A group of the world’s best big-wave surfers are in Nazare right now, itching at the chance to etch themselves into the history books with the biggest wave ever ridden. It’s a tough decision to choose from a stacked pack as to who the most fearless might be; they’re all hungry to ride the mythical 100-foot wave. While there were no Nazare giants stalking the line-up over the weekend, we may have identified the gnarliest big-wave surfer in Nazare right now.
His name is Matt Formston, a blind surfer from Australia who recently rode what was at least a 20-foot face at the Portuguese big-wave spot. Despite not possessing the luxury of sight, Matt made the rest of us clench fists in pockets in search of excuses, when he successfully slayed the notorious Nazare. He shared these words on his Instagram.
“Today, one of my lifelong dreams came true! People will give me a lot of credit for this achievement, but none of it would have been possible without the amazing team around me. Having this crew around me made it more fun and rewarding.”
It takes a high-level surfer to take on a 20-foot wave, an even more special one if you are visually impaired. Put modestly, Matt Formston is a major overachiever. He’s a Paralympian, three-time Para Surfer world champ and winner of gold and silver medals at the UCI para-cycling Track World Champs.
Matt lost 95 % of his vision as a five-year-old due to a genetic disorder called macular dystrophy. In an interview this week, he stated that he has recently lost even more of his sight, it’s now at 3% vision in his right eye and 1 % in his left eye.
It’s been a tough road to get to this point for the 44-year-old, who dealt with bullying and rejection due to his blindness. This in turn led him into to a state of depression and a self-sabotaging cycle of party drugs and pub scuffles. A bloody fight, which he told the Sydney Morning Herald should have killed him, was ultimately the wake-up call for Matt to make a switch in his life. In his early 20s, he picked up a full-time job at Optus and moved up the corporate ladder to eventually become a business executive at the telecommunications company. Matt would also start to compete in sports again, get married and become a father of three children.
He would become a world champ in para-cycling, which led him to compete at the Paralympics. Surfing, however, has always been the rock in a life that has been brutal at times. A thirst for pushing himself in the water would lead him to one of his most challenging tests in taking on the world’s biggest wave, Nazare.
Big-wave legend and Matt’s shaper Dylan Longbottom spoke to Tracks on the incredible feat.
“I met Matt Formstron through one of his coaches Samba Mann a couple of years ago. He said he would like to work with an Aussie shaper and we instantly connected. I was quite blown away by how he surfs blind! And now he has conquered a massive goal to surf the biggest and scariest wave in the world- Nazare. It’s so impressive because I surfed with a blindfold in Fiji and Indo for his movie ‘The Blind Sea’, and it was the hardest and scariest thing ever. I can relate to how hard it is for Matt, I’m so stoked he has come this far and it’s something he will never forget.”
To conclude his time in Nazare, Matt managed to score this massive one on his last morning in Portugal.
Matt’s inspirational journey is dissected in his documentary ‘The Blind Sea’, which airs in early 2023.
