Big Wave Risk Assessment Group Returns To Nazare With Safety Training Program

[Haleiwa, Oahu, Nov 8, 2018]​​ On November 17 and 18, the Big Wave Risk Assessment Group (BWRAG) will bring its big-wave safety training program back to Nazare, Portugal. The 2018 BWRAG Nazare Safety Summit will be held at the Mercedes Lounge and will be hosted by Hugo Vau and led by BWRAG Director/Instructor Danilo Couto and Europe Ambassador Peter Conroy.

The Level 2, two-day course, is open to all surfers interested in gaining experience in waves of consequence and will include both classroom and in-water training.

Classroom training will include instruction on apnea theory, breathing technique, surf break analysis, CPR/AED and medical intervention training as well as high-surf risk management theory. UK big-wave surfer Andrew Cotton will give an overview of his fitness program, and share insight about his road to recovery after the back injury he sustained at Nazare last year.

In-water instruction will include dynamic apnea training, as well as jet ski rescue of conscious and unconscious victims, and surfboard rescue training of unconscious victims.

Partners include Wave Crushers Training System, Jet Resgate Portugal, (represented by Ramon Laureano), Love Ashtanga Yoga and Irish Tow Surf Rescue (represented by Peter Conroy).

Following this week’s XXL Nazare swell, classroom instruction will also include an in-depth analysis of Nazare and will break down specific risk scenarios that have transpired, with opportunities to discuss and collaborate best practices with some of the premier Nazare surfers.

Couto, originally from Bahia, Brazil, and a resident of Hawaii for the last 20 years, is a co-founder of BWRAG and along with Marcio Freire and Yuri Soledade was the first to paddle into Jaws at a respectable size. He won the 2011 XXL Awards Ride of the Year with the first bomb paddle-in ride at Jaws.

Conroy is an Irish big-wave surfer, fireman/paramedic and member of the Irish Tow Rescue Club. Conroy brings years of experience from coordinating safety protocols at Mullaghmore. In March, Couto and Conroy collaborated on the first BWRAG Ireland Safety Summit. BWRAG was founded in 2011 in honor of the late Sion Milosky who died surfing Mavericks. After Milosky’s death, big-wave surfers Danilo Couto, Kohl Christensen and Mark Healey sought ways to better train and unite the big-wave surfing community to prevent future tragedies.

The first BWRAG summit was held in a barn on Christensen’s property on the North Shore of Oahu. Since then, BWRAG summits have evolved into multi-day seminars held on the North Shore every December, where male and female big-wave surfers from around the world convene to refine their safety knowledge, learn CPR and basic life saving, conduct in-water training and discuss issues affecting safety in the big-wave arena.

Today, BWRAG is expanding this training around the globe, partnering with local organizations and safety experts in countries like Ireland, Portugal, Australia, Puerto Rico, Chile and Peru.

BWRAG courses are a prerequisite for purchasing the Patagonia PSI Vest. A certificate of completion is given to each participant and can be presented to purchase the vest.

Registration for the 2018 Nazare BWRAG Summit ($400) is open until Nov. 17 and can be done through the ​BWRAG website​ (www.bwrag.com/portugal-2018.html).