Tributes are being paid after veteran Brazilian surfer Marcio Freire died whereas practising on the large waves in Nazare on the central coast of Portugal on Thursday.
Support employees on jet-skis managed to get the 47-year-old to the seashore, however all makes an attempt to revive him failed.
Freire was one of many three Brazilian surfers who turned often known as the “Mad Dogs” after conquering the large wave “Jaws” in Hawaii. They featured within the 2016 documentary Mad Dogs.
Tributes from different surfers poured in on Instagram.
“He surfed all day with a big smile on his face. That’s how I’ll keep him in my memory. Legend,” posted fellow massive wave surfer Nic von Rupp.
“Today we lost a great man, a very good friend and a legendary surfer, Marcio Freire. He was such a happy spirit, always with a smile on his face…Rest in peace my friend,” wrote sports activities photographer Fred Pompermayer.
Nazare boasts among the largest waves on the earth. They are magnified by an underwater canyon 5km (three miles) deep which ends the place the North Atlantic meets the shoreline close to the previous fishing village.
American Garrett McNamara put Nazare on the map in 2011 when he set a world report for the most important wave ever surfed at 78 toes (23.77 metres).
Brazilian Rodrigo Koxa bettered McNamara’s mark in 2017, additionally at Nazare, and German Sebastian Steudtner broke the report once more there in 2020, browsing an 86-feet (26.21-metre) wave.
