It was the first set of the day at Mavericks, a rock-studded, once-secret surf spot 20 miles south of San Francisco, and Andrea Möller was out charging big waves with a dozen other women when her surfboard hit her in the cheek under her left eye.
It was a shock. It hurt. And she wasn’t happy she had to interrupt her session. But the Brazilian-turned-Maui-local had flown to California to ride the legendary Mavericks break and that was what she intended to do … More
On October 9, 2015, at exactly midday, beneath the 12 chimes of the bells of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Nazaré, Maya Gabeira rode her first wave back at Praia do Norte, where three years earlier she experienced the roughest moment of her career.
Bulldozed by a massive wave, Gabeira broke her ankle instantly, but that was the least of her troubles. Two more waves tossed her around as her body went limp and she slipped in and out of consciousness before fellow Brazilian Carlos Burle was able to rescue her. The scenes were shocking and were watched in horror around the world.
All of which brings us to the courageous clip above. With much physical and psychological preparation, along with two hernia surgeries to her back, Gabeira got back to the place that once changed her life forever. As naturally as you’d expect from someone who’s surfed the biggest waves on the planet for the past decade, the 28-year-old didn’t have any problems dropping into 10ft waves, but that was only her first step.
Sunday morning was anything but ordinary. A beautiful morning and glassy waters were the stage to an amazing natural spectacle. After sailing for a while, we were coming back to Santa Cruz harbor and found a large aggregation of marine life feeding on fish. Sea birds, sea lions, harbor seals, dolphins and a humpback whale were the predators. After observing the whale surfacing to breathe several times, we decided to head out. Little did we know that we will see the whale one more time except, this time it came out with its mouth opened and barely missing a paddle boarder who was coming out of the harbor. We could not believe it! He escaped danger twice by centimeters… Fortunately he is ok and we got the action on video!