On Saturday, amid an extended run of large, yet not huge, Nazare swell, French surfer Justine Dupont found herself in a terrifying situation.

For all the talk about Nazare being an oversized beachbreak, it can break awfully close to the rocks, especially for those chasing the rights off First Peak. That was what Andrew Cotton was doing when he got washed through the cauldron earlier this year, and also what RCJ was doing when he got dashed on the rocks and had to climb the headland - a feat Justine references in her explanation of what went down.

That explanation is copied in full here. Spelling errors corrected as I have to put some effort into this story.

I AM OK.

During the last swell everything was going well. I had just ridden several good waves with Fred David, my board was amazing and Lucas Chumbo had just put me on a cool wave.

He then towed me on a huge one, I got down the face to the bottom, but once I wanted to start my bottom turn my board got stuck.

I then took a huge wipeout which brought me right in front of the cliff - the place where no-one wants to be.

Fred tried to get me but the timing was just too tight and he had to run along the cliff. I then got atomized by several waves until I was pushed close to the RCJ rocks all the way down the cliff. Lucas managed to rescue me right before I ended up like a seashell on the rocks. Sergio Cosme had also followed him behind

As he carried me to beach with the help of the lifeguards I waved to reassure everyone and say, "I am OK". I was very tired but conscious and OK. I'm happy with all the training that allowed me to stay conscious until the end and endure such violence.

In the evening looking at the pictures I am really grateful to see everybody who moved to get me out of there!

Thanks André Florência,Antoine Chicoye, and Strodjy Cordeiro for the help on the radio.

Thanks Lucas Chumbo, Fred David, and everyone, it was really scary but it's also part of the game when you do extreme sport.