Surfing
Surfing
Can pro surfers tame the titans? Inside the WSL Big Wave season
With the competition window now open for the 2025 TUDOR Nazaré Big Wave Challenge, discover what makes big wave surfing so compelling, and the tools required to unlock the sport's final frontier.
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The sport of surfing is spectacular, to begin with, but big wave surfing takes things to a whole new level altogether. There's nothing quite like seeing a surfer ride a mountain of water across the open ocean, which is why big wave surfing competitions have become must-see viewing.
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Brazil's Carlos Burle became the WSL's first Big Wave World Tour champion in 2009-10 after making the final at each of the season's four BWWT events, at Pico Alto in Chile, Punta Lobos in Peru, Maverick's in California, and Todos Santos in Mexico. Over the following decade, the tour crowned six world champions across a string of events, with Grant "Twiggy" Baker (3) and Greg Long (2) being the only multiple Big Wave World Champions. The tour peaked in 2016, the year of Long's second title when six events ran around the world.
Ian Walsh running and gunning at XXL Jaws
© WSL/Keoki Saguibo
From 2019, the WSL changed tack, and instead of a series of events, it focused on two contests held at Jaws (paddle) and Nazaré (tow), with no world champion crowned. Currently, the TUDOR Nazaré Big Wave Challenge is the only big wave event the WSL runs, while some non-WSL events like The Eddie Aikau Invitational continue to run. With the Nazaré event window now open and running until March 31, there's no better time to delve into what makes this competition so special.
01
What does a big wave surfing event consist of?
Yes, it's all about catching giant waves, but there are nuances. Each event has a different format and a different judging system, and while in theory the biggest wave should win, the risk involved with taming a wave, the precision and execution while doing so, and even the surfer's style can all come into play when giving surfers scores.
Kai Lenny tows Lucas 'Chumbo' Chianca into a Nazaré bomb
© Mathieu Pelikan, Siam Images
Big wave competitions are generally individual pursuits, though events like the TUDOR Nazaré Big Wave Challenge rely heavily on the team aspect that a successfully ridden tow wave requires.
02
When does the big wave season start?
The big wave seasons match up with each hemisphere's winter. In the southern hemisphere, this can be anywhere from April to September, while in Europe, Hawaii and North America, you're more likely to find big waves from September to April.
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A powerful swell alone isn't enough to trigger a big wave competition; there are other variables to take into account, such as winds, tides and swell direction. As these events require extraordinary swells, they have far longer waiting periods than a regular surfing contest in the hopes of conditions lining up for a contest to get the green light.
03
Equipment
You can't talk about the history of big wave surfing without bringing up big wave surfboard design, which has seen radical changes in the past 30 years. Initially, boards up to 10 feet (3m) in length were used to paddle into behemoth waves.
At the turn of the millennium came the tow-in era, and the strapped boards ridden by jetski-assisted surfers resembled something a little closer to a wakeboard than a traditional rhino chaser. Still, to this day, when towing into heavy Australian reef slabs, straps, and tow-specific boards are left on the beach in favour of traditional shortboards, the ease of access the jetski provides is great.
Kai Lenny, strapped in and flying at Jaws
© Mike Coots/Red Bull Content Pool
While the tow era was fun, it didn't last long as the pursuit of choice, as paddling into waves previously thought uncatchable barehanded, suddenly caught on anew. Fresh takes on equipment unleashed a new generation of hardcore paddle surfers, keen to push themselves and the tools of their trade to the limit.
Natxo carves a powerful wave at Nazaré
© To Mane/Red Bull Content Pool
"In the beginning, we were looking for comfort when catching big waves," explains Basque shredder Natxo González. "We wanted to be able to anticipate the mass of water coming at us, and then simply drop in. Now, the boards have been refined and are more for high performance. Boards are much more manageable, so we can move a lot easier, make turns, and manoeuvre them with more control."
04
Where is the WSL Big Wave season taking place?
The current WSL Big Wave season runs from November 1, 2024, until March 31, 2025, with Portugal's famed Praia do Norte in Nazaré, Portugal, the location for the TUDOR Nazaré Big Wave Challenge. The site of historic world records, Praia do Norte will provide a huge challenge for riders from all corners of the world who come to Portugal hellbent on testing their own limits.
WSL event directors look for a consistent forecast guaranteeing 25-foot (8m) conditions throughout the single-day competition. If all conditions are favourable the organisation will issue a probable start update, known as a Yellow Alert, 72 hours out from the potential run day. If conditions continue trending in a favourable direction, a Green Alert will be issued, meaning competition is all set to run, and fans can ready themselves to watch their favourite big wave surfers pushing their limits to the max in the very near future.
05
TUDOR Nazaré Big Wave Challenge
3 min
The mighty waves of Nazaré
Enjoy big-wave surfers taking on the monstrous slabs at Nazaré.
Held in Praia do Norte, Nazaré, Portugal, the one-day tow-in event will feature nine teams of two competitors. The teams will be divided into three groups, with three teams in each group. The competition will span six 40-minute heats, with each group participating in two heats, and each team alternating between surfing and towing their partner into waves.
At the end of the day a surfer’s best two wave scores, from either heat, will count toward an individual total score, with the best wave counting double. In total, a surfer’s maximum individual score will be 30 points, as each wave is scored between zero and 10 points.
The confirmed competitor list is:
- Team 1: Maya Gabeira (BRA) and Antonio Laureano (POR)
- Team 2: Michelle des Bouillons (BRA) and Ian Cosenza (BRA)
- Team 3:Justine Dupont (FRA) and Éric Rebière (BRA)
- Team 4:Lucas 'Chumbo' Chianca (BRA) and Pedro 'Scooby' Vianna (BRA)
- Team 5: Clement Roseyro (FRA) and Nic von Rupp (POR)
- Team 6: Rodrigo Koxa (BRA) and Vitor Faria (BRA)
- Team 7: Rafael Tapia (CHL) and Pierre Rollet (FRA)
- Team 9:Andrew Cotton (GBR) and Garrett McNamara (USA)
06
The history of big wave surfing
For centuries, Hawaiians surfed together in the smaller waves of Oahu's south shore along the beaches of what is now Honolulu and Waikiki. However, as the sport gained popularity and surfboard technology and construction improved, Hawaiian surfers began to turn their attention further afield to the waves of the west side and north shores of Oahu.
Boardriders from around the world began flocking to Hawaii in winter to pit themselves against the power of the Pacific in a surfing rite of passage that quickly saw Oahu's North Shore become known as "the proving ground".
While big wave surfing went from strength to strength in Hawaii, it was flourishing overseas as well, with surfers from the US mainland, Australia, South America, Africa and even Europe starting to challenge themselves at every opportunity.
As the new millennium landed, tow-surfing locked in a decade-plus run as the preferred medium for tackling the world's biggest waves before a new generation of purists put paddling back in its rightful place atop the big wave surfing totem.
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