Nazaré’s “Small Wave” Tube Event Is ON This Saturday

God I’m sick of that Portuguese turd-cutter called Nazaré. I can’t pinpoint why I hate it so much, but I really do. Maybe it’s the fact that guys get towed into 70-foot swells that never break. Maybe its that the WSL just held a Big Wave Tour event there, which was decided with grown men riding 10’4s in a double-overhead shorey. Maybe it’s that Nazaré is the least fun-looking wave in all of Portugal — the Cave included. 

But if I’m being fair, there was one time that I witnessed quality conditions at Nazaré. It was in late 2016, and if I remember correctly, I followed an Instagram to link to a Portuguese website that was live streaming six-to-eight foot backlit peaks up and down the praia. Balaram Stack, Dylan Graves, Gabe Kling of all people, and Aritz Aranburu were in the Capítulo Perfeito final and it was… heaven. 

If you happen to have 8 hours and 30 minutes on your hands, feel free to catch up on last year’s high and lowlights here. Or just skip to 7:12:00 for the hard-hitting final.

So yeah, that was actually pretty awesome. And wind-willing, it’s gonna happen again this Saturday. As of this morning the Capitulo Perfeito 2017 (by way of a cross-annum waiting period extension) has been given the green light, and tens of the world’s best tuberiders are en route to Portugal. Hopefully they’ll leave the 10’4s behind. 

Nazaré is such a damn wave magnet, that contest organizers waited months for a day that Surfline has forecast to be 2-4 and Fair, while expressly avoiding days considered 6-10 foot and Good to Epic. Kinda, crazy, huh? 

Some of the big(gish) names include: locals Tiago Pires and Nic Von Rupp, plus international talents like Alex Gray, Anthony Walsh, Corey Lopez (out of retirement!), Bruno Santos (perennial favorite), Nathan Florence, Koa Rothman, and last year’s finalists Balaram and Dylan. One oddity is that the 2016 champ, Aritz Aranburu, has only been given an alternate slot for this event. Must be one of those classic Portuguese-Spanish lovers quarrels. 

Anyways, the comp will be live streaming here, so be sure to set your alarm clocks because as the old adage goes: When the wave breaks in Portugal… we’ll probably be asleep.

Yes I know that was really bad.