Maya Gabeira's Brush with Death | The Biggest Surf Story of the Year

On October 29, one of the largest swells in recent memory hit Nazaré, off Portugal's majestic coast.

It attracted big-wave surfers from around the world, including two of the most admired, Carlos Burle and Maya Gabeira. If you follow the news closely, you probably know what happened. If you don't, here's a quick recap: Carlos surfed what many believe to be the largest wave ever surfed, while Maya nearly drowned as she charged what could have been the largest wave ever surfed by a woman.

#redbull #surfing #nazaré

-

Experience the world of Red Bull like you have never seen it before. With the best action sports clips on the web and original series, prepare for your "stoke factor" to be at an all time high.

[StefanSu]

To the people who never surfed before, when you see a 5 foot wave you might say it's small, but actually surfing waves and feeling the full force of the ocean is different. A 5 foot wave might feel like a monster. I can't even begin to explain the size of balls people have by surfing these waves. Amazing.

[hurleycapetown]

My heart literally sank when she took that second wave on the head, she must have had angels watching over her because nobody survives that.

[ggonsg]

You're my HEROINE!!!! Thank you for sharing your INSPIRATIONAL story. Very touching!!

[TheHelloDonk]

Is anyone actually going to comment without saying wether they're first or not? Respect the video guys, this was a powerful story of an incredible surfer who almost lost her life. It takes balls to attempt a wave that big. Balls that I can only dream of having. Kudos to Maya and her team. Great video as usual RedBull 

[woozywoods]

The documentary on HBO about Nazare shows this story more in depth. The team had never been to Nazare before and some safety standards were ignored. Normally you have 2 jet-skis out there and someone spotting from the shore with binoculars radioing to the jet skiers they didn’t have either of these just the one ski. What this fails to show you is when she is floating facedown in the water for a few minutes and Carlos’s failed attempts picking her up with the ski resorts to him driving back to the beach and wading out into the waist deep water to finally pull her to shore. She really shouldn’t be alive…

[jimmaaayj]

This is truly awesome. Much respect for Maya G.

I'm also not seeing enough Red Bull product placement here. Can we have more next time? Thanks a bunch!

[derekrichardt]

"I love it, I would do everything again"
"Me too!"
That's some awesome passion. 

[flipadeck]

So many people commenting on how she shouldn't of been out there.Who are you to judge!She trains harder than most and has the attitude and courage to take on these waves, so let her do what she does best and applaud it .She handled it so well, much respect!

[LurgsHowToGuides]

Wow, she is one lucky lady, some people don't come out of that alive. Respect to both of them

[Bierz]

They can easily get up to and over 50mph. So pretty much highway speeds! Glad you made it through this maya! Can't wait to see you break the women's world record, we'll be watching.

[kefmurray]

ok everyone is negative her goal in life is to ride big waves and get pitted. If she dies doing what she loves then did she really fail at life.

[PaulBunyun]

WOW I WONDER WHO SPONSORED THIS WONDERFUL VIDEO

[jackjones]

The sheer terror of sensing the second wave about to strike you when you're struggling to breathe from the battering of the first...

[Misterdred]

So many people who say that she is stupid or something like that have never do extrem sport like that. They don't know how it feels, how it is but they think that they have to decide for her what she had to do. They know nothing.. It's her own decision.
And all my mistakes can u ignore

[Scootlifenow]

Wow the editing in this video is stunning I admire the filmers and photographers for red bull:)

[cjcar]

This is awesome. Carlos and Maya make an awesome team. Maya is is an incredible surfer and absolutely beautiful. I hope for a speedy recovery!

[Q.Q.]

Awesome!  The last 30 seconds of the video was awesome, made the whole video that much more awesome.

Did I mention the video was awesome?...

[tiffsaver]

What a courageous woman, and kudos to her rescuers.  Incredible.

[SurfingBullDog]

Girl is recounting a near death experience and Red Bull producers insist she wear that stupid hat and forces both of them to hold Red Bull cans.

[DanAlejandrino]

This is so scary. I'd be too scared to surf something like this