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While the festivals dedicated to Our Lady of Nazare attract many pilgrims, a different type of pilgrim flocks to this Portuguese town due to its high seas: big wave surfers. While Portugal doesn’t necessarily get the same surfing reputation in pop culture as other parts of the world, real longboarders know Nazare is the place to catch the largest waves in one’s career.
An hour and a half north of Lisbon, the town of Nazare was a small fishing village before it achieved wave-riding fame. It was in the 1960s that surfers from the U.S.A. came to the area on vacation and noticed the big wave-making phenomena at Praia do Norte (North Beach). Such very high breaking waves form due to the presence of the underwater Nazare Canyon, which creates interference between incoming swell waves, making for massive crests. It would not be until the 2000s, however, that Nazare would enter surfing lore and rapidly rise to one of the hottest spots in surf culture due to a fateful fall day.
📸: Ana Raposo
In November 2011, legendary American surfer Garrett McNamara surfed a record-breaking giant wave: 78 feet (23.8 m) at Praia do Norte. Looking for even larger waves (obviously not having a fear of heights), McNamara would break his own record in 2013 riding another wave in Nazare that reached 100 feet. However, on January 17, 2018, Portuguese big wave surfer Hugo Vau caught what might have been the largest wave ever surfed at 115 feet (35 meters). Gulp.
Built in 1903, the Nazare Light is part of the Fort of Sao Miguel Arcanjo, overlooking the now famous Praia do Norte. While the fort dates back to 1577, it was not until the beginning of the twentieth century that the government installed a lantern and a house for the keeper to support fishing activity and assist navigation along the Portuguese coast.
Open to the public since 2014, the old Fort and the Lighthouse that served watch over the town now house the best seats for surfing spectators watching some of the biggest rideable waves on the planet. Happy to watch others dare to ride the “tubular” tides, most prefer to observe the surfing spectacle in the comforts of the 16th-century fort. We don’t blame them.
