When most people think of Nazaré, they think of that now-iconic shot from the lighthouse. They think of 100-foot waves and Garrett McNamara on a strange cork board made by Mercedes. They think of Andrew Cotton, Carlos Burle, and Maya Gabiera. Nazaré, though, holds much more than just that one monstrous beast of a wave. Just off the point, there is a barreling wave that, although still extraordinarily heavy, is on a much smaller scale than those 100 footers that roll through the Portuguese underwater canyon.
Yesterday, the Allianz Perfect Chapter went off there. Powered by the recently Eddie-less Quiksilver, it featured the likes of Nic von Rupp, Balaram Stack, Bruno Santos, Aritz Aramburu, Tiago Pires and a bunch of others. It pumped–6 to 8 feet with occasional 10-foot sets.
Aritz ended up winning the whole thing while Balaram Stack took runner-up… but with waves like this, everyone was a winner.
