For Australian blind surfing champion Matt Formston, one of the most distinctive memories from tackling the famous Nazaré break in Portugal came not on his surfboard but while sat on a jet ski. Towards the end of his time surfing a break that consistently hosts the largest wave in the world, Formston rode down the face on the back of a ski. It was only in that moment that he truly appreciated the violent energy of the water around him.
“It was the first time I’d gone down the wave not surfing it,” Formston says. “And I heard the explosion – I suppose that’s the only way to describe it – of the wave behind me. I realised I hadn’t heard that sound the whole time I’d been surfing.”
