The Atlantic was already awake — now it looks angry. Photo: Windy.com
For our friends on the East Coast of the U.S. and in the Atlantic, generally, it’s been a good run of swell this October. Nothing out-of-this-world, or even totally newsworthy in comparison to everything else that’s been going on, but enough to make a COVID-19 staycation feel like a trip to an exotic surf destination. Well, October isn’t over yet, and it looks like this month will be ending with a bang. Hurricane Epsilon delivered the goods this past week to the East Coast – it looks like Ben Gravy scored, and Brett Barley’s Instagram is currently awash with heaving barrels and ambitious huck-and-prays from Cape Hatteras. However, it’s the other side of the Atlantic that we’re now turning our attention to. As it has travelled north, former Hurricane Epsilon has merged with a low-pressure system off of Greenland, making for big waves and low winds, a rare combination for the big-wave destination of Nazaré.
“I can’t really remember a swell this big, coming with the little wind, for some time, maybe even ever,” Nazaré veteran Andrew “Cottie” Cotton told the WSL. “It’s really exciting; a six-meter northwest swell with a 20-second-plus period and very little wind. It should peak on Wednesday evening and be massive all day Thursday. Basically it could be as big and clean as Nazaré gets.”
Big, clean, October Nazare from 2016. Photo: Hugo Silva/Red Bull Content Pool
Surfline’s Chief Forecaster Kevin Wallis confirmed. “With the favorable swell direction and period, waves should be in the 50- to 70-foot range with the max sets of the day potentially even bigger. Looking back at 40-plus years of data, a swell of this magnitude happens roughly every two and a half years – this could be one of the largest October swells on record.”
The Nazaré regulars are, for the most part, either on their way or already there. It’s hardly surprising that pandemic travel restrictions couldn’t stand between chargers like Kai Lenny (above), Garret McNamara, and the biggest waves on the planet.
Some are already there. On Monday, Nic Von Rupp, Maya Gabeira (who caught the biggest wave of the year in 2019), Sebastian Stuednter, Justine Dupont, and other regulars went out for a ‘warm up’ session. “It was big, maybe 40 to 50 feet, but nothing compared to what’s coming,” Von Rupp reported.
“We usually have few swells through November and December which helps with your confidence when a XL one arrives,” said Cotton. “This though is like having the Super Bowl as the first game of the season.” While that may be intimidating for the athletes involved, for those of us on the sidelines, it sounds like October just got a wee bit more exciting.
