Wellfleet Public Library

Maya Gabeira grows up in Rio de Janeiro, begins competing in surfing at age 15, and turns pro at 17. However, her abilities are doubted by many of her big wave surfing male peers. In 2013, Gabeira suffers a devastating wipeout at Nazaré, Portugal. She nearly drowns and endures a prolonged recovery that requires back surgeries and physical therapy. Gabeira eventually returns to Nazaré and breaks the record for the largest wave ever surfed by a woman. Maya and the Wave is a portrait of Gabeira and her struggles to be taken seriously as a woman in a male-dominated sport, focusing in part on the role that sexism played in the response to her injuries while trying to surf giant waves.