Surfer Alex Botelho Hospitalized After Brutal Wipeout

Big wave surfer Alex Botelho was hospitalized on Tuesday after a very serious incident at the first-ever Nazaré Tow Surfing Challenge. He had suffered a wipeout and was being towed back to shore by a jet ski pilot. However, they were hit from both front and back by massive waves which launched them high into the air. They both landed in the impact zone.

Botelho was washed to the shore after being pummeled by multiple waves but was unconscious. Rescue workers ran through the water and were able to get him safely onto the sand. He was quickly transported to the hospital.

According to the World Surf League, Botelho is “is stable and conscious. He will stay at the hospital for further evaluation.” The status of the jet ski pilot was not released.

This event on the coast of Portugal was the first time that a tow event took place at Nazare. Ten teams of surfers took turns towing each other out to the massive, building-sized waves with jet skis. They would also tow each other back to the beach. Although jet skis have routinely been used by surfers to reach the waves at Nazare.

This event was expected to be considerably dangerous given that the surfers were being towed to 50-foot waves that reportedly looked terrifying and very unpredictable. These conditions made surfing and driving a jet ski extremely dangerous.

Botelho is not the first surfer to nearly die at Nazare. There have been multiple incidents in recent years, including when Damien Hobgood was nearly killed after a jet ski landed on him. His driver was forced to abandon the vehicle at the crest of a 10-foot wave. Hobgood was thrown in the air and then hit by the jet ski.

“Nazare as a wave is a phenom, as challenging and beautiful as any big wave I’ve surfed but the dangers involved seem to out way the rewards,” South African surfer Grant ‘Twiggy’ Baker wrote on Instagram back in December 2016. “Those 20 minutes during each heat, on the back of a ski, holding on with all your strength while jumping 10ft foamies, were some of the most terrifying experiences of my life and something I can’t see myself repeating?”

(Photo Credit: Laurent Masurel/World Surf League via Getty Images)