tonight only, Nazare bigwave Surf contest

SternWake · Dec 20, 2016

If some here have no issues streaming lots of data, or have Wifi, some history is being made right now.

http://www.worldsurfleague.com/events/2016/mbwt/1660/nazar-challenge/live

These guys are Nucking Futz.

This wave is in Portugal. An offshore canyon magnifies and funnels North Atlantic groundswells into a Giant mutant A-frame peak of incredible power.

For a while it was considered a wave that could only use a waveski assist to actually catch the wave when it achieves 25+ foot faces.

But the prone paddling big wave surfing has reemerged and these lunatics are pushing the limits of what can be paddled into, and 35 to 45 foot faces are on hand right now.

A few days ago they called this contest on as a possibility, and most the the specialized big wave surfers dropped everything and flew to Portugal, many of them have only seen it in pictures or video.

Honestly, it might be boring for a non surfer to watch, 99.5% of the time, and the commentators might annoy the living piss out of you.

BUt, some oceanic fury is a happening. People are risking their lives, for a rush, and some cash.

Check it out if you got Wifi or lots o Data

Sabatical · Dec 20, 2016

It amazes me that people can ride those monsters. I watched a bit of it listening to the commentators with not much happening, then it got stuck in fast forward after they took a pause and i missed mitchell's ride. I'll try youtube.

Sent from my SCH-I435 using Tapatalk

MikeRuth · Dec 20, 2016

Good stuff, thanks.

Gunny · Dec 20, 2016

A sport I have only tried a few times, without much success but I can see the allure of it. Watched an 11 yo girl ride some large waves on you tube. Said she had been doing since she was 5. I'm not sure I had my training wheels off my bike at 5 . Love the ocean, I'll just watch you and others do it tho.

Rob

SternWake · Dec 20, 2016

Surfing is more of a Lifestyle, more than a sport, as it tends to take over and requires their adherents modify all aspects of their lives to be able to drop everything else when conditions come together.

Those dedicated to big wave surfing take this to another level, and big wave surfing itself is on a complete different level. I've had my wits scared out of my by waves a fraction of the size of those considered large by those guys. The sheer mass and volume and energy of a wave in the 10 foot range would make most empty their bowels on the spot if they were atop it teetering on the edge looking over, or see it approaching them at water level.

I wound up staying up all night watching it for those few moments where something occurred.

Theses guys were wearing passive flotation in addition to flotation vests that could be inflated by co2 cartridges, and they were still being held underwater for 20+ seconds and travelling hundreds of yards underwater while doing underwater cartwheels. No doubt some would have drowned had there been no flotation or wave skis to rescue them.

If interested, One can watch what happened in the 'heat analyzer' here:

http://www.worldsurfleague.com/events/2016/mbwt/1660/nazar-challenge/heatanalyzer

One can just click on the blue or green dots where waves are ridden rather than watch the whole thing.

In the Final, Nic Lamb has 2 trememdous wipeouts back to back. The second one on which he falls right on the take off, then gets sucked up over the falls, freefalling 25 or 30 feet into the trough, and gets exploded. When he finally surfaces the next wave sucks him back over the falls after he only had about 2 or 3 breaths max.

A Portugese surfer, Joao de Macedo, got a mediocre ride, kicked out, and then got steamrolled by the next wave, and then held underwater for 2 waves, 30+ seconds, with his flotation vest inflated, and traveled hundreds of yards underwater, if that gives some idea of the incredible energy involved.

Imagine your heart racing at 130+ beats per minute, then holding your breathe, while getting violently thrashed underwater for 30+ seconds.

On a wave the fraction of that size and power, last winter, I had to climb my legrope hand over hand to get back to the surface after the thrashing ended when I fell, on perhaps an 8 foot wave, and was likely only underwater for 8 or 12 seconds, and the surface could not come fast enough. I had a breathe or two before the next wave rolled me and rag dolled me underwater for another 10 seconds and 6 or 8 more lines of white water rolled me shoreward at a surprising speed. I was spent.

That said, I'd much rather die out there than in a hospital bed or in a crumpled automobile.