Although big wave surfing has seen a shift to paddle surfing, there’s no question that tow surfing is still incredibly grueling. It takes a serious amount of strength to ride such powerful waves, and those who tackle such monsters train like the elite athletes they are. Maya Gabeira is no exception. As one of big wave surfing’s biggest female stars, when Gabeira nearly drowned at Nazaré a few years ago, it shook the surfing world. After plenty of hard work to build back her strength during her lengthy recovery, her training clearly paid off. She returned to the wave that nearly killed her, and then she won a world record. Here’s how Gabeira trains to prepare herself to tow-in at Nazaré.
