The shores of Praia do Norte are as merciless as ever on the first day of 2018.
“When I was little, everybody always said, ‘Don’t go in the water over there or you will die,'” a local bodyboarder told Surfer magazine.
Lucas Chumbo, Tom Lowe, Justine DuPont, Jamie Mitchell, Nic Von Rupp, Sebastian Studner and Hugo Vau all decided to dice with death within the first hours of the new year.
Driving on the road that leads to Praia do Norte, Nazare, you will pass under a foreboding arch that reads, “Welcome to the Biggest Waves in the World.”
A world record was set here by Garrett McNamara in 2011, for the largest wave ever surfed. Ever since, people from all corners of the earth have been gathering in this tiny town in the middle of Portugal, hoping to do the same thing.
“A great way to start the year,” Brazilian Lucas Chumbo told Magic Seaweed. “The swell was pretty good, a big day with a couple of bombs. Had the chance to get a really good wave, a 50-foot face. Rafael Tapia whipped me and then I towed him. Looking forward to the next swell.”
“The canyon extended the waves around 13 meters… The first peak was on fire and it was a beautiful nature show, that formed giant waves of irregular contours, typical of this place,” Nazare Waves reports.
It seems that the waves that were once feared by the local Portuguese are helping them become the centre of the surfing world.
Not enough wipe-out videos in your life? Watch this British surfer break his back in 12 places while surfing a monster wave.
