captioning funded by cbs and ford. we go further, so you can. >> shots fired, shots fired! >> as a result of the wounds inflicted by ar-15 style rifles... ( gunfire ) ...the weapons used in the worst of the recent mass shootings, doctors, first responders, civilians and children are now being trained to use something called a bleeding kit, an idea that comes from saving americans on the battlefield. >> hurry up, hurry up! >> you believe that these mass casualty events have become so common, that it is important for everyone in this country to be prepared. >> everyone. >> that's where we are in america today? >> that's where we are. >> 36 hours from now, polls will open for the midterm elections.

to understand what may motivate voters, we went to texas. yes, texas. forget your image of the lone star state as this outsized outlier. it may bthe accurate reflection of what americans want and where the united states is headed. >> when we decide that we're going to invest in people, great things happen. >> we've got numbers on our side. there are a lot more conservatives than there are liberals. the liberals who are in texas are really, really mad. they hate president trump. that anger is dangerous. i mean, that anger is mobilizing. it means they're going to show up. >> the giant waves appear off nazareé, portugal, every winter, just as they have for thousands of years. few surfers knew about this place, until garrett mcnamara was towed into this 78-foot wave by a jet ski. he had a camera mounted on his surfboard, and one on the shore, recording him as he got into

place, let go of the tow rope, and began his record-setting ride. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm scott pelley. >> i'm anderson cooper. >> i'm jon wertheim. >> i'm bill whitaker. those stories, tonight, on "60 minutes." checkout is at 4pm. plenty of time to enjoy your ride. (bicycle bell sound) ♪ ♪ (bicycle bell sound) ♪ ♪ (bicycle bell sound) ♪ ♪ explore more with a guaranteed 4pm checkout at over 1,000 fine hotels and resorts. it's another way we've got your back. ♪ ♪ the platinum card from american express. don't live life without it. i'm a musician about to embark on a concert tour,r.

with the majority of which will be down south. atlantic city? the deep south. this thanksgiving... in the deep south, there's gonna be problems. when you see me worried... tony. you'll know if i'm worried. it's amazing you said that, my wife used to say that all the time. their journey inspired an unexpected friendship. i don't think i ever met anyone with your appetite. [ laughing ] but some give their clients cookie cutter portfolios.

fisher investments tailors portfolios to your goals and needs. some only call when they have something to sell. fisher calls regularly so you stay informed. and while some advisors are happy to earn commissions whether you do well or not. fisher investments fees are structured so we do better when you do better. maybe that's why most of our clients come from other money managers. fisher investments. clearly better money management. >> pelley: the mass murder last week at the pittsburgh synagogue has something in common with the deadliest massacres: the ar-15 semiautomatic rifle.

variations of the ar-15 were used to kill at a texas church, a las vegas concert, marjorie stoneman douglas high school in florida and sandy hook elementary school. the ar-15 style rifle is the most popular rifle in america. there are well over 11 million, and they are rarely used in crime. handguns kill far more people. but the ar-15 is the choice of our worst mass murderers. ar-15 ammunition travels up to three times the speed of sound. and tonight, we're going to slow that down, so you can see why the ar-15's high-velocity ammo is the fear of every american emergency room. >> hang on, hang on, hang on! ( gunfire ) >> pelley: mass shootings were once so shocking... >> where the ( bleep ) is this coming from? >> pelley: ...they were impossible to forget. >> we have an active shooter inside the fairground! >> pelley: now, they'vso freque.

>> get down, get down, get down, let's go, let's go, let's go! >> pelley: ...it's hard to remember them all. ( gunfire ) >> oh my god, we're all going to die! >> pelley: last saturday, in the pittsburgh synagogue, 11 were killed, six wounded. >> agent robert jones: this is the most horrific scene i've seen in 22 years with the federal bureau of investigations. members of the tree of life synagogue conducting a peaceful service in their place of worship were brutally murdered by a gunman targeting them simply because of their faith. >> pelley: just 11 months before, it was a church in sutherland springs, texas. assistant fire chief rusty duncan was among the first to arrive. >> rusty duncan: 90% of the people in there were unrecognizable. you know, the blood everywhere, i mean, it just covered them from head to toe.

they were shot in so many different places that you just couldn't make out who they were. >> pelley: the church is now a memorial to the 26 who were murdered. >> duncan: i've never had the experience, not with any kind of weapon like this. for me to see the damage that it did was unbelievable, it was shattering concrete, i- you know, you can only imagine what it does to a human body. >> pelley: the police estimate that he fired about 450 rounds. >> duncan: oh, i believe it. i saw the damage it did. i saw the holes in the church. from one side to the other, all the pews, the concrete, the carpet... i saw it all. >> pelley: a gunshot wound is potentially fatal, no matter what kind of ammunition is used. but cynthia bir showed us the difference in an ar-15 round against gelatin targets in her ballistics lab at the university of southern california.

>> cynthia bir: years of research have gone in to kind of what the makeup should be of this ordnance gelatin to really represent what damage you would see in your soft tissues. >> pelley: so this is a pretty accurate representation of what would happen to a human being? >> bir: yeah, this is currently considered the, kind of the state of the art. ( gunshot ) >> pelley: this is a 9 millimeter bullet from a handgun, which we captured in slow motion. the handgun bullet traveled about 800 miles an hour. it sliced nearly straight all the way through the gel. >> bir: this one is going to be a little bit louder. >> pelley: now look at the ar-15 round. ( gunshot ) >> bir: see the difference? >> pelley: yes. it's three times faster, and struck with more than twice the force. the shockwave of the ar-15 bullet blasted a large cavity in the gel, unlike the bullet from the handgun. wow. there's an enormous difference. you can see it right away. >> bir: yeah, exactly. there's fragments in here.

there's, it kind of took a curve yosee ch larea in terms of the fractures that are inside. >> pelley: now watch from above. on top, the handgun. at bottom, the ar-15. it's just exploded. >> bir: it's exploded and it's tumbling. so what happens is, this particular round is designed to tumble and break apart. >> pelley: the 9 millimeter handgun round has a larger bullet, but this ar-15 round has more gunpowder, accelerating its velocity.th tndhe we ned in the 1950s for the military. the result was the m-16 for our troops, and the ar-15 for civilians. >> bir: there's going to be a lot more damage to the tissues, both bones, organs, whatever gets kind of even near this ll the bones aren't going to just break, they're going to shatter. organs aren't just going to kind of tear or have bruises on them, they're going to be-- parts of them are going to be destroyed.

>> pelley: that fairly describes the wounds suffered by 29-year- old joann ward. at sutherland springs baptist church, she was shot more than 20 times while covering her children. ward was dead, her daughters mortally wounded, as assistant fire chief rusty duncan made his way from the back of the sanctuary. >> duncan: as i got a couple of rows up, ryland's hand reached out from under his step-mom and grabbed my pant leg. i wouldn't even known he was alive until he did that. i didn't even see him under her. well, that's where me and him made eye contact for the first time. >> pelley: joann ward's five- year-old step-son ryland ward was hit five times, and was nearly gone when he reached trauma surgeon lillian liao at san antonio's university hospital. how much of ryland's blood do you think was lost before he came to you? >> lillian liao: at least half. >> pelley: this is ryland's e.r. x-ray.

>> liao: you see the two bullet fragments that are in him. >> pelley: the x-ray shows you the solid fragments of the shrapnel and the bullets, but it doesn't tell you much about the damage to the soft tissue. >> liao: no, and it doesn't tell you what's on the inside. i mean, a bomb went off on the inside, and our job is to go in there and clean it up. >> pelley: a bomb went off on the inside because of the shockwave from these high- velocity rounds. >> liao: correct. >> pelley: ryland endured 24 surgeries to repair his arm, leg, pelvis, intestines, kidney, bladder and hip. >> liao: at some point, it's like putting humpty dumpty back together again. >> pelley: what do you mean? >> liao: well, his organs are now in different pieces, and you have to reconstruct them. the arm was missing soft tissue, skin, muscle, and part of the nerves were damaged. the bowel has to be put back together. some of the areas of injury has to heal itself, so you can see

that he can walk around like a normal child and behave as normal as possible. >> pelley: with the ar-15, it's not just the speed of the bullet, but also how quickly hundreds of bullets can be fired. the ar-15 is not a fully- automatic machine gun. it fires only one round with each pull of the trigger. ( gunfire ) but in las vegas last year, it sounded like a machine gun. >> that's an ar! ( gunfire ) go, go, go! >> pelley: a special add-on device, called a bump stock, allowed the killer to pull the trigger rapidly enough to kill 58 and wound 489. >> let's go! come to me, hands up! >> pelley: in other massthout an then, it can fire about 60 rounds a minute. ammunition magazines that hold up to 100 rounds can be changed

in about five seconds. >> maddy wilford: i remember hearing the gunshots go off and being so nervous and scared, and all of the sudden, i felt something hit me. >> pelley: you'd been shot how many times? >> wilford: four times. >> pelley: how many surgeries? >> wilford: three. for my arm, my stomach and my ribs and lung. >> pelley: last february, 17-year-old maddy wilford was at school-- marjorie stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. ( crying ) 17 were murdered, 17 wounded. >> wilford: and i just remember thinking to myself, "there way," like, "not me, please, not me. i don't want to go yet." >> laz ojeda: her vital signs were almost nonexistent. she looked like all the blood

had gone out of her body. she was in a state of deep shock. >> pelley: paramedic laz ojeda saved maddy wilford, in part, because broward county e.m.s. recently equipped itself for the battlefield wounds that the ar-15 inflicts. >> ojeda: we carry active killer kits in our rescues. >> pelley: active killer kits? >> ojeda: yes. >> pelley: what is that? >> ojeda: that is a kit that has five tourniquets, five decompression needles, five hemostatic agents, five emergency trauma dressings. >> pelley: dr. peter antevy, broward county medical director, told us today's wounds demand a new kind of training. >> peter antevy: if i take you through one of our ambulances or take you through our protocols, almost everything we do is based on what the military has taught us. we never used to carry tourniquets. we never used to carry chest seals. these were things that were done in the military for many, many years. >> pelley: when did all of that change? >> antevy: it really changed, i think, after sandy hook. >> pelley: after sandy hook

elementary school, where 20 first-graders and six educators were killed with ar-15 rounds, a campaign called "stop the bleed" began nationwide. >> antevy: it's really tight. >> pelley: antevy and doctors, including lillian liao in san antonio-- >> liao: make it tight. >> pelley: --are training civilians who are truly the first responders. there have been nearly 30,000 classes like this in the last three years. >> antevy: you have to go the second wrap to actually stop the bleeding here. does it hurt? yeah, her face-- you can undo it now. the day after the shooting, my kids, they're waking up, and they're, "time to go to school." and my son heard, kind of heard what happened the night before, when i was on the scene, and he looked at me with the fear of god that he had to go to school that day. my first instinct was, "he needs a bleeding kit." my son today has a bleeding kit on his person. >> pelley: how old is he? >> antevy: 12 years old.

here it is. this is it. we, we, i've given him this, and i've taught him how to use it. >> pelley: you believe that these mass casualty events have become so common- >> antevy: absolutely. >> pelley: --that it is important for everyone in this country to be prepared. >> antevy: everyone. >> pelley: that's where we are in america today? >> antevy: that's where we are. >> pelley: ryland ward survived the church massacre because firefighter rusty duncan used his belt as a tourniquet. >> therapist: look where you're going. >> pelley: over this last year, ryland has worked, often six days a week. >> therapist: slow but controlled. >> pelley: learning to sit... >> therapist: all right, we're loosening up all your muscles. >> pelley: ...stand, and walk again. >> ryland ward: am i strong? >> therapist: you're very strong. you're very strong, yes! >> ward: i'm going to see if this actually goes in the hospital, yep. >> pelley: did you meet some new people in the hospital? you were there for a long time. >> ward: how do you know? >> pelley: they told me.

i talked to some of the people who helped you. >> ward: like who? >> pelley: there was doctor... >> ward: liao? >> pelley: dr. liao, yes. >> liao: oh, how are you? >> ward: i'm good. >> liao: yeah? how's your arm? >> ward: good. >> liao: let me see. >> pelley: he has his strength back. its remarkable, really. but healing from the loss of his stepmother and sisters won't be as quick. >> nichiporenko: how was your day? >> pelley: maddy wilford is also moving forward. like many who suffer physical trauma, her interests have turned to medicine. and an internship... >> nichiporenko: maddy, come here. >> pelley: ...where she is studying the kind of surgeries that saved her. >> everybody out, out, out, out! communities assumed that mass murder would never come to them. >> where's she hit? where's she hit? where's she hit? what's wrong with that girl right there? >> pelley: today, all americans are being asked to prepare for the grievous wounds... >> oh, my god! >> pelley: ...of high velocity rounds.

>> tourniquet! >> hurry up, hurry up! >> learn more about the ballistics test in this story, and how to treat a life- threatening wound, at www.60minutesovertime.com. sponosored by ibrance. ♪ carla is living with metastatic breast cancer, which is breast cancer that has spread to other parts of her body. she's also taking prescription ibrance with an aromatase inhibitor, which is for postmenopausal women with hormone receptor-positive her2- metastatic breast cancer as the first hormonal based therapy. ibrance plus letrozole was significantly more effective at delaying disease progression versus letrozole. patients taking ibrance can develop low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infections that can lead to death. before taking ibrance, tell your doctor if you have fever, chills, or other signs of infection,

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about pacific life today. ♪iere... isn't the best present being present? stella artois. joie de biere. >> wertheim: 36 hours from now, polls will open for the midterm elections, and 470 congressional seats will be up for grabs.

one of the most surprisingly competitive races has been unfolding in texas. the senate election there, pitting incumbent ted cruz in the red corner, against challenger beto o'rourke in the blue corner, represents more than just gripping political theater, a clash of big personalities, and record- setting fundraising. on the surface, the candidates have plenty in common. two texans, a year apart in age, who left the state for ivy league schools before returning. they were even elected to congress the same day six years ago. but in this divided cultural and political moment, cruz-o'rourke has become a national barometer for american politics, in the unlikeliest of places. >> governor greg abbott: as goes texas, so will go the future of the united states of america! ( cheers ) >> wertheim: at age 47, senator ted cruz has gone from tea party disruptor to republican party stalwart. >> abbott: i welcome my good friend, your senator, ted cruz! ( cheers )

>> wertheim: on a recent sunday, he shared the stage with texas governor greg abbott in a roadhouse in his hometown of houston. >> ted cruz: god bless texas! ( cheers ) >> wertheim: cruz is equally familiar with the levers of power, and the art of politics. >> cruz: now, why is it that people come to texas? because texas is where the opportunity is. because texas is where the freedom is! >> wertheim: we sat down with the incumbent at a houston b.b.q. joint. we've had our cameras following you for weeks. you're... you're working hard out there. what are the central principles you're trying to get across? >> cruz: when i ran six years ago, i told the people of texas i'd fight every day for low taxes, low regulations, and lots of jobs. my twin passions in life have been the american free enterprise system and the u.s. constitution. >> wertheim: in this solidly red state, cruz comes to battle

armed with a loyal base: gun rights advocates, suburbanites, evangelicals, and big business. he also has the support of the sitting president. >> donald trump: ted's opponent in this race is a stone-cold phony named robert francis o'rourke, sometimes-- ( boos ) --referred to as "bay-to." >> wertheim: actually, it's pronounced beto, a nickname for robert that he picked up in his hometown of el paso. he's a three-term u.s. congressman from the west texas border. a former bass player in a punk band, o'rourke has finally, at age 46, achieved rock star status. >> beto o'rourke: we are the defining immigrant story and experience-- a border state that understands the bilateral relationship with mexico. >> wertheim: o'rourke counts on the vote of texas' millennials, minorities and urban professionals. ♪ ♪ he's spent months threading his

way through texas, while his small team live-streams everything, even the most mundane moments. >> o'rourke: so we're going to eat these after dinner... >> wertheim: when we met him in waco recently, both his odometer and his voice were tapped. >> o'rourke: i don't know that there could be much more on the line than there is today. i don't know if the choices could be any more clear, the contrast any greater. >> wertheim: why do you think so many people, both inside texas but beyond texas, are so captivated by this race? >> o'rourke: i think the way in which we are running it, without pacs, without special interests, without pollsters, without consultants, going to every county, all 254. at this really divided moment, everybody, knowing that they're invited to be part of this.t sor stereotypes,ut think texas is, aren't necessarily true. >> wertheim: he's right. the state's longtime slogan says it all: "texas-- it's like a whole other country."

but no more. forget the image of texas as this outsized outlier. right now, it's actually a strikingly accurate reflection of the united states as a whole. like america, the state is more diverse than ever. four in ten texans are hispanic, and cruz's hometown of houston is set to overtake chicago as the third largest american city after new york and l.a. >> cruz: texas is growing like crazy. there's no state like texas. i think we've got over 1,000 people a day moving to texas. >> wertheim: texas may be carpeted with flatlands and prairies, but the open skies are being pierced with skyscrapers. >> lawrence wright: texas is an urban state. three of the most populist, top-ten cities are in texas. and number 11 is austin. >> wertheim: lawrence wright is a longtime resident of austin, and the author of the book, "god save texas." he characterizes the state in terms of two different radio frequencies.

you've divided texas into what you call a.m. texas and f.m. texas. explain that. >> wright: well, i think a.m. texas is what most people outside of texas think the state is. a.m. texas is, you know, rush limbaugh. >> wertheim: social conservative. care about their gun rights. >> wright: very much so. evangelicals and so on. and yet, there's a side of texas that many people don't really understand, and that's the f.m. texas, which is more urban, progressive, more like other cities in the country. >> wertheim: the big question: which frequency will have the greater signal strength on tuesday? >> wright: i think that a lot of the tea party political figures in power right now see over the horizon. and what they see is a big change coming their way. and that change is brown. and that change is young. and that change is not so conservative. that's the wave that's coming into texas.

♪ and i'm proud to be an american ♪ >> wertheim: like all the midterm races, the specter of donald trump hovers over the campaigns. in the case of cruz, his newfound coziness with the president strikes many as hypocritical, given how bitterly they opposed each other in the last presidential election. in 2016, you're running against president trump, and he disparages your father and your wife. you're accepting his support now. reconcile that. >> cruz: listen, 2016 was a hard-fought campaign. and there were hard blows thrown all around. now, i could've said, you know, "i've got hurt feelings. i don't like the things he said on the campaign, so i'm going to take my marbles and go home." frankly, i think that would've been a really selfish decision. >> wertheim: "marbles" implies this is school-yard stuff. but, what he said about your father... >> cruz: at the end of the day, it's not about me. it's not about being selfish and worrying about my hurt feelings. and so, listen, i don't apologize for not being self- centered and pounding my foot

and refusing to work with the president. i'm going to do my job, for the people of texas. >> wertheim: to what extent are you running against ted cruz? to what extent are you running against donald trump? >> o'rourke: i'm not running against anyone. i really mean that. i want to make sure that we are aware of the choice before us. yep, it's walls, it's muslim bans, it's "the press is the enemy of the people." we know where that road takes us. we've seen that movie before. but given the stakes, if we're only organized against those things, then we demean our opportunity to define this country in the most positive, ambitious way possible. >> wertheim: here's an old texas saying: "there's nothing in the middle of the road but yellow stripes and dead armadillos." in this case, both candidates are squarely in their lanes. >> cruz: he wants to abolish ice. i want to abolish the i.r.s.! ( cheers ) >> o'rourke: what if we ended that war on drugs, ended the prohibition on marijuana?

( cheers ) >> wright: texans are going to have a choice between a person who's seen as being too far right, and another who's seen as being too far left. i think if beto is elected, you can then say texas is no longer red, it's purple. if texas is in play, if it's no longer the old reliable red that it's been for such a long time, then the politics of the country are going to change. >> wertheim: right now, the politics of the country are split in two, with americans taking unyielding positions on climate change, guns, healthcare and immigration... a topic that has particular resonance in texas, and may be the biggest divide between the candidates. >> o'rourke: although i'll tell you, i've lived almost my entire life, 46 years on this planet, alapnso be onef, ifnot sa citiee united states of america. not in spite of, but because we

are a city of immigrants. ( applause ) >> cruz: he wants to make it no longer a crime to cross the border illegally. ( booing ) that would be the very definition of open borders. >> o'rourke: i just think that the politics of trying to scare you about me is a politics that all of us are sick of. he'll tell you that i want open borders. his mischaracterization, his dishonesty, his lies-- he employs those tactics because in the past, they've been shown to be effective. >> wertheim: cruz has practiced traditional retail politics, and infrastrre traditional dia. establishment at arm's length. we've noticed you haven't had a lot of the stars of the democratic party: elizabeth warren, bernie sanders, former president obama. they haven't come to texas. are you trying to distance yourself from the party? >> o'rourke: i'm not distancing myself, but i don't want anyone

coming in from the outside. i want the people of texas to decide this on, on their own terms. >> wertheim: this election may not come down to ideas, personalities, or even money, so much as who shows up. early voting in texas has shattered expectations, up more than 500% among young voters from the previous midterm. we keep hearing about the importance of turn-out on election day for this election. >> cruz: yes. if you look at the dynamics, we've got numbers on our side. there are a lot more conservatives than there are liberals. what the o'rourke campaign has had on their side is intensity. the liberals who are in texas are really, really mad. they hate president trump. that anger is dangerous. i mean, that anger is mobilizing. it means they're going to show up, no matter what. as i've said, they'll crawl over broken-- broken glass to show up. >> wertheim: that's not a good thing? >> cruz: look, intensity is, is always potent. intensity turns people out at the polls. >> wertheim: you're working on the assumption that the more

people that show up, the better your odds of winning? >> o'rourke: yeah. i think the more people that show up, the better we do. >> wertheim: why? >> o'rourke: because the people who are fired up right now are-- are fired up to do something great for this country. that's my sense. i don't have a pollster, so i-- i can't quantify this assumption for you. but the turnout that we're seeing is already off the charts. >> wertheim: you mentioned no pollsters, no pac money, and from the looks of it, you're running this campaign out of the front seat of your minivan. >> o'rourke: yeah. >> wertheim: is that a good idea? >> o'rourke: yeah, it's a great idea. >> wertheim: why's that? >> o'rourke: it's fun. it's, it's the most direct way to connect with people. i love being on the road every day, going to one community after the next. it's the only way to really get to know the state and the people that you want to serve. when we decide that we're going to invest in people, great things happen. >> cruz: if you believe in low taxes, and low regulations, and lots of jobs, if you believe in defending the constitution... >> wertheim: you have two

polished politicians, both in their 40s, ascending stars in their parties. is there a sense in texas, the stakes are really high in this race? >> wright: yeah, because you know, we already had one who ran for president. and, but for donald trump, might've gotten the nomination. and then we have one that's already being talked about as a future presidential contender, without regard to whether he wins this race or not. they each have a core constituency that wants to be heard. that's something they have in common, and it runs very deep. >> cruz: if we lose our freedom here, where do we go? and so, look, i believed this when i was ten. i believed this when i was in college. i believe this now-- that freedom works. freedom matters. >> o'rourke: this, this is going to be a defining moment for us. i'm confident that people in the future will look back on 2018. they'll look back on this state specifically, and say that texas decided all.

>> cbs sports hq is presented by progressive insurance. i'm james brown with scores from the n.f.l. today. pittsburgh wins its fourth in a row. james conner rushing for 100 yard. kansas city improves to 8-1 for the first time since '95, carolina wins its tenth consecutive game at home. houston survives and runs its winning streak to 6. for 24/7news and highlight, visit cbssportshq.com. ringing ] -whoa. [ indistinct talking ] -deductible? -definitely speaking insurance. -additional interest on umbrella policy? -can you translate? -damage minimization of civil commotion. -when insurance needs translating, get answers in plain english at progressiveanswers.com. ♪ -he wants you to sign karen's birthday card.

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>> cooper: every once in a while, we come across a story of people trying to push the limits of what human beings can do. athletes competing not just against each other, but against mother nature herself. when we first met a surfer named garrett mcnamara six years ago, he had just set a world record for riding the biggest wave anyone ever had. surfers from around the world have been trying to break mcnamara's record ever since. as you're about to see, someone finally has. each winter, big wave surfers

bring their boards and their bravery to an unlikely spot where the waves can get as tall as buildings. it's not in hawaii or australia. it's off the coast of portugal, in an ancient town called nazareé, where garrett mcnamara first had the ride of his life. ( waves crashing ) >> ooh, boy! >> cooper: the giant waves appear off nazareé every winter, just as they have for thousands of years. few surfers knew about this place, until 2011, when garrett mcnamara was towed into this 78-foot wave by a jet ski. he had a camera mounted on his surfboard, and one on the shore, recording him as he got into place, let go of the tow rope, and began his record-setting ride. >> garrett mcnamara: i didn't realize it was that big of a wave, until it came down from above, and just, boom, right on my shoulders.

and it almost squashed me. i almost collapsed. >> cooper: it's hard for people who have not ridden a 78-foot wave to understand what it feels like, the power of that wave. ( waves crashing ) how do you describe it? >> mcnamara: a lot of us have snowboarded or skied. just imagine going as fast as you go down a mountain, and then imagine hitting some ice, maybe some moguls. and then imagine an avalanche coming down after you. then imagine not trying to run away from it, trying to stay as close as possible to it the whole time. and-- and have it ch-- chasing you, and now the mountain's moving, and-- and not just the avalanche, but the whole mountain is moving. that's what it's like, riding these giant waves. >> cooper: it sounds terrifying. >> mcnamara: for the average

person, could easily be hell. >> cooper: if you haven't figured it out by now, garrett mcnamara is not your average person. he started focusing on big waves in the mid '90s, attracted by the challenge and the rush of adrenaline he got riding them. before setting the world record, he'd already made a name for himself with some incredible rides... and some epic wipeouts. ( crowd reactions ) >> mcnamara: i broke ribs, three different times. broke feet, hurt this knee, back, stitches from head to toe. >> cooper: how many times have you been stitched up? >> mcnamara: i don't know. at least a hundred, if not more. and-- and i-- i've stopped going to the doctor. i just use crazy glue now, so i just- >> cooper: you what? >> mcnamara: yeah, yeah. i crazy glue everything. if i can crazy glue it, it's getting crazy glued.

if you put it perfectly back together and put some crazy glue on it, done, and back in the water that day. >> cooper: mcnamara first surfed the waters off nazareé, portugal in 2010. what did people think of you here? >> mcnamara: i know in the beginning, they thought i was absolutely crazy. >> cooper: a local resident had emailed him this picture of a wave, hoping to attract surfers and boost the local economy. for generations, nazareé was known as a sleepy fishing village. it was only the town's fishermen who braved these treacherous waters. hundreds have drowned within sight of their loved ones on shore. when we first came here in 2012, there weren't many surfers riding these monster waves. today, thanks in large part to garrett mcnamara, the water is now crowded with them. and onshore, throngs of spectators gather around a

100-year-old lighthouse, to watch the incredible rides, and dangerous falls. >> mcnamara: it's like "water world." like, dog fight for waves now. it's really funny. >> cooper: people are competing for waves. >> mcnamara: yeah, competing, fighting. yeah, full on. >> cooper: surfers want to challenge themselves here in nazareé. >> mcnamara: this is the proving ground, when it comes to a team. much more about teamwork here. you need somebody with a jet ski to watch over you. and once it gets over 60 feet, everybody's challenging themselves and their skills here. foe .gs mcnamara: oh, the-- it's almost more dangerous because you got this big machine. all a sudden, if a wave lands on you and you're stuck with the machine... >> cooper: last november, mcnamara was riding a jet ski,

towing his friend, british surfer andrew cotton, into this massive wave in nazareé. it didn't go as planned. >> mcnamara: ( bleep ) this thing literally exploded like a bomb. and he flew into mid-air like a cannonball. he was a human cannonball. >> cooper: cotton was in the wrong spot on the wave, and had to jump off his board. he disappeared momentarily, before being thrown forward like a rag doll. he landed hard on the water and broke his back. >> andrew cotton: the shock went through my back. it... it was like hitting concrete. >> cooper: cotton was rescued and brought onto the beach. he spent months recovering, but is already back in nazareé surfing . >> cotton: as wipeouts go, it wasn't really that bad. >> cooper: dude, you broke your back. i mean-- >> cotton: yeah, but it was-- it was an impact. and the thing is, is-- is the--

the amazing thing about nazareé is, you never know what you're going to get. >> cooper: that's what makes nazareé so exciting. the same day andrew cotton got hurt, a brazilian surfer named rodrigo koxa caught the ride of his life on this wave that some observers thought might have broken garrett mcnamara's record. >> maya, you are officially amazing. >> cooper: and just a few months later, another brazilian surfer, maya gabeira set a new women's world record on a wave that measured 68 feet. >> cooper: who do you think will be the next surfer to set a world record here? >> cotton: there's a lot of capable people to set the next world record. >> cooper: we wanted to see these world-famous waves up close. so, we rigged mcnamara's jet ski with three mini-cameras, and attached another to the end of a stick i could easily carry. we also placed three cameras with high-powered zoom lenses on

the cliffs overlooking where the waves break, and hired another cameraman, jorge leal, to follow us. with eight cameras rolling and two jet skis, we took off from the harbor in nazareé. so this is the area you try to surf in? >> mcnamara: yeah. >> cooper: we hoped to see for ourselves just how powerful... whoa! ...and dangerous the waves here are. i'm good. >> mcnamara: come right on up, hold on tight. >> cooper: we had no idea what we were in for. >> mcnamara: woo hoo! look at that! >> cooper: mcnamara considered these waves relatively tame. they were only 20 to 30 feet high. >> mcnamara: look right there, anderson! rainbow, rainbow! look at that! yeah, holy moly! that's amazing.

now it's time to hold on. >> cooper: it's not just the wind and the current that makes the waves here so massive-- it's the existence of an underwater canyon. at its deepest point, the canyon is nearly three times the depth of the grand canyon. it starts about 100 miles off- shore and runs nearly all the way onto shore. >> mcnamara: all this energy, and it funnels in like a "v." so all this energy, it comes down the canyon, and as soon as it hits a shallow point, kaboom! >> cooper: getting hit with all that energy is, according to mcnamara, part of the joy of big wave surfing. on this wave in nazareé, he ditched his board to prevent it from hitting him. you can see mcnamara as a little speck on the lip of the wave. this is the view from the camera on his board. >> mcnamara: a lip lands on me. i get obliterated. and i'm under forever. and i was just loving every bit

of it. it was amazing. >> cooper: the way you say, "obliterated," it's sort of blissful, and sort-- it's a little weird. >> mcnamara: yeah, whoo! >> cooper: what's the enjoyment of getting obliterated, of getting wiped out? >> mcnamara: i think it's-- you're-- just out-- there's-- out of control. like, when you're riding a wave, you-- still in control somewhat. you're at the mercy of the wave, but you can choose your path and your destiny. when you're underwater getting pounded, you are at the mercy of the ocean. you're like a grain of sand in the washing machine on spin cycle, going all different directions. and-- >> cooper: and that loss of control is... you feel alive. >> mcnamara: feel alive. >> cooper: but two years ago, mcnamara's desire to feel alive nearly cost him his life. it was in the northern california surf spot known as mavericks when he attempted to catch this wave, which he thinks was 50 to 60 feet high. >> mcnamara: i was in the perfect spot, paddled, stood up, thought i had it.

>> cooper: oh my god... oooh. >> mcnamara: and right when i hit, i was going so fast, it-- just-- broke my-- shattered my head, nine pieces. >> cooper: the-- >> mcnamara: humerus-- the humerus head shattered in nine pieces and broke the shaft off the head, where it lodged itself in my pec. it was-- >> cooper: wait a minute. the bone lodged in your pec? mcnamara was rescused by a rider on a jet ski, and loaded into an ambulance. when you went to see a doctor, what did they say? >> mcnamara: the doctor-- they said i may nev-- might never surf again. >> cooper: at home in hawaii, his recovery was slow and excruciating. mcnamara's shoulder had to be surgically reconstructed with nine screws and a metal plate. he was bedridden for months. >> mcnamara: i wanted to die. that's how bad the pain was.

>> cooper: his wife nicole helped him through his rehabilitation, which took more than a year. mcnamara is 51 now, and he and nicole live in portugal during the winter with their son. he still feels the pain in his shoulder when he paddles, but he's back on the water, and says he is a different person than he was before the accident. >> mcnamara: you know, the main thing it did is, it took the monkey off my back. >> cooper: what do you mean? >> mcnamara: i used to have to ride every single swell everywhere in the world, if i had the ability to get there, or i was on suicide watch. >> cooper: you were always looking for the biggest wave. >> mcnamara: biggest, best, perfect. and now, the monkey jumped off. i can-- i can be sitting at home in hawaii and see the biggest swell of the year coming here and be so happy and just say-- "no, i'm happy right here." >> cooper: it sounds like at 50, one of the biggest daredevils out there is growing up. >> mcnamara: i don't want to say i'm growing up, but i definitely feel content.

>> cooper: that may be just as well. remember that wave brazilian rodrigo koxa caught last november? after the world surf league analyzed video and photographs-- >> the biggest wave award is rodrigo koxa. ( cheers and applause ) >> cooper: --they declared it was 80 feet tall, two feet taller than garrett mcnamara's record-setting wave. mcnamara says he couldn't be happier for koxa and for nazaré, which remains in the record books. he may have lost his world record, but that same month, he gained something much more important. a baby daughter. her middle name is nazareé. ♪ a wealth of information.

that's the clarity you get from fidelity wealth management. straightforward advice, tailored recommendations, tax-efficient investing strategies, and a dedicated advisor to help you grow and protect your wealth. fidelity wealth management. to help you grow and protect your wealth. the midterm elections, not as a democrat or a republican -- i've been both -- but as an american who is deeply concerned with the direction of our nation. like you, i've watched the recent bombings and mass shootings with growing alarm. political violence tears at the heart of our democracy. and violence against a religious group, in a house of god, tears at the heart of our humanity. at these moments of great national tragedy, we look to washington to lead... to offer solutions... to bring us together... and to appeal to all of us, as americans. we are a nation of builders and doers. we know that there are no easy answers or quick fixes.

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>> pelley: in the mail this week: viewers commented on the story we called "inside the secret archive." the former executive assistant

to the catholic bishop of buffalo leaked the names of priests credibly accused of sexual abuse- names that were withheld by the bishop. bill whitaker interviewed whistleblower siobahn o'connor about her decision. "please tell the courageous young woman who released the material that she is a heroine." "our clergy seem not interested in doing any housecleaning. even those who did not commit abuse themselves, allowed it to continue by their silence." "why is defrocking or banishment, i.e. early retirement, the worst fate for so many of these criminals?" i'm scott pelley. we'll be back next week with another edition of "60 minutes." look around. with artificial intelligence, we are not crawling or walkinglyincroselph brinhistory backo liisnow. we are not crawling ai helps farmers grow more

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