Sometimes the planets align.
We got more than lucky when our week in Santa Cruz coincided with what some called the biggest swell in the last six years: so we obviously drove to Nazaré to enjoy the show. Watching these mountains explode under the cliffs live is something that cannot be described and a memory that we will be cherishing on for a long time.
If you are curious about what the day looked like – both in the water and behind the scenes – Red Bull just released a video covering all the action from all possible angles. Recommended viewing below.
During the same swell some surfers – like Italian surfer Leonardo Fioravanti – decided not to chase mountains but “just” some hills. During a three-day wave marathon, he managed to score perfect Mundaka and an incredibly scary right-hander in the Basque Country & perfect beach break barrels in France.
While we’re not big fans of surf vlogs, Leo’s are always beautifully shot and provide a peek behind the life of our favourite Italian pizza-eating pro-surfer.
Back to more normal-sized waves, here’s a collection of news and videos from the past week:
The World Surf League tour is to surfing fans what the World Cup is to football fans. This year saw the whole tour being cancelled and, up until now, we had no news about a possible restart. The WLS just released a tentative schedule for 2021 and… it starts in less than a month, in Hawaii nonetheless, with the women competing in Maui and the man soon after in the island of Oahu. Let’s hope Supertubos (Portugal) is back too toward the end of the year! All the info are available here.
Mason Ho, an Hawaiian surfer, seems to be having as much fun as a surfer can possibly have. GoPro in his mouth, he now gives us 12 minutes of POV surfing in Hawaii. We can only watch and dream of getting as many clear water blue barrels as him.
Alex Botelho is a Portuguese madman. After suffering a heavy injury in Nazaré, he’s now back with this edit featuring extremely critical surfing, mostly in Portugal. Alex’s lost tapes are a must-watch, in my opinion.
If you are a surfer, you know that surfing in inside the wave backside is one of the most difficult (and scary) things you can do. The technique used by most is called the “pig-dog”; where did it start? Discover the origins here. As for the funny name itself, that’s another story:
”The expression "pigdogging" was born from the Australian hunting slang term for that rather frightening breed of dog known as a bull terrier or pit bull. Pit bulls are called "pigdogs" in Oz because they're used to flush out wild boar from dense brush. This activity calls on all of the pit bull's renowned death-defying ability to bite mercilessly, crouch and hang on until it or its victim has deceased.”Kelly Slater, demonstrating a perfect pig-dogging technique.
Wishing you a week filled with surfing dreams,
Gian @ the surf tribe