Warning: Nazaré Wants To Kill You

God bless the Porcellas. You know Francisco’s brother Niccolo from suffering and surviving a few of the heaviest wipeouts at Chopes and Jaws last year. And Francisco’s just as mad. “I was coughing up blood after that one,” he says in this interview, “so I decided I’d drive the ski and do safety.” And as much as we at Stab enjoy a thrill, 40 foot, unruly Nazaré seems a bit out of humanity’s league. But that’s the joy of big wave surfing today, the anxious pleasure and spiked blood pressure of being quite certain somebody is going to die (not that we wish for it). And surprisingly, more often than not, the men who tease these rolling mountains come out unscathed or with minor injuries. But, as we learned with the recent BWT event in Praia do Norte, after Grant “Twiggy” Baker said he wouldn’t return to a competition at Nazaré on account of it being too dangerous, and a smattering of injuries, Portugal’s premiere big wave venue – like Wu-Tang Clan – Ain’t Nuthing ta Fuck Wit. Here Francisco accounts the events from December 22, 2016, otherwise known as “heavy Thursday”, and the risk and reward of surfing on the bigger days of the year. Tiger style.