The day after Marcio Freire passed away the colossal, shifting peaks of Nazare were noticeably empty. “The line up is clear today even though it’s sunny, offshore and around a similar size to yesterday,” wrote photographer Peter Joli Wilson in an email to Tracks. Perhaps the vacant lineup was a mark of respect for the much-loved 48-year-old surfer who had been an upbeat presence in the big wave scene for decades. However, maybe the lonely lineup also served as a kind of unstated admission of the mortal risk associated with riding Nazare. The Nazare big wave fraternity needed a moment; not only to pay their respects, but also to recalibrate the risk associated with their seasonal quest. Much like the many local fisherman who saw friends lose their lives to the giant, tumbling peaks, long before the surfers showed up.
For the last decade surfers from around the world have been pushing the boundaries at Nazare; Portugal’s spectacular aquatic amphitheatre, where gothic, sky-scraping spires of swell puncture the sky and a cliff-top gallery of worshippers pays homage to the thrilling show.
Meanwhile, every daring ride is almost instantly distributed across social media. The imagery always leaves you a little awestruck, but the ready availability and sheer volume of Nazare content can also be a little numbing to the senses, making one oblivious to the inherent danger in every plummeting drop. Suddenly a lurching twenty-foot wave is treated like a throw away ride because it won’t yield any kind of meaningful response from the social media algorithms, it won’t win you the XXL ride of the year and it won’t deliver any kudos in the never-ending game of one-up-man-ship that big wave surfing can become – but it still might kill you.
Like all deaths in an action sports or high-speed setting – whether it be car racing or downhill skiing – there should be a close analysis of what went wrong and how a similar scenario might be avoided in the future. Below is the version of events according to Australian lensman Joli, who witnessed and photographed the whole incident, unaware at the time that it would take a tragic turn.
“It was probably close to the biggest wave of the afternoon. A 20’ face and he just got caught behind the white water and straightened out as it broke around him and hid him from my angle.
From the end of the wave till the start of CPR was just over 2 minutes going by my image’s time codes. The local Police Report said that he was already in cardiac arrest when he was brought to the beach. From my images he was definitely unconscious when they got him onto the beach. It was Chumbo who grabbed him and drove the ski right up onto the sand and ripped off the impact vest and started CPR. Other surfers and bystanders preformed CPR till the lifeguards arrived. They worked on him for about 20 minutes on the beach then in the back of an ambulance for another 30-40 minutes.”
There is no harsher reminder of the inherent risk associated with big wave surfing than a fatality. As the Nazare zealots return to the high-stakes arena and begin pushing the boundaries again, they will likely have a renewed appreciation for how much can go wrong – even on a small or medium-sized day. Meanwhile, for those first-timers who fancy the idea of a dance with the cruel sea at Nazare then it’s worth asking yourself (maybe twenty times in twenty different ways) are you prepared for every possible scenario? Marcio Freire was no amateur thrill seeker chancing his hand, and Nazare still claimed his life.
While a sombre mood still hangs over the Nazare big wave community the tow teams returned to the lineup today (Portugal time) whipping into clean 35-foot faces beneath blue skies. Lucas ‘Chumbo’ Chianca and Lucas Fink, both of whom were involved in the rescue, were back in the water. No doubt all their waves were ridden with Marcio Freire’s fate in the back of their minds.
