latest ski driver's inabilities. I'd go as far to say he (ski driver) was partly to blame for her near drowning experience.

Jesusf.u.c.k.en CHRIST

Talk about NFI

Don , don't you worry about our macho man from the Bells area. He gets pretty fired up with all this big wave big dicked big noting. I totally agree re - the ski driver - it looked amateurish at best......not what you'd want in those fairly extreme conditions. He was the boyfriend right.....

Oh and back on your meds Ringer......we'll chat again sometime pal.

her boyfriends billy kennedy from neighbours

[tonka79]

FWIW, I tend to agree with others who suggested both parties were responsible for the outcome. What interested me about The Inertia article though, was about the potential consequences of the surf community, and others, buying into this 'extreme sports' phenomena. No doubt there are some people who do it just for the love of it - Shane Dorian comes to mind - but I imagine having companies like Red Bull and Oakley handsomely rewarding such crazy antics affects the decision making process of some others. You can't help but think that as the stakes get higher and higher, sooner or later people will start paying a price with their bodies or perhaps their lives.