Dhe highest wave of the season, with which I won the Big Wave Award, the main prize of the year, rolled towards Nazaré at the end of October. The monster waves usually come much later, in winter. When the weather forecast announced a huge swell, everyone in Nazaré, the Portuguese Mecca of big wave surfers, was taken by surprise. It was October 29, 2020, and my team and I left before sunrise.
We were the only ones in the water for a long time. I surfed two waves as a test. They were very compact, very high, very fast. It gradually got full in the water, I caught a few more waves – and fell, was washed up on the beach, but wasn’t injured. I recovered for half an hour, then my big wave partner, the Brazilian Alemão, pulled me into the ultimate wave on a jet ski.
It was as high as an eight-story house, the exact measurement will be available in January, it went down at 80 km / h. Every fiber in my body has worked to keep me from being thrown off. When I did it, it was clear to everyone that it was a gigantic wave, that was the ultimate ride.
Recorded by Michael Eder.
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