Moment 50ft wave broke surfer’s back
EVEN for an experienced big wave surfer like Andrew Cotton, it was a formidable sight.
Breakers rarely get much bigger than this colossal wall of water in Nazare, Portugal. And it was to be the cause of his biggest wipeout.
The 50ft wave slammed into the surfer at 40mph – and broke his back.
The plumber, from Braunton, Devon, was quickly plucked from the water by lifeguards on jet skis and taken to hospital. Undaunted, the world record surfer is itching to get back on his board after doctors said he is on course for a speedy recov- ery. Speaking from his hospital bed, the 36-year- old said: ‘I’m already looking forward and focusing my energy to get fit and back out there on some more big rollers.’
Mr Cotton described how he jumped from his board a split second before he felt ‘a whole world of pain’. ‘I remember feeling a weird sense of weightlessness which must’ve been when I was flying through the air,’ he said. Mr Cotton, who was thrown on his back, likened the impact to being hit by a car. Incredibly, in 30 years of surfing it is his first fracture.
The part-time professional, who has been surfing since he was seven, is credited with having tackled the world’s biggest wave – at 80ft – near Nazare in 2014.