How far does one have to travel to get the wave of a lifetime? Well, there is no set map or fixed distance, the answer is unique to each person’s path. For Miguel Blanco, a Portuguese pro surfer who has traveled and ridden giant waves everywhere from Nazaré to Jaws to Mavericks and beyond, the path has become about much more than just chasing the perfect wave.
In the first episode of his latest Swell Diaries series, Miguel’s narration gives unique insights into the life of a professional surfer who hasn’t lost sight of why he fell in love with surfing in the first place — the special waves, the magic days, and the people you meet along the way.
That’s not to say it’s all been smooth sailing. At the beginning of a boat trip through Indonesia, after scoring an epic left-hander with just one friend, he thought it was all lining up perfectly…
Not long after, things took a dramatic turn in the middle of the night when their boat’s engine failed during a storm while far out at sea. Everything that could go wrong, did, and they had to put out an SOS. Over twelve hours later, just as the rescue boat arrived, so did the pirates.
Lucky for him, all they wanted was money. Unlucky for him, they wanted all they could get.
While the experience was definitely a setback, the lesson was to not take things for granted and try to stay calm under pressure. Without giving too much away, let’s just say that the lesson came up again later on as Miguel went slab hunting in the Australian desert.
Indonesia holds a special place for Miguel because it was there, in 2018 that he nabbed a monster wave during the legendary swell at Nias that landed him on the cover of SURFER. To put it simply, it was life changing. Since then, Miguel hasn’t slowed down and has made a name for himself as one of the most versatile chargers anywhere.
Ryan ‘Chachi’ Craig
Stay tuned for the 2nd and 3rd episodes of Swell Diaries coming out later this month.