HIGHER THAN THE SUN
It was a crowning moment for the Brazilian surfer, one that saw her shattering a world record in the process. So what came next?
Maya Gabeira has come a long way since she first picked up the board as a curious 14-year-old in Brazil. After all, this is the surfer who, in January 2018, conquered a mammoth 68-foot wave at Nazaré, in Portugal, setting a new world record in the process. Today, it remains by far the biggest wave ridden by a woman. It’s also about 60ft bigger than most surfers will ever ride in their lives.
Before then, Maya had already cemented her position as one of the big names in international surfing, taking on the world’s primo big breaks – including Dungeons (Cape Town), Mavericks (California) and Jaws (Hawaii). Within her first 10 years of surfing, she’d bagged five Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards (the prize for bigwave surfers), as well as the title of ESPY Best Female Action Sports Athlete in 2012. But it wasn’t always an easy ride.
A near-death experience in 2013 – also at Nazaré – saw surfing legend Laird Hamilton say she didn’t have the skill to be in the water that day. Before that, she struggled for years with being away from her father, who couldn’t visit
