Nazare, Portugal. Big wave festival

Some years ago we first heard of Nazare and the extreme winter surf. The type of surf where board-riders are towed by jetski onto the wave.

We arrived and it was still, sunny and warm. There was virtually no surf. The fishing fleet were out. The ladies in their mixed tartan dress with multiple petticoats, and hand embroidered aprons were selling dried fish on the beachfront and home produced fruit, veg and baked goods in the market.

An exceptional lunch of seafood rice in a rich tomato, onion and capsicum based sauce; and seafood cataplana, with its base of sliced potatoes in a rich tomato, onion and capsicum sauce. The little backstreet cafe in which we ate was simple in its decor. The lady who greeted us, used Google translate to tell us the specials and then returned to the kitchen to cook our lunch.

We parked overnight on a cliff top overlooking both town and the Praia do Norte (beach). The surf report forecasted a change, the big waves were coming. We woke and the surf was pumping. We could hear the crashing waves some 250m away. From first light the carpark filled as did the surrounding streets. People came from miles away to witness the spectacle.

We soon learned that today's surf was the biggest so far this season. Nazare has the biggest surfable waves on the planet. We spoke to a camera man working for Planet Wave (Brazilian surf team supporting Rodrigo Koxa, current world champion who surfed a wave 24.38m high in 2017). He advised that some of today's waves reached over 20m from trough to crest.

Nazare has huge waves because of its Atlantic geographic proximity, combined with Portugal's lack of continental shelf and a 2000m deep canyon leading right to the cliffpoint.

All we can say is WOW! Today we watched the 8 surfers and their teams of 2 or more supporting jet-skis riding the waves. There is amazing team work and skill required to get the board rider onto the wave and then to rescue them before the next wave. Get the timing wrong and the surfer or jetski gets munched. We saw 3 jet-skis, their drivers and passengers separated and then have to be rescued from the surf as the power of the waves was either misjudged or the timing not anticipated correctly.

If you are ever in Portugal in winter, check out the wave forecast and if the waves are pumping in Nazare you won't be disappointed in your visit.

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