Giants From The Deep: World Champion Big Wave Surfer Maya Gabeira and the Challenge of Riding Mountains of the Sea

Jason Elias: 0:08

Hi and welcome to the Big Deep podcast. Big Deep is a podcast about people who have a connection to the ocean, people for whom that connection is so strong it defines some aspect of their life. Over the course of this series, we'll talk to all sorts of people and in each episode we'll explore the deeper meaning of that connection. Today, I speak with one of the greatest female big wave surfers of all time, who shares how riding waves of 80 feet or more deeply connects her to our world's oceans. Hello, this is your host, jason Elias. Welcome to the Big Deep podcast. In today's episode, I speak with Brazilian big wave surfer, Maya Gabeira, one of the most accomplished female surfers on the planet. Maya is a seven-time world champion in the World Surf League and a two-time world record holder for the largest wave surf, including 2020, when she surfed the biggest wave surf of the year for both men and women. Beyond that, and perhaps is no surprise, she's also deeply committed to ocean conservation and is a board member of Oceana and a UNESCO champion for the ocean. Maya was also featured in the HBO series 100 Foot Wave, which chronicled a group of surfers surfing the waves at Nazaré, portugal, perhaps the biggest and most challenging wave on the planet and as part of that journey, she had a terrifying and high-profile crash where she was knocked unconscious by a huge wave that broke her leg and where she almost drowned. And yet, with all of that, I found Maya to be down to earth, humble and almost shy, with a wonderful sense of humor, and we discussed how she first discovered surfing in her hometown of Rio de Janeiro, why she was driven to such an extreme relationship with the ocean and what it feels like to skip down the face of one of the largest waves on the planet.

Maya Gabeira: 1:55

My name is Maya Gabeira and I'm a professional big wave surfer.

Jason Elias: 1:59

Yes, you are, and probably one of the world's most well-known. So could you talk a little bit about where you grew up and when you first remember your connection to the ocean?

Maya Gabeira: 2:09

I first discovered my connection to the ocean when I was 13. And I first held on a surfboard between Copacabana and Ipanema and Arpoado it's a little point breaker left. Yeah, those beaches are world famous, but not for their waves. So they're beautiful and they have a lot of people in it and they're playing sports on the beach, but surfing is not like the main thing that comes to mind. The beach was something for me and the ocean was something for me until I got to hold that surfboard. I was on the beach and I had the wrong clothes. I was on jeans, shorts and T-shirts and I tried to stand up on it and I probably looked ridiculous and I fell everywhere. But that was the first time. I remember feeling something very special about that board and that salt water and the ocean, the waves and the beach. And then, after my friends at school were surfers and I started dating one of them and he introduced me to surfing and I wanted to surf too because it looked too much fun.

Jason Elias: 3:20

Yeah, it's interesting how chance can so deeply influence the past. That changed our lives and you became a surfer. But living here in LA, I have many friends who are passionate surfers but never take it beyond being a hobby. Was it evident to you from the beginning that this would be your career?

Maya Gabeira: 3:38

No, I had no idea I would be a professional surfer when I was 13, 14, 15. I just wanted to find something I loved. I mean, the rest I would have to figure out along the way but I wanted to make sure I had something that I was passionate about. So I did amateur competitions at home. Sure, I was 15, 16, 17. I left, actually, and I went to Hawaii because I wanted to surf and learn English. And I was on route to Australia and Indonesia, working along the way, and when I stopped in Hawaii, I mean my level was so far off. You know, those girls had been surfing since they were three. I was like, oops, started late, you know. I mean, maybe I could have pushed a bra to be quite average and, coming from Brazil, that would make for a disaster recipe to pay my bills at that time. And I noticed that I was inspired and drawn to like bigger waves, especially when I got to Hawaii, you know, and things like that. First time I saw Big Waves, I instantly connected. I instantly felt like that was something I loved to do and would be super challenging. And I was dancing when I was younger and I was very, very passionate about dancing and I had quit it a few years earlier and I find it quite similar to dancing. You know you're balancing on your feet. It is a form of art that has style, it has body movement, it's a way to express yourself and I think it translated to me. But to me it wasn't a better environment Instead of in a gym. You know you're dancing on water. I was like, yeah, that's perfect.

Jason Elias: 5:17

Well, that's a great way of describing it, and there's your connection. But for most of us, who would never dream of paddling out and confronting these gigantic waves, what are the challenges and rewards of a life like this? I mean, do you ever feel fear? Does the competition motivate you, and what is it that drives you to do this?

Maya Gabeira: 5:37

There's certainly a little bit of competition, and I think it's a good competition. You know to be inspired by other athletes To do something that we know we're all scared of. You know, to pushing that limit. It definitely scares me, but there's a process to serve them. I prepare, I try to be very aware of the risks and I feel like we're as safe as possible. But then, of course, you're dealing with the ocean, so we have to always be vigilant because we're in this hostile environment, but beautiful. It's such a big risk to take. It involves so much training, equipment, logistics team. You got to be in it with your heart, otherwise it's not going to be worth it. And then there's a point where we let go of the rope, but then you're completely alone. So you got to be sure that you're fully there. That that's what you want, because it's a lot of information. You know, from jet skis zooming around to waves exploding left and right, to looking at the cliff and then seeing sets come from different directions. Have your radio yelling at you, have your partner on the water yelling at you. I mean your heart is racing. You have so much adrenaline rushing off your body Because, right then it's still so alive and you're in ecstasy. You're in ecstasy like the noise and the senses, and the wind, the water, how it splashed on you, or if you touch the water with your hand or if your rail's caught. I mean, the bigger the waves for me, the more I see the faces and the colors, and it's always moving. Yeah, it's so alive. That is the moment to like absorb all of that that you just live because it goes so fast and I feel like being in that environment is something special.

Jason Elias: 8:42

Yes, so beautifully said, and even though most people who listen to this might never serve for massive wave, I think almost everyone can understand your sense of being alive that comes from being in the ocean. So now I would love to hear a story from you when you most felt connected to being in the water.

Maya Gabeira: 9:06

Oh, there's been so many. One that I can think of would be the first time I surfed some big waves on Azure. A week before the accident First 10 days or so we had been in Azure and we woke up and there were some bigger waves and it was going to be the first time we're going to surf it. Nobody was around, nobody was on the cliff. It was like this forgotten little fishing village in the middle of Portugal that was still very much quiet and old and mellow and empty and winter. It was the 23rd of October 2013. And it was my first big wave here 50 feet or so and we woke up and I remember we went out and I towed into my first big wave here in Azure. And if the wave breaks top to bottom, if the lip of the wave actually throws from the top and lands on the bottom of the water, that will make just the craziest crazy explosion sound. It's like a bomb exploding. I was going down so fast, skipping on the face, like flying down this wave. I'd never felt so much speed on a wave before. Then I went shaking down and I got to the bottom. I couldn't really bottom turn with the amount of speed I had and the board that I had, I straightened out and made it to the beach safely and it was just like the first day I felt the ocean like the way it is in Azure and the cold, the lines, the different waves, the big splashes against the cliff, and just the first time I saw the place like really alive. It's like the first step to understanding how different that wave was compared to everything else that I had surfed before and that was the first time I remember that it became something extra, extra special and I felt very connected to the place.

Jason Elias: 12:33

Finally, we end every interview and every episode with a single open-ended question. We ask everyone we talk to what does the ocean mean to you?

Maya Gabeira: 12:46

It means life. It means life, I mean for me, to feel alive.

Jason Elias: 12:57

Thanks for listening to the Big Deep podcast. Next time on Big Deep.

Madeline MacAllister: 13:03

I swam past this bit of the ship. It had this beautiful copper bolt that had been sanded by the sand movement, so it was gold and shiny, and I think I must have sat staring at this one bit of the ship for about 20 minutes and all of a sudden I got it, like I got why shipwrecks can tell us those stories.

Jason Elias: 13:24

We really appreciate you being on this journey into the Big Deep as we explore an ocean of stories. If you like what we're doing, please make sure to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. Also, please find us on the socials where you can like and comment, because those subscribes, likes and comments really make a difference. For more content from our interviews in our series, photos of every guest or just to get in touch, please reach out at our website, bigdeepcom Plus. If you know someone you think we should talk to, please let us know at our Big Deep website, as we are always looking to hear more stories from interesting people who are deeply connected to our world's oceans. Thanks again for joining us.