Shock and pain for the death of Márcio Freire, the legend of surfing who died in the giant waves of Nazaré

The surfing world greets the Brazilian with pain and shock Marcio Freirdied on Thursday aged 47 after a brutal fall while trying to ride giant waves at Nazaré in Portugal.

Freire, who lived for twenty years in Hawaii, the Mecca of surfing, was a world-famous legend. His unexpected death occurred Thursday afternoon while he was exercising “towed surf”a mode in which the athlete is pulled towards a large wave by a jet ski.

Despite being rescued by his motorbike and taken to the sandy beach, where he was treated by medical services, the Brazilian did not survive the crash.

Personalities from the world of surfing have fired Freire in the last few hours, remembered as one of the three Brazilians known as the “mad dogs” who won the giant wave Jaws in Hawaii.

“Thank you, Márcio, for your contribution to big wave surfing. You were a unique and good soul”wrote his compatriot on Instagram maya gabeirarecognized in 2020 with the distinction of being the woman who surfed the highest wave in history, right in Nazaré.

Also another Brazilian, Luca Chiancaknown as Prickly pearshowed his sadness at the loss of a “eternal idol”.

“I’ve always admired him for his courage and technique in and out of the water, a pioneer in one of the most feared waves in the world, Jaws,” he said on his social networks.

“Today we lost one of our own. I’ve always had a lot of respect for Márcio as one of the pioneers of Jaws. Today I saw him surfing all day in Nazaré with a big smile… That’s how I will remember him,” she wrote Portuguese on Instagram – German nic von ruppanother surfer.

The Portuguese Surfing Federation also mourned Freire’s “tragic passing” in a statement and sent its condolences to the family and big wave community.

Nazaré, a sacred place for surfers

Nazaré is considered by surfers to be the Olympus of giant waves, with world records exceeding 26 meters in height. Every European winter, Praia do Norte is visited by numerous surfers. This beach offers exceptional conditions for big wave surfing due to a geological phenomenon called the “Canyon of Nazaré”: a fault in the sea bed 170 km long and 5 km deep which causes the force of the sea to push the surface once reached the coast.

There, German Sebastian Steudtner set the world record for the biggest wave ever surfed, riding a 26.2m wave on October 29, 2020.

There had been several accidents at the site since the American Garett McNamara discovered this place of giant waves at the beginning of the last decade. But none had had a fatal outcome until this Thursday

Source: agencies