WSL Big Wave Contest 2018 Nazare Portugal
Another week in one of my favorite country's, Portugal! Coming from a Portuguese / Hawaiian mother I have always been enchanted with my Grandfathers homeland... I first visited Portugal as a sponsored surfer in 1998 with some of my best central coast homies, Dustin Ray and Gabe Gazzolla along with some New Yorkers from the UNSOUND Crew...We had a blast, scored epic waves, stayed in ancient castles and ate like kings! I have been hooked ever since, even making two family trips there last year to visit friends and enjoy the easy lifestyle.
This year I went for a different reason, I went to document one of the largest forcasted swells ever seen to hit the region. Unfortunately a slight Westerly angle to the swell decimated any chance of the swell becoming historic.
Fortunately, I did decide to shoot the WSL event that took place a couple of days before the big swell was supposed to hit. And I am so glad I did. The waves were good size and PERFECT! I stood there all day in awe of what was going down with all of the surfers and rescue ski's going 100% all Day. These are just a few shots from the day...
Contest results:
1st Grant "Twiggy" Baker
2nd Lucas Chianca
3rd Naxto Gonzalez
4th Alex Botelho
5th Joao De Macedo
6th Russel Bierke
All Photos by Mike Lopaka Jones info@azhiaziam.com