How Spain’s Natxo González prepares his body and mind to tackle the biggest swell on earth
Natxo González paddles a thin line. At 25, the professional big-wave surfer from Spain’s Basque Country has already challenged some of the most legendary waves on the planet, riding giants at Punta Galea near Bilbao and picture-perfect tubes at Namibia’s Skeleton Bay. But he also nearly lost it all in 2017.
Surfing Nazaré, in Portugal, a wave that can reach up to 80 feet in height, González crashed at high speed. His inflatable life vest, a survival tool adopted by nearly every big-wave surfer, failed to inflate, and he had to endure a massive five-wave set, where … More