In today's episode, I speak with Brazilian big wave surfer Maya Gabeira, one of the most famous female surfers in the world.
Maya is a seven-time world champion in the World Surf League and a two-time world record holder for the largest wave surfed, including in 2020, where she surfed the biggest wave of the year for both men and women combined.
Beyond that, and perhaps as no surprise, she is 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.
As part of that journey, she had a terrifying and very high-profile crash where she was knocked unconscious by a huge wave at Nazaré, broke her leg, and 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 off Copacabana Beach, 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.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jason Elias (00:08):
Hi and welcome to the Big Deep podcast.
Big Deep is a podcast aboutpeople who have a connection to
the ocean, people for whom thatconnection is so strong it
defines some aspect of theirlife.
Over the course of this series,we'll talk to all sorts of
people and in each episode we'llexplore the deeper meaning of
(00:29):
that connection.
Today, I speak with one of thegreatest female big wave surfers
of all time, who shares howriding waves of 80 feet or more
deeply connects her to ourworld's oceans.
Hello, this is your host, jasonElias.
Welcome to the Big Deep podcast.
(00:51):
In today's episode, I speak withBrazilian big wave surfer, Maya
Gabeira, one of the mostaccomplished female surfers on
the planet.
Maya is a seven-time worldchampion in the World Surf
League and a two-time worldrecord holder for the largest
wave surf, including 2020, whenshe surfed the biggest wave surf
of the year for both men andwomen.
Beyond that, and perhaps is nosurprise, she's also deeply
(01:12):
committed to ocean conservationand is a board member of Oceana
and a UNESCO champion for theocean.
Maya was also featured in theHBO series 100 Foot Wave, which
chronicled a group of surferssurfing the waves at Nazaré,
portugal, perhaps the biggestand most challenging wave on the
planet and as part of thatjourney, she had a terrifying
and high-profile crash where shewas knocked unconscious by a
huge wave that broke her leg andwhere she almost drowned.
(01:35):
And yet, with all of that, Ifound Maya to be down to earth,
humble and almost shy, with awonderful sense of humor, and we
discussed how she firstdiscovered surfing in her
hometown of Rio de Janeiro, whyshe was driven to such an
extreme relationship with theocean and what it feels like to
skip down the face of one of thelargest waves on the planet.
Maya Gabeira (01:55):
My name is Maya Gabeira and I'm a professional
big wave surfer.
Jason Elias (01:59):
Yes, you are, and probably one of the world's most
well-known.
So could you talk a little bitabout where you grew up and when
you first remember yourconnection to the ocean?
Maya Gabeira (02:09):
I first discovered my connection to the ocean when
I was 13.
And I first held on a surfboardbetween Copacabana and Ipanema
and Arpoado it's a little pointbreaker left.
Yeah, those beaches are worldfamous, but not for their waves.
So they're beautiful and theyhave a lot of people in it and
(02:33):
they're playing sports on thebeach, but surfing is not like
the main thing that comes tomind.
The beach was something for meand the ocean was something for
me until I got to hold thatsurfboard.
I was on the beach and I hadthe wrong clothes.
I was on jeans, shorts andT-shirts and I tried to stand up
on it and I probably lookedridiculous and I fell everywhere
(02:53):
.
But that was the first time.
I remember feeling somethingvery special about that board
and that salt water and theocean, the waves and the beach.
And then, after my friends atschool were surfers and I
started dating one of them andhe introduced me to surfing and
(03:16):
I wanted to surf too because itlooked too much fun.
Jason Elias (03:20):
Yeah, it's interesting how chance can so
deeply influence the past.
That changed our lives and youbecame a surfer.
But living here in LA, I havemany friends who are passionate
surfers but never take it beyondbeing a hobby.
Was it evident to you from thebeginning that this would be
your career?
Maya Gabeira (03:38):
No, I had no idea I would be a professional surfer
when I was 13, 14, 15.
I just wanted to find somethingI loved.
I mean, the rest I would haveto figure out along the way but
I wanted to make sure I hadsomething that I was passionate
about.
So I did amateur competitionsat home.
Sure, I was 15, 16, 17.
(03:59):
I left, actually, and I went toHawaii because I wanted to surf
and learn English.
And I was on route to Australiaand Indonesia, working along the
way, and when I stopped inHawaii, I mean my level was so
far off.
You know, those girls had beensurfing since they were three.
I was like, oops, started late,you know.
I mean, maybe I could havepushed a bra to be quite average
(04:22):
and, coming from Brazil, thatwould make for a disaster recipe
to pay my bills at that time.
And I noticed that I wasinspired and drawn to like
bigger waves, especially when Igot to Hawaii, you know, and
things like that.
First time I saw Big Waves, Iinstantly connected.
I instantly felt like that wassomething I loved to do and
(04:45):
would be super challenging.
And I was dancing when I wasyounger and I was very, very
passionate about dancing and Ihad quit it a few years earlier
and I find it quite similar todancing.
You know you're balancing onyour feet.
It is a form of art that hasstyle, it has body movement,
it's a way to express yourselfand I think it translated to me.
(05:07):
But to me it wasn't a betterenvironment Instead of in a gym.
You know you're dancing onwater.
I was like, yeah, that'sperfect.
Jason Elias (05:17):
Well, that's a great way of describing it, and
there's your connection.
But for most of us, who wouldnever 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 motivateyou, and what is it that drives
you to do this?
Maya Gabeira (05:37):
There's certainly a little bit of competition, and
I think it's a good competition.
You know to be inspired byother athletes To do something
that we know we're all scared of.
You know, to pushing that limit.
It definitely scares me, butthere's a process to serve them.
(05:59):
I prepare, I try to be veryaware of the risks and I feel
like we're as safe as possible.
But then, of course, you'redealing with the ocean, so we
(06:22):
have to always be vigilantbecause we're in this hostile
environment, but beautiful.
It's such a big risk to take.
It involves so much training,equipment, logistics team.
(06:43):
You got to be in it with yourheart, otherwise it's not going
to be worth it.
And then there's a point wherewe let go of the rope, but then
you're completely alone.
So you got to be sure thatyou're fully there.
(07:05):
That that's what you want,because it's a lot of
information.
You know, from jet skis zoomingaround to waves exploding left
and right, to looking at thecliff and then seeing sets come
from different directions.
Have your radio yelling at you,have your partner on the water
yelling at you.
(07:26):
I mean your heart is racing.
You have so much adrenalinerushing off your body Because,
right then it's still so aliveand you're in ecstasy.
You're in ecstasy like thenoise and the senses, and the
(07:52):
wind, the water, how it splashedon you, or if you touch the
water with your hand or if yourrail's caught.
I mean, the bigger the wavesfor me, the more I see the faces
and the colors, and it's alwaysmoving.
Yeah, it's so alive.
(08:14):
That is the moment to likeabsorb all of that that you just
live because it goes so fastand I feel like being in that
environment is something special.
Jason Elias (08:42):
Yes, so beautifully said, and even though most
people who listen to this mightnever serve for massive wave, I
think almost everyone canunderstand your sense of being
alive that comes from being inthe ocean.
So now I would love to hear astory from you when you most
(09:03):
felt connected to being in thewater.
Maya Gabeira (09:06):
Oh, there's been so many.
One that I can think of wouldbe the first time I surfed some
big waves on Azure.
A week before the accidentFirst 10 days or so we had been
in Azure and we woke up andthere were some bigger waves and
(09:30):
it was going to be the firsttime we're going to surf it.
Nobody was around, nobody wason the cliff.
It was like this forgottenlittle fishing village in the
middle of Portugal that wasstill very much quiet and old
(09:51):
and mellow and empty and winter.
It was the 23rd of October 2013.
And it was my first big wavehere 50 feet or so and we woke
up and I remember we went outand I towed into my first big
(10:16):
wave here in Azure.
And if the wave breaks top tobottom, if the lip of the wave
actually throws from the top andlands on the bottom of the
water, that will make just thecraziest crazy explosion sound.
(10:37):
It's like a bomb exploding.
I was going down so fast,skipping on the face, like
(10:57):
flying down this wave.
I'd never felt so much speed ona wave before.
Then I went shaking down and Igot to the bottom.
I couldn't really bottom turnwith the amount of speed I had
and the board that I had, Istraightened out and made it to
(11:21):
the beach safely and it was justlike the first day I felt the
ocean like the way it is inAzure and the cold, the lines,
the different waves, the bigsplashes against the cliff, and
(11:49):
just the first time I saw theplace like really alive.
It's like the first step tounderstanding how different that
wave was compared to everythingelse that I had surfed before
and that was the first time Iremember that it became
(12:11):
something extra, extra specialand I felt very connected to the
place.
Jason Elias (12:33):
Finally, we end every interview and every
episode with a single open-endedquestion.
We ask everyone we talk to whatdoes 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 copperbolt that had been sanded by the
sand movement, so it was goldand shiny, and I think I must
have sat staring at this one bitof the ship for about 20
minutes and all of a sudden Igot it, like I got why
shipwrecks can tell us thosestories.
Jason Elias (13:24):
We really appreciate you being on this
journey into the Big Deep as weexplore 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 thesocials where you can like and
comment, because thosesubscribes, likes and comments
really make a difference.
For more content from ourinterviews in our series, photos
of every guest or just to getin touch, please reach out at
(13:46):
our website, bigdeepcom Plus.
If you know someone you thinkwe should talk to, please let us
know at our Big Deep website,as we are always looking to hear
more stories from interestingpeople who are deeply connected
to our world's oceans.
Thanks again for joining us.
Hi and welcome to the Big Deep podcast.
Big Deep is a podcast aboutpeople who have a connection to
the ocean, people for whom thatconnection is so strong it
defines some aspect of theirlife.
Over the course of this series,we'll talk to all sorts of
people and in each episode we'llexplore the deeper meaning of
(00:29):
that connection.
Today, I speak with one of thegreatest female big wave surfers
of all time, who shares howriding waves of 80 feet or more
deeply connects her to ourworld's oceans.
Hello, this is your host, jasonElias.
Welcome to the Big Deep podcast.
(00:51):
In today's episode, I speak withBrazilian big wave surfer, Maya
Gabeira, one of the mostaccomplished female surfers on
the planet.
Maya is a seven-time worldchampion in the World Surf
League and a two-time worldrecord holder for the largest
wave surf, including 2020, whenshe surfed the biggest wave surf
of the year for both men andwomen.
Beyond that, and perhaps is nosurprise, she's also deeply
(01:12):
committed to ocean conservationand is a board member of Oceana
and a UNESCO champion for theocean.
Maya was also featured in theHBO series 100 Foot Wave, which
chronicled a group of surferssurfing the waves at Nazaré,
portugal, perhaps the biggestand most challenging wave on the
planet and as part of thatjourney, she had a terrifying
and high-profile crash where shewas knocked unconscious by a
huge wave that broke her leg andwhere she almost drowned.
(01:35):
And yet, with all of that, Ifound Maya to be down to earth,
humble and almost shy, with awonderful sense of humor, and we
discussed how she firstdiscovered surfing in her
hometown of Rio de Janeiro, whyshe was driven to such an
extreme relationship with theocean and what it feels like to
skip down the face of one of thelargest waves on the planet.
Maya Gabeira (01:55):
My name is Maya Gabeira and I'm a professional
big wave surfer.
Jason Elias (01:59):
Yes, you are, and probably one of the world's most
well-known.
So could you talk a little bitabout where you grew up and when
you first remember yourconnection to the ocean?
Maya Gabeira (02:09):
I first discovered my connection to the ocean when
I was 13.
And I first held on a surfboardbetween Copacabana and Ipanema
and Arpoado it's a little pointbreaker left.
Yeah, those beaches are worldfamous, but not for their waves.
So they're beautiful and theyhave a lot of people in it and
(02:33):
they're playing sports on thebeach, but surfing is not like
the main thing that comes tomind.
The beach was something for meand the ocean was something for
me until I got to hold thatsurfboard.
I was on the beach and I hadthe wrong clothes.
I was on jeans, shorts andT-shirts and I tried to stand up
on it and I probably lookedridiculous and I fell everywhere
(02:53):
.
But that was the first time.
I remember feeling somethingvery special about that board
and that salt water and theocean, the waves and the beach.
And then, after my friends atschool were surfers and I
started dating one of them andhe introduced me to surfing and
(03:16):
I wanted to surf too because itlooked too much fun.
Jason Elias (03:20):
Yeah, it's interesting how chance can so
deeply influence the past.
That changed our lives and youbecame a surfer.
But living here in LA, I havemany friends who are passionate
surfers but never take it beyondbeing a hobby.
Was it evident to you from thebeginning that this would be
your career?
Maya Gabeira (03:38):
No, I had no idea I would be a professional surfer
when I was 13, 14, 15.
I just wanted to find somethingI loved.
I mean, the rest I would haveto figure out along the way but
I wanted to make sure I hadsomething that I was passionate
about.
So I did amateur competitionsat home.
Sure, I was 15, 16, 17.
(03:59):
I left, actually, and I went toHawaii because I wanted to surf
and learn English.
And I was on route to Australiaand Indonesia, working along the
way, and when I stopped inHawaii, I mean my level was so
far off.
You know, those girls had beensurfing since they were three.
I was like, oops, started late,you know.
I mean, maybe I could havepushed a bra to be quite average
(04:22):
and, coming from Brazil, thatwould make for a disaster recipe
to pay my bills at that time.
And I noticed that I wasinspired and drawn to like
bigger waves, especially when Igot to Hawaii, you know, and
things like that.
First time I saw Big Waves, Iinstantly connected.
I instantly felt like that wassomething I loved to do and
(04:45):
would be super challenging.
And I was dancing when I wasyounger and I was very, very
passionate about dancing and Ihad quit it a few years earlier
and I find it quite similar todancing.
You know you're balancing onyour feet.
It is a form of art that hasstyle, it has body movement,
it's a way to express yourselfand I think it translated to me.
(05:07):
But to me it wasn't a betterenvironment Instead of in a gym.
You know you're dancing onwater.
I was like, yeah, that'sperfect.
Jason Elias (05:17):
Well, that's a great way of describing it, and
there's your connection.
But for most of us, who wouldnever 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 motivateyou, and what is it that drives
you to do this?
Maya Gabeira (05:37):
There's certainly a little bit of competition, and
I think it's a good competition.
You know to be inspired byother athletes To do something
that we know we're all scared of.
You know, to pushing that limit.
It definitely scares me, butthere's a process to serve them.
(05:59):
I prepare, I try to be veryaware of the risks and I feel
like we're as safe as possible.
But then, of course, you'redealing with the ocean, so we
(06:22):
have to always be vigilantbecause we're in this hostile
environment, but beautiful.
It's such a big risk to take.
It involves so much training,equipment, logistics team.
(06:43):
You got to be in it with yourheart, otherwise it's not going
to be worth it.
And then there's a point wherewe let go of the rope, but then
you're completely alone.
So you got to be sure thatyou're fully there.
(07:05):
That that's what you want,because it's a lot of
information.
You know, from jet skis zoomingaround to waves exploding left
and right, to looking at thecliff and then seeing sets come
from different directions.
Have your radio yelling at you,have your partner on the water
yelling at you.
(07:26):
I mean your heart is racing.
You have so much adrenalinerushing off your body Because,
right then it's still so aliveand you're in ecstasy.
You're in ecstasy like thenoise and the senses, and the
(07:52):
wind, the water, how it splashedon you, or if you touch the
water with your hand or if yourrail's caught.
I mean, the bigger the wavesfor me, the more I see the faces
and the colors, and it's alwaysmoving.
Yeah, it's so alive.
(08:14):
That is the moment to likeabsorb all of that that you just
live because it goes so fastand I feel like being in that
environment is something special.
Jason Elias (08:42):
Yes, so beautifully said, and even though most
people who listen to this mightnever serve for massive wave, I
think almost everyone canunderstand your sense of being
alive that comes from being inthe ocean.
So now I would love to hear astory from you when you most
(09:03):
felt connected to being in thewater.
Maya Gabeira (09:06):
Oh, there's been so many.
One that I can think of wouldbe the first time I surfed some
big waves on Azure.
A week before the accidentFirst 10 days or so we had been
in Azure and we woke up andthere were some bigger waves and
(09:30):
it was going to be the firsttime we're going to surf it.
Nobody was around, nobody wason the cliff.
It was like this forgottenlittle fishing village in the
middle of Portugal that wasstill very much quiet and old
(09:51):
and mellow and empty and winter.
It was the 23rd of October 2013.
And it was my first big wavehere 50 feet or so and we woke
up and I remember we went outand I towed into my first big
(10:16):
wave here in Azure.
And if the wave breaks top tobottom, if the lip of the wave
actually throws from the top andlands on the bottom of the
water, that will make just thecraziest crazy explosion sound.
(10:37):
It's like a bomb exploding.
I was going down so fast,skipping on the face, like
(10:57):
flying down this wave.
I'd never felt so much speed ona wave before.
Then I went shaking down and Igot to the bottom.
I couldn't really bottom turnwith the amount of speed I had
and the board that I had, Istraightened out and made it to
(11:21):
the beach safely and it was justlike the first day I felt the
ocean like the way it is inAzure and the cold, the lines,
the different waves, the bigsplashes against the cliff, and
(11:49):
just the first time I saw theplace like really alive.
It's like the first step tounderstanding how different that
wave was compared to everythingelse that I had surfed before
and that was the first time Iremember that it became
(12:11):
something extra, extra specialand I felt very connected to the
place.
Jason Elias (12:33):
Finally, we end every interview and every
episode with a single open-endedquestion.
We ask everyone we talk to whatdoes 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 copperbolt that had been sanded by the
sand movement, so it was goldand shiny, and I think I must
have sat staring at this one bitof the ship for about 20
minutes and all of a sudden Igot it, like I got why
shipwrecks can tell us thosestories.
Jason Elias (13:24):
We really appreciate you being on this
journey into the Big Deep as weexplore 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 thesocials where you can like and
comment, because thosesubscribes, likes and comments
really make a difference.
For more content from ourinterviews in our series, photos
of every guest or just to getin touch, please reach out at
(13:46):
our website, bigdeepcom Plus.
If you know someone you thinkwe should talk to, please let us
know at our Big Deep website,as we are always looking to hear
more stories from interestingpeople who are deeply connected
to our world's oceans.
Thanks again for joining us.
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