Surfing
Surfing
How Team Young Bulls and Justine Dupont rose to huge new heights at Nazaré
In the first Tow Surfing Challenge presented by Jogos Santa Casa, Team Young Bulls (Kai Lenny and Lucas ’Chumbo’ Chianca) and Justine Dupont redefined what’s possible on the world’s biggest waves.
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The mind-blowing surfing performances of Hawaiian Kai Lenny, Brazilian Lucas 'Chumbo' Chianca and French star Justine Dupont at the World Surf League’s Nazaré Tow Surfing Challenge weren’t in any way surprising after their amazing displays over the last couple of big wave seasons.
From Chumbo’s attempts at pulling into huge barrels to Lenny’s small-wave lines and aerials on 40-to-50-foot Praia do Norte walls, it was a day in which big wave surfing suddenly seemed filled with untapped potential.
Following the so-called winter storm Ciara, which blasted through Belgium, Britain, France, Germany and Poland with huge winds on the weekend of February 8-9, the Portuguese coast was blanketed with calm winds and huge, clean swell – the perfect formula for an epic day at Nazaré.
Team Australia steps up
© WSL/Poullenot
Justine Dupont in the zone
© WSL/Poullenot
Team Europe
© WSL/Poullenot
Team France
© WSL/Poullenot
As soon as competition got under way at 8:30am local time, Chumbo and Lenny, along with Dupont, made it clear they were hungry for victory. On massive rights and lefts, Lenny and Chumbo toyed with pitching lips the size of train cars, executing smooth carves, chop-hops, even reverses, before hanging on for 50-foot-plus elevator drops and mach-speed bottom turns. Meanwhile, Dupont surfed every wave with a confident ease.
2020 Nazaré Tow Surfing Challenge results
- Team Champions: Team Young Bulls – Kai Lenny and Lucas Chianca
- Men's Wave of the Day: Kai Lenny
- Women's Wave of the Day: Justine Dupont
- Commitment Award: Water Safety Team
The day before, Chumbo and Lenny had a six-hour warm-up session, which prepared them for the day’s extended competition – what had originally been scheduled as a four-hour, four-heat event was stretched out to a six-hour, six-heat event, because the conditions were so good.
“This event has almost been a lifetime in the making,” Bill Sharp, the World Surf League's Big Wave Tour General Manager said. "Everything’s come together and today was one of the best days in big wave surfing’s history.”
Dupont was also more than prepared for the historic day – along with her partner Fred David, Dupont now lives in Portugal for half the year, just so she can surf Nazaré whenever it’s good. That commitment paid off this past November, when Dupont rode what was up until that point considered to be the biggest wave ever ridden by a woman surfer – but on Tuesday, she just might have edged out her own record with a perfectly surfed left-hander.
“I was so lucky I had a really nice wave at the beginning of the heat so then we felt pretty comfortable out there,” Dupont said after the event. "All the work that we’ve done this past year has really paid off."
Team Portugal
© WSL/Poullenot
Kai Lenny at ease at Nazaré
© WSL/Poullenot
2020 Commitment Award winner Alemão de Maresias with Kai, Chumbo, Justine
© WSL/Poullenot
Along with Chumbo, Lenny and Dupont in the event were fellow Red Bull team riders Pedro 'Scooby' Vianna and Andrew Cotton, who are also no strangers to Nazaré. Both Scooby and Cotty have survived horrific wipeouts at Praia do Norte, yet have bounced back to maintain their places as some of the big wave’s most committed surfers.
The judging format for the Nazaré Tow Surfing Challenge was unique in that individual waves weren’t scored by judges and tallied for a final score, but by the surfers themselves. Following competition, the surfers looked back at the footage to collectively crown a champion. The decision was quite clear: Team Young Bulls took the team win while Lenny and Dupont took the Men’s and Women’s Wave of the Day awards, respectively.
It's pretty crazy the unlimited potential of Tow-in Surfing.
For the Commitment Award, the decision was also clear – in the sixth heat of the day, Team Portugal surfers Hugo Vau and Alex Botelho suffered a horrific wipeout that required a daring rescue by the water safety crew. While Botelho had to be revived on the beach and rushed to the hospital, the situation could have been far worse had the Nazaré water safety team not been as efficient as they are. Clearly, it was this group of heroes who deserved the Commitment Award.
Stay tuned for more footage from the free-surf sessions before and after the event at the all new Red Bull Base page, your home for all things Nazaré.
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