Ahmed Erraji is a Moroccan bodysurfer who now resides in Portugal. Known as ‘Hijo del mar’ or ‘son of the sea’ (a nickname given to Ahmed by his grandmother when he was five years old), Ahmed has built himself a reputation as a bit of a madman for taking on the giant waves of the Portuguese coast, including Nazare, with nothing more than a set of swim fins.
Yesterday, the YouTube algorithm suggested we check out this video of Ahmed getting himself into what is one of the scariest situations we’ve ever seen.
The video begins with Ahmed swimming into the first wave of a reasonable sized set at an unidentified spot. He is then engulfed by the whitewater before wearing the rest of the set on the head. This results in Ahmed being pushed into some cliffs and stuffed into a cave.
Ahmed continues to record while the whole ordeal plays out, which is a genuine fight for his life. Set waves pound the cave, filling it with water before draining again and giving Ahmed a glimpse of the only way out, a small hole no more than a couple of metres wide.
