Surfing: Dramatic rescue after big wave surfer wipes out

Surf Photographer Pedro Miranda captured the moment a big wave surfer was saved. Photo / YouTube

A big wave surfer has escaped a potentially life-threatening wipeout thanks to a "heroic" rescue.

Salvador Villas Boas was surfing a huge wave at Praia do Norte in Nazaré, Portugal when he was thrown off his board in a dangerous area near a gathering of rocks.

Footage of the wipeout shows Villas Boas resurfacing in the dangerous impact zone after hitting the water at nearly 80 km/h as another massive wave started gathering momentum.

This is when Ramon Laureano, who had been following Villas Boas from behind the wave, came in on his jetski to save the stranded surfer just in time, with the duo eventually outrunning the wall of whitewater for long enough to escape the most dangerous area of the beach.

Surf photographer Pedro Miranda, who filmed the scene, said the rescue was "a matter of life and death".

"Typically, a rescue attempt can wait after a second wave but Ramon knew the implications of waiting while Salvador swam so close to the rocks could be grave," Miranda wrote in a blog post for The Inertia.

"After swooping in and grabbing Salvador, it was a race to avoiding being swallowed by a giant wall of whitewater. The duo eventually does lose their race and the ski is left capsized, floating in the impact zone.

"Both Salvador and Ramon were able to swim back safely to the beach where the jetski had already washed ashore and parked itself. No injuries were reported in what was one of the most spectacular rescue operations of this season at Nazaré."

Miranda said it was one of the most heroic moments he has witnessed in his 20 plus years of experience covering surfing.

"This rescue, in particular, was truly one of the most heroic moments I witnessed out there. With more than 20 years of big wave experience, Ramon performed one of the most difficult rescues one can attempt in Nazaré, picking someone directly on the first peak's impact zone between set waves. It's something you don't see every day."