This video shows the moment a Devon surfer wiped out on an enormous 60ft wave.
North Devon's Andrew Cotton, 35 only suffered a minor arm injury after the fall in Portugal while attempting to break a world record.
He was in Portuguese spot Nazare, a village north of Lisbon, when he fell and lost his surfboard.
"The wipeout was intense but not that bad, although I was under for quite a long time, about 15 seconds," said Cotton.
"Because I was under so long, I surfaced behind my safety ski and within seconds faced a 60ft wave which broke directly in front of me. There was nothing the safety ski could do. He just couldn't get to me in time."
As the second wave approached, Cotton swam down and prepared for impact.
"This wave was a lot more violent, almost like being hit by a truck," he said, "I hyper-extended my right arm underwater, it felt like my arm had been pulled off. I was under for a long time on this one, too."
Cotton was eventually pulled to safety after he was hit by a third wave.
"Success in big wave surfing is often based on how you deal with wiping out in these life threatening waves," he said.
Cotton aims to be back in the water by mid-December in the hope he can beat the current world record for the biggest wave ever surfed, which was set at Nazare in 2011 with a wave measuring 78ft.
