Surfers made the most of the first big swell of the winter season this weekend in Portugal, just hours before Storm Leslie made landfall.

Video filmed in Nazare on Saturday (October 13) shows a handful of professional big wave surfers riding waves up to 30ft high.

Leslie reportedly left at least 300,000 homes without power.

Coastal towns bore the brunt of the storm damage. Wind speeds reached 105 mph in the town of Figueira da Foz, a town less than 100km north of Nazare and 200km north of the capital, Lisbon.

Hours before Hurricane Leslie had it’s landfall in Portugal, the first big swell of the winter season arrived in Nazaré, Portugal, where a handful of Professional Big Wave Surfers charged the first bombs of the winter. This swell was created by Hurricane Leslie and generated waves of up 30 ft high.

In the water, and taking advantage of this swell before the storm arrived in Portugal, was a handful of professional big wave surfers from all around the world: Grant Twiggy Baker, Andrew Cotton, Nic Von Rupp, Rodrigo Koxa (current world record holder for biggest wave), Kalani Lattanzi, Marcelo Luna, João Guedes, Hugo Vau, António Silva, Kiron Jabour, Justine Dupont and Mike Stewart (11 times Bodyboard world champion)

This Swell was big enough to be considered the first big swell of the season, despite Nazaré producing much bigger waves, like the 80 foot world record from November 2017.

Praia do Norte beach, near the fishing village of Nazaré, has become famous for huge waves since Hawaiian surfer Garrett McNamara set a then record in 2011 for the largest wave ever surfed when he rode a 78-foot. More recently in November 2017, the Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa performed a new world record of 80-foot.