In a miraculous survival, a surfer was crushed beneath the force of a 62-ft wave in Hawaii before he deployed a breathing technique to prevent water from flooding his lungs.
Rafael Kroeff, 38, from Brazil, was surfing on Maui’s north coast, in an area known as Peahi, on January 16 when he was caught out by a 62ft-tall wave.
Footage captured by photographer Matthew Catalano shows the moment Rafael disappears from view when the giant wave crashes down onto him and pushes him beneath the water’s surface.
Speaking about being crushed by the wave, the surfer described it as ‘the craziest moment’ of his life.
“So I was trying to paddle over the first wave on a tow board, somehow I made it on the first one but the second wave got me pretty bad, I decided to hold my board to protect the windsurfer, I was worried that my board might hit him.
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Sharing as to how he was able to survive during the situation, Rafael said that he had been working with breathing for over 20 years using yoga and functional training to train surfers and besides this also created his training programme.
“The wave pushed me down super hard and I had to use the breathing protocols that I developed to survive in that situation.”
Eventually, Rafael was rescued by a team of 12 jet skis, who even helped him keep hold of his surfboard.
