Nazare Big Wave Challenge Gets Green Light To Run In Potential 50-Foot Surf
The Nazare Big Wave Challenge has been given the green light to run this Monday, January 22. With a solid North Atlantic swell on the way and a cadre of the world’s top big-wave surfers in hot pursuit, the waves are forecast to be in the 35- to 45-foot range with top sets expected to hit 50 feet when the swell peaks. The first call will be made at 8:45am GMT.
“We’re really excited about the conditions lining up for Monday,” said Rob Gunning, WSL Europe Tour Manager, in a WSL announcement. “It’s been a slow winter so far in terms of major swells, and this time it looks like everything is trending in the right direction. We hope the waves show up and with the light winds expected. The best big wave surfers in the world are ready to put on a show.”
A team-style contest featuring 20 big-wave surfers from around the world, early favorites include defending champ Lucas “Chumbo” Chianca, who was originally slated to join forces with Kai Lenny, but a last-minute adjustment has him on the tow rope with Pedro Scooby now (Lenny suffered a head injury surfing Pipeline during the Backdoor Shootout and is presumably still recovering). World record holders Maya Gabiera and Sebastian Steudtner are in the draw, as are hard-chargers like Nic Von Rupp, Andrew Cotton and Michelle Des Bouillons.
There are a number of categories for the Nazare Big Wave Challenge, including Men’s and Women’s Best Performance, Best Team Performance and the Most Committed.
The official Surfline forecast reports, “Monday morning will start relatively slow, with our main swell expected to come on during the afternoon and evening hours. We can expect wave face size at Nazare in the 35-45’ range by the mid to late afternoon, with max sets up to 50’ by the end of the day. Surf size should be close early Tuesday before likely fading through the day.
“While it’s not the biggest swell at Nazare – and is more west than we ideally like to see – we have good to excellent conditions lining up. Light offshore south to southeast wind is expected through the first half of Monday. Wind will probably trend weakly onshore in the afternoon out of the SW, although clean to glassy conditions are expected. Similar wind conditions are expected Tuesday.”
If all the elements come together and the forecast holds, this event could see convergence of high-performance surfing in waves of exceptional size and power as the big-wave pursuit continues to hurtle ever forward. Stay tuned as more news and information becomes available.
5 Teams To Watch At The Nazare Big Wave Challenge
With more than 25 years of writing about surfing, the ocean and action sports, Jake Howard continues to share stories, profiles and issues that shape the surfing world. One of the premier subject-matter experts in the field today, he's savvy in the ways of print, digital and social media, his breadth of work is expansive. Getting his start writing Surfline surf reports and recording the phone reports for 976-SURF in the late '90s, Jake served as the managing editor for Surfer Magazine in the early 2000s before moving on to launch RedBullSurfing.com and cover surfing for ESPN and the X Games. Over the years, Jake has also enjoyed time behind the edit desk at The Surfer's Journal, as well as the World Surf League, where he worked as the Senior Editor for a number of years. Beyond producing editorial content, Jake has served as a digital marketer and copywriter for iconic surf brands such as Quiksilver, Roxy and Rip Curl. Writing thousands of pages of copy for Surfline, he has deep SEO experience as well. The surf columnist for the San Clemente Times, Jake continues to dedicate himself to the culture and history of the sport through his involvement with the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente.