Thursday, January 18, 2018
Some of the biggest names in Big Wave Surfing have descent on Praia do Norte, in Nazaré off the coast of Portugal to ride the Biggest Swell since 2014. Locals already call the day as “The Big Thursday”, the same name called to the infamous swell of 2014, that also occurred on a Thursday.

This swell originated on a North Atlantic storm and produced some of the biggest and heaviest waves the town has seen in years, with waves reaching the 80ft mark. According to local videographer Pedro Miranda this swell generated two of the biggest days he ever witnessed in Nazaré, "Wednesday was probably even bigger but the strong wind conditions and heavy backlight and myst made it almost impossible to capture good footage, though waves were ridden. This morning things have changed, with light off-shore winds the conditions were as good as Nazaré gets” the filmer said.

"The biggest waves of the day were caught by Australian veteran surfer Ross Clarke-Jones, Sebastian Steudtner from Germany and Frenchman Benjamin Sanchis. Maya Gabeira from Brazil may have caught the biggest wave ever surfed by a woman” the filmer later wrote online

Benjamin Sanchis, Ross Clarke-Jones, Sebastian Steudtner, Maya Gabeira, Hugo Vau, Alex Botelho, Marcelo Luna, Axi Munian, Andrey Karr, João Guedes, Roland Pierre and many other Professional Big Wave Surfers were in the water, several monster waves were ridden and most likely will end up being nominated for the WSL Big Wave Awards.

Praia do Norte beach, near the fishing village of Nazaré, has become famous for huge waves since Hawai