Surfing at Nazaré when things get really big likely feels like more of a survival game than a surfing one. It’s such an enormous wave that (apart from the whole sliding around on a wave thing) it seems like an entirely different ballgame. On November 5, the Portuguese beast woke up for the winter. While conditions were no means perfect — a very relative term when it comes to big waves — they were entertaining, both for the few surfers who find this kind of thing fun and for those of us who enjoy watching from afar. Some of the most dedicated big wave surfers on earth were there to greet the monster with open arms, including Francisco Porcella, Justine Dupont, Lucas Chianca, and Ian Concenza, and it is an (unnecessary) reminder of the power of the place.
