Heart-Pounding Footage Shows Surfer Rescued From Enormous Wave

Pedro Miranda/YouTube

A Brazilian surfer narrowly escaped being crushed by a towering wave off the coast of Portugal last week but was whisked ashore by a jet ski.

Lucas ‘Chumbo’ Chianca was riding waves at the famed “Praia do Norte” beach in Nazaré, Portugal, when he wiped out and found himself a sitting duck as another wave threatened to crash right on top of him. 

Luckily, Chianca’s teammate Ian Cosenza was waiting nearby on a jet ski, ready to shuttle Chianca to safety. Cosenza reached speeds of up to 60 mph in his frantic race to the beach, according to Pedro Miranda, the videographer who captured the footage. 

Here it is from another angle.

Nazaré is known as the go-to destination for ridiculously huge waves. The towering swells are the result of a submarine canyon that sits just off the coast of the small fishing village. Thrill-seeking surfers flock there regularly to ride the biggest waves in the world. American Garret McNamara surfed a 78-foot wave in 2011, which stood as a world record for seven years until Brazil’s Rodrigo Koxa rode one that measured 80 feet. In December, a British man named Tom Butler rode a wave reputed to be as tall as 100 feet.