The day after the death of Brazilian surfer Marcio Freire, a leaden silence settled over Nazare, the Portuguese fishing village that has become a winter destination for big-wave surfers.
Around the lighthouse perched on the rocky promontory of Praia do Norte, everything, even the ocean, seemed calm.
The rollers breaking on Friday were, for once, just a few meters high on a short stretch of coast in central Portugal that draws surfers keen to ride its famed wall of water.
Photo: AFP
The Nazare Canyon, a 5km deep crack in the floor of the continental shelf, allows waves to roll in with little loss of energy to be thrown upward as the fault ends just off the shore, creating giant breakers.
Since Hawaiian surfer Garrett McNamara rode a series of record-breaking Nazare waves starting in late 2011, the village has drawn big-wave surfers and those who like to watch them.
German Sebastian Steudtner set the world record for the tallest wave surfed, a 26.2m breaker, on Oct. 29, 2020.
On Thursday, Freire, a veteran big-wave chaser, died there at the age of 47.
He was being towed out in a moderate swell when he fell.
“The rescuers found that the victim was in cardiorespiratory arrest, immediately starting resuscitation maneuvers on the sand,” the Portuguese National Maritime Authority said in a statement. “It was not possible to reverse the situation.”
It was the first surfing death in the canyon, local authorities said, yet the conditions were relatively benign and Freire was an experienced surfer.
He was one of a trio of Brazilians who starred in a 2016 documentary called Mad Dogs about surfing the legendary Jaws wave in Hawaii without being towed.
On Friday, Nazare Maritime Police Commander Mario Lopes de Figueiredo said that they were still investigating how Freire died.
“The waves did not exceed 5m,” he said. “These are not difficult conditions for surfing here. On the days of the greatest swell, they reach between 15 and 20m.”
“The surfer fell and was submerged by the wave. Then he was hit by two or three waves from behind and he did not have time to react in time or found himself unconscious at the impact of the first,” he said.
Brazilian filmmaker Bred Oliveira, a member of Freire’s team, the “Jagua Boys,” filmed his friend’s last wave, thinking at the time he was simply recording a training session.
“We had no idea. Nobody really knows how it happened. I was filming and, suddenly, I heard the sirens of the rescuers,” he said.
“The world of big surfing is in mourning, many surfers are in shock,” he said.
Oliveira said he hopes that at least the accident will help “improve safety” in Nazare.
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
RSS