Red Bull Surfing: February 2008 Archives

With Teahupoo going absolutely haywire on November 1, Maya Gabeira held her own in conditions that had Tahitian stalwarts like Manoa Drollet, Raimana Van Bastolear, Laird Hamilton and Shane Dorian hanging on for dear life, and in the process she proved to the world that being a girl from Brazil is hardly a handicap. But don’t listen to our chauvinistic voice, here’s what she had to say:

What stands out most about that day?

What stands out? I think just being out there surfing with all my heroes and having so much support coming from all of them. It was just a dream coming true.

What goes through your mind as you’re towing into these kind of waves?

My best wave, which was the third one, I was just thinking I had to go as fast as I could to make it to the channel. I had two very heavy wipeouts earlier, so I just wanted to make that wave really bad. I really didn’t want to get beat down again.