Why I keep coming back to Nazare
From the most wild, powerful and overwhelming things that nature has to offer, Nazare is easily in the top 10, worldwide.
Although I discovered it after living in Portugal for some time, it could be a perfect reason to move over here for some adrenaline junkies. But first things first.
What’s so special about Nazare?
Located around 1.5h drive north of Lisbon, it’s been a perfectly normal, summer holiday spa town. Very laid back, with some historic features – old town walls, along some fortifications. Including a small watchtower-like building at the end of the cliff.
Nothing uncommon up to this point. But there’s something special about that cliff, something that locals knew for many years. The waves here were louder than in any other known places… They were also much bigger. And rougher.
It wasn’t until 2010-11 that the big wave surfing in Nazare really took off.
But why?
Okay just to be clear, the entire thing is possible because of two things: geology, and some tech support. And crazy people. Because of a deep, underwater canyon just in front of the cliff, during winter months the normal swell gets amplified here. This means, that what would normally be a casual (sic!) 10m wave gets twice as big.
Yes, we are talking about 20-24m monster waves, hitting that cliff in insanely intense intervals… It’s an incredible natural spectacle on its own, but with surfers trying to ride those monsters – it’s just pure madness.
I mentioned tech support – all this wouldn’t be possible without rigorous safety measures and some aid. The surfers get towed using jet skis to break the wave, as it’s impossible to paddle through it – and, if they are in luck, you’d see them casually gliding through what seems like a wall of water… Surreal.
Can’t get enough of it
So when I visited it for the first time, I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew it would be windy, so I came prepared with some storm-proof gear. It can be pretty unpredictable – during maybe a dozen visits there I’ve experienced everything from sun burns to hail and a wind so strong it would move me around had I lost grip from the ground.
And I think it’s this purest, roughest kind of energy that drives me there again and again. There’s just nothing else like this, at least none that I know.
P.S.
It’s been just recently announced that the new world record for the biggest wave ever surfed belongs now to Sebastian Steudtner, who took a 86ft (26.2m) tall wave in Nazare on 29th October 2020. Some pics from that day:
