A 47-year-old Brazilian died while surfing in the Portuguese surfing paradise of Nazaré on Thursday.
Portugal’s National Maritime Authority said the man fell while tow-in surfing in the Atlantic and suffered cardiac and respiratory arrest. Attempts to revive Praia do Norte have failed. According to media reports, the man was considered an experienced surfer. According to the Correio da Manha newspaper, he had appeared in a documentary film showing how he and two friends moved to Hawaii to surf the big waves there.
In tow-in surfing, athletes are pulled into the breaking waves by jet skis or even helicopters because they are so big that they can no longer be reached by paddling.
In October, the German surfer Sebastian Steudtner set a world record for the highest wave ever surfed in Nazaré, around 100 kilometers north of Lisbon. The giant wave he took was 26.21 meters tall. The big waves attract the international surfing elite to the small town every year.
