A surfer who broke his back reckons he’ll be riding waves again in a couple of months

A British surfer who broke his back riding a wave in Portugal has said he hopes to be back in the water in a couple of months.

Professional surfer Andrew Cotton suffered a wipe-out in Nazare, Portugal, and was quickly taken to hospital.

He broke a vertebra in his lower back, but told BBC Breakfast: “I am being super positive and thinking I am going to be back surfing big waves again in a couple of months.”

What can I say, I got a little excited this morning and ending up having possibly the worst wipeout impact wise of my life. Thank you to all the lifeguards and crew on the beach who helped stabilise me and do a great spinal recovery, I can’t name everyone but you all did your bit to get me safely to the hospital . Obviously huge shout out to the team: @mcnamara_s for the waves, @hugovau for rescue, company and laughs in the hospital and @polvo32 for the calls on the radio and friendship . I have broken my back but I’ve been really lucky, I’m already looking forward and focusing my energy to get fit and back out there on some more big rollers ! ????? • Footage comes from Wednesday while @go_dids was filming a documentary about @mcnamara_s’s return to big wave surfing, produced by @polikromia

A post shared by Andrew Cotton (@andrew_cotty) on Nov 8, 2017 at 10:50am PST

He wrote on the photo-sharing site: “What can I say, I got a little excited this morning and ending up having possibly the worst wipe-out impact wise of my life.

“Thank you to all the lifeguards and crew on the beach who helped stabilise me and do a great spinal recovery.”

Scary video: local surf champ @andrew_cotton suffers broken back. On behalf of all, thanks for all you do promoting #NDevon & get well soon. https://t.co/9LUfj4HXxA

— Peter Heaton-JonesMP (@PeterNorthDevon) November 9, 2017

Cotton, from Devon, told the breakfast show: “It seemed like it could have been the dream wave… it was going to be the biggest wave of my life or the worst wipe-out.”

He said he planned to “go inside the barrel” of the wave, but quickly realised it “wasn’t going to do what I had planned”.

“I instantly knew I was in trouble,” he said, calling the moment the wave crashed on him “the biggest impact I ever had”.

Quick update on @andrew_cotton He’s feeling fine and has friends in hospital with @GMACHawaii + @Hugo_Vau Thanks for messages of support. Means a lot ? pic.twitter.com/fzuDkiBeu0

— Surf Fit (@SurfFitLife) November 9, 2017