By Kathryn Wicks
Big Wave surfer Alex Botelho has been hospitalised after becoming displaced and dumped into the surf in an incident at the Nazare Tow Surfing Challenge in Portugal in a big North Atlantic swell.
Botelho, from Portugal, was rescued from the surf and placed on a backboard prior to being taken to hospital. The World Surf League later reported he was "conscious and stable".
Tow surfing involves one team member driving a jet ski to place the other on a wave they might not have caught by paddling.
It is the first time the event has been run as part of the World Surf League's Big Wave world tour.
Ten teams of two are competed at the event where finalists are decided by "video evidence", the league says.
The event allows the two team members to alternate between driving and surfing, each competing for an hour.
Big Wave surfer Alex Botelho of Portugal. Credit: Instagram
The event was won by Brazilian Lucas Chianca and Hawaiian Kai Lenny.
Nazare has long been a popular surfing spot, where waves break high due to the underwater Nazare Canyon. It is credited with the world record biggest wave surfed: Brazilian Rodrigo Koxa rode a 24 metre wave there in 2017.
"I've tried to surf big waves all my life and I had a huge experience in 2014 where I almost died at Nazare," Koxa told the Guinness Book of Records. "Four months later, I had bad dreams, I didn't travel, I got scared, and my wife helped me psychologically.
"Now, I'm just so happy and this is the best day of my life. Thank you to WSL, it’s a dream come true."
The Big Wave tour consists of three events. The other two are the Mavericks Challenge at Half Moon Bay in California; and the Jaws Challenge at Pe'ahi in Hawaii.