He loves big waves, really big waves, 12-metre high waves like here in Portugal. Australian Matt Formston. And if that alone wasn’t achievement enough. Matt surfs blind, he can’t see.

And yet the 44-year-old has realised his lifelong dream: “I dreamed of becoming a professional surfer. But the dream was unrealistic for me as a person with a disability. But now I am a professional surfer. We put together a plan so that I can surf a wave as a blind surfer using a whistle and other means of communication instead of being able to see. I was born with full sight. When I was about five years old, I lost 95% of my peripheral vision, which is the outer area, and all my central vision. Imagine, it’s like holding a fist in front of it like this, in front of your eyes. And the outer area is blurred, blurred, like when you rub your windscreen with sandpaper.”

His story will be released in cinemas in 2023 under the title “The Blind Sea”.