This Thursday, January 5, 2023, the world of big wave surfing lost a giant. Marcio Freire was surfing at Nazaré beach in Portugal in waves around 20 feet (7 meters) when he fell into the wave. Rescuers were triggered and when they arrived he was suffering a cardiorespiratory arrest and unfortunately after several attempts to revive him, he died.
“Unfortunately, none of the life support maneuvers were successful, and death was declared on the spot”, said Mário Lopes Figueiredo, commander of the Captaincy of Nazaré, to Agencia Lusa.
Marcio Freire, 47 years old, was known as a member of the Mad Dogs, along with Danilo Couto and Yuri Soledade, he was one of the pioneers to surf the wave of Jaws – Maui Island – Hawaii. Many consider this wave to be the most feared Hawaiian wave, at that time (2000s) it was surfed by windsurfers and tow-in people, no one took risks without safety equipment, without the help of sails or jet sky, but Marcio and his friends They dropped these mountains of water with the strength of their arms, paddling as hard as possible, it was surreal for that moment.
As a good Bahian, Marcio had an easy smile, conveyed calm and was a simple and friendly guy. He will forever be an idol and a reference. Extremely respected by everyone, he was always willing to help and pass on his knowledge. In the documentary “MAD DOGS” that portrays a little of this trajectory, Marcio says that he didn’t make his living specifically from surfing, that is, maybe he didn’t get the financial return that guys his size deserve, but he lived for surfing. He was a true surfer at heart and with a love of surfing as big as the waves he surfed.
In Nazaré, waves have already been surfed above 20 meters and that’s why the best big wave surfers set up their bases there. Maya Gabeira, Carlos Burle, Pedro Scooby, Lucas Chumbo, Alemão de Maresias, Vini dos Santos and others are always there during the season. Many live in Portugal and are preparing for the arrival of the big wave season.
On that fateful day, the waves were around 7 meters, considered small for this group used to bigger waves. But it was on one of those waves that Marcio left us to surf waves elsewhere.
Nazaré claimed its first fatality, many have already been seriously injured there, everyone remembers Maya Gabeira being rescued almost lifeless by Carlos Burle and being revived in the sand on the beach. Many accidents happened there, but so far none fatal.
When this kind of situation happens, everything seems to need to be rethought, but the limit of big wave surfing is difficult to limit. Safety equipment has evolved, training is more and more specific and mental preparation takes a lot of work. It is necessary to calmly analyze everything that happened. Nazaré became very famous and desired, this made the crowd increase considerably, surfers and jet-skys try to understand each other while waiting for the biggest waves.
Marcio was a prepared and super confident guy, he was wearing a vest and he certainly checked the conditions before entering, perhaps it was really a sad fatality and all of this will be further studied and analyzed.
Márcio Freire, you will always be remembered by sports lovers as a reference and an idol. Thank you for everything you’ve done for the sport and I sincerely hope you’re getting ready to drop big waves wherever you are.
Rest in peace giant.
Mahalo and Aloha
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