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Some things on social media make you stop in your tracks the moment you see them. The mindless scrolling ends and you actually focus on what’s playing in front of you, like being glued to a television screen at the end of the Sopranos series. This is one of those videos, captured during Itacoatiara Big Wave, a contest at Brazil’s mutant slab wave known as “Shock.”
Igor Queiroz is no stranger to the wave, having surfed there and trained plenty for the moment things go wrong. His heat turned out to be one of those moments.
“My (driver) pulled me into a wave that was apparently good,” he told The Inertia. The surfer picked his line and drove through a long barrel section before it eventually closed out on him. The tumble after that closeout left Igor sitting in the impact zone.
“There is a rip current near the rocks so I went toward that,” he says, but all that water moving around pushed him right up against the giant stones.
Marcos Monteiro and Péricles Gomes swooped in on skis before it could get any worse.
“We are a team committed to safety above all, responsible in our missions,” Monteiro said.
“Two super pilots,” Igor told us. “Everything is ok. No scratches. Intact board. More learning at Shock and ready for the next swell.”
Editor’s Note: For those interested in big wave safety, check out Mark Healey’s Guide to Heavy Water here.
