{"id":22649,"date":"2022-04-06T15:18:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T19:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oceana.org\/?p=22649"},"modified":"2022-04-06T15:19:16","modified_gmt":"2022-04-06T19:19:16","slug":"qa-record-setting-surfer-maya-gabeira-makes-waves-at-oceana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oceana.org\/blog\/qa-record-setting-surfer-maya-gabeira-makes-waves-at-oceana\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: Record-setting surfer Maya Gabeira makes waves at Oceana"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Maya Gabeira enjoys a challenge, whether it\u2019s a wave towering above her or a complex conservation problem lying deep below the ocean\u2019s surface. The professional big wave surfer joined Oceana\u2019s Board of Directors a year ago, and her unique life experiences have made her a valuable ally in the fight for a more abundant ocean. Most recently, she supported Oceana\u2019s successful plastic campaign in Brazil, which resulted in iFood, the country\u2019s leading food delivery company, taking bold action to tackle single-use plastic waste<\/a>. Born and raised in Brazil, Gabeira now lives in Nazar\u00e9, a Portuguese fishing village that is known to surfers as the big wave capital of the world. It is where Gabeira successfully scaled a 73.5-foot wave<\/a> (22.4 meters) and broke the world record for largest wave ever surfed by a woman. In a recent interview with Oceana Magazine<\/em>, Gabeira shared her take on tackling waves, plastic pollution, and the fear of failure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are some of your earliest memories of the ocean?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MG: My earliest memories of the ocean are holidays with my parents in a place called Angra dos Reis, near Rio de Janeiro. We used to go there and ride around on a schooner \u2014 one of those big tourist boats. My dad was learning to swim at the time, so my sister Tami and I were actually swimming better than he was [laughs]. We lived in Ipanema, which is a beach town, but I come from an intellectual family that wasn\u2019t really into the beach scene. We mostly visited on holidays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how did you discover surfing?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MG: At 13 or 14 I changed schools and befriended a group of boys, and one of them became my boyfriend. They were all surfers, and their passion impacted me a lot. Our weekends were always spent on the beach, and at some point I realized I didn\u2019t want to be left in the sand. I went out on my own and joined a surf school because obviously the boys didn\u2019t want to cater to a girl who was a complete beginner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was your first time on a surfboard like?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MG: It was so hard to learn at that age because I wasn\u2019t a child anymore. Everything is so instinctive when you\u2019re a kid, but I had to work on feeling comfortable with the sea and I had to learn how to read the ocean. Still, I remember the first time I caught a wave and went sideways, which is when you\u2019re on the face of a wave. That was at Arpoador Beach in Rio and I fell in love with it right away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When did you realize the oceans were under threat? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MG: My dad was one of the founders of Brazil\u2019s Green Party, so I always understood the climate crisis and global warming because we talked about it at home. But if I\u2019m being honest, it wasn\u2019t until the last five years or so that I started to really understand the impact on our oceans. It\u2019s not that I didn\u2019t see the plastic trash. That has always been a visual problem for those of us who have spent the last 15 years in the ocean or on the beach. We see the effects of single-use plastic more and more, and that\u2019s undeniable. But it\u2019s a little more challenging to see that fish are not as abundant or as big as they once were, and to realize that certain changes are happening underneath us. It\u2019s a huge ocean, and we\u2019re always on our surfboards looking up. It takes studying and connecting and educating ourselves to understand what is happening beneath the surface that we don\u2019t see with our eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which ocean issue resonates with<\/strong> you most? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MG: I wish there was just one. I wish we could say, \u2018Let\u2019s just fight offshore drilling\u2019 or \u2018Let\u2019s just fight single-use plastic.\u2019 That would be a luxury in this day and age. I am very concerned about multiple issues, whether it\u2019s single-use plastic, offshore drilling, overfishing, or destruction of habitat. All those things are on Oceana\u2019s agenda, and I think they\u2019re equally important. They\u2019re all connected to the destruction of nature, which affects our ability to live in harmony and have enough resources to thrive in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you like most about being on Oceana\u2019s Board of Directors? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MG: As a new board member, I feel extremely privileged to attend board meetings. I feel like I\u2019m in one of the best schools in the world, and I\u2019m learning from the very best teachers how to save the oceans. To be a part of those discussions is enlightening. It not only inspires me, but also gives me the knowledge and tools to go out and spread the message. It makes me feel like it\u2019s possible to accomplish all the tasks that are necessary for a healthier world and healthier ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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