NAZARÉ FOR HUCK
Lucas Chumbo wows the crowd (L) and the shorebreak bearing it’s teeth (R)
There is no arena in surfing quite like Portugal’s Nazaré. When a gigantic, hurrican fed swell arrives from the open ocean and is funnelled towards the towering cliff by a deep water canyon, the resulting waves are nothing short of spectacular.
Nazaré’s unique bathemetry and positioning on the coast of the Atlantic mean surfers and spectators can experience the biggest waves in the world in an amphitheatre-like setting that feels unfeasably close to the action for an event this immense.
I travelled to Northern Portugal for the Nazaré Big Wave Challenge event to cover the event for Huck Magazine with friend and writer Jamie Brisick. Needless to say we were blown away by the epic scale of it all and the incredible performances form the surfers and safety teams.
Watching the waves explode at Nazaré is mesmerising.
Arriving the afternoon before the event, we got to the famous clifftop fort just before dark and got our forst glimpse of a new swell arriving - a few surfers still ou tthere warming up on what locals would call ‘small’ Nazaré.
The next morning the contest was put on hold due to thick fog and sea spray we could barely make out the waves, let alone the surfers. As the fog cleared and the swell filled in the contest got underway and we were treated to a day of incredible surfing, huge wipeouts, close calls and near death experiences. It was a rollercoaster and a treat to be there and I didn’t stop running around trying to find a perspective I hadn’t seen a million times before. It’s such a well documented wave that shooting it differently is really tricky. Everybody wants to see that fort with the lines of people and the enormous waves, so I made sure to bag a few of those before looking for details and angles that might be a little less familiar.
Basque legend Axi Muniain on a huge hollow right.
The power of the place really gets under your skin, almost as if you soak up some of that energy as the waves unload onto the cliff you’re standing on. I would lov eto go back and shoot from a jetski in the water, as terrifying as that might be. The shots you could make from in amongst it would be incredible.
Here is a link to Jamie’s wonderful article in Huck.
The spectators and The Gladiator. An unknown rider risking it all.
Gallery of some of my favourite images below.
All images © Owen Tozer. No usage or copying permitted without a licence.