(CNN)As Maya Gabeira carves a white ripple across the face of a 73-foot wave, two thoughts flash through her mind.

The first: "Why the hell did you put yourself here?" Then the second: "Where is my mom?"

To onlookers from the shore, Gabeira is a tiny, speck-like figure against a towering mass of water. Hunched and squatted on her board, she hurtles across the ocean at a terrifying speed while the wave thunders to the surface behind her.