With no boundary blurring in this edit, Maya’s most recent fashion shoot appeared to disturb few.

Maya Gabeira

Age: 26 years old
From: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Another female pro surfer to have posed nude for ESPN’s Body Issue, Brazilian big wave charger Maya Gabeira is lucky to be alive. But not because she took her clothes off. In 2011 she was knocked unconscious after hitting the reef at Teahupoo, and then nearly drowned again at Nazaré last November. The unfortunate incident in Portugal did however earn the 5-time Billabong XXL winner further mainstream interest in the form of a full-feature and scantily-clad fashion shoot in GQ Brazil.

In contrast to other female pros, the Brazilian big wave charger appeared to come under little criticism for the shoot (don’t all Brazilians walk around in g-strings anyway?). Having said that, Laird Hamilton had already given her a verbal dressing down for being out of her depth, claiming Maya had no business surfing such big waves at Nazaré.