So right now, we are going to
the top of the lighthouse. And then south of the lighthouse we have
the main city of Nazaré. And then the more north we have
Praia do Norte. The biggest wave in the world. "Now, here’s something you just have to
see to believe." "You got to see this." "The most amazing picture that we saw in the
newsroom today has got to be this." "Take a look at that surfer right there." "Garrett McNamara is the fearless surfer." "The wave is 78 feet tall..." "...that is taller than a 7-story building." "This is a new world record." "He is riding a mountain of water off—" "The coast of Portugal." "Portugal." "That’s in Portugal right?" That moment made Nazaré... a small town on the coast of Portugal... home to the biggest wave ever surfed. And over the past decade, many surfers
havecome here to make their own attempts at a world record. Even at the risk of their lives. How can I explain it? Nazaré right now, it’s the Formula 1 of
big waves. But for a long time, these waters weren’t
at the heart of an extreme sport. They were driving an entirely different culture
for centuries. A culture that’s changing dramatically today. [in Portuguese] The history of Nazaré will be different from what it would have been, if there had never been the wave. [in Portuguese] Nazaré has been going through an intense transformation. [in Portuguese] History and memory are gradually being erased. The world had no idea that we have
the biggest wave in the world here. So yeah, it's never been like this. This one is a 9'6". It is not the biggest one I have. It's already double size. My name is António Laureano. And I'm a professional big wave surfer. What's up? I’m from here, I'm Portuguese. -It's getting bigger.
-For sure. I'm the youngest kid surfing Nazaré. Tomorrow with the energy really strong,
it's gonna be way more farther out. And some days ago, I just won my first
big wave contest in Spain. A couple of years ago, Tony went viral for one particular wave, estimated
to be 101 feet tall. But, he’s still waiting for the Guinness World
Book of Records to make it official. The adrenaline that we have surfing those
waves is something that is impossible to explain. Like every big wave scares me. A crash on a wave at Nazaré... You feel that your foot is out
behind your head... your shoulder is on your knee... and then you spend, like long time
under the water. It doesn't seem like it's too long. But when you're getting kicked by 50 guys... believe me, it's too long. It’s that extreme danger, and the rush that
comes with it that led to the discipline of big wave surfing
70 years ago. Big wave surfing began in Hawaii,
where for a long time the sport had been limited to waves
less than 10 feet. But in the 1950s, a group of daring surfers successfully rode the notorious 25 foot waves
on Oahu’s North Shore. That inspired many surfers to scour the globe
for bigger and bigger waves. And they found them: Jaws, Maverick’s, Teahupoo,
Fiji, Australia, Mexico. But they missed a spot. A place where the perfect conditions that
could generate waves larger than anyone had ever imagined. Storms are critical to big waves
around the world. When a storm moves over the ocean,
its winds hit the surface resulting in pulses of energy called swells. Which eventually become waves. Some of the most powerful storms form over
the Pacific and Southern oceans which send swells to places like
Hawaii and Australia. The North Atlantic has similar storms.. that send powerful swells barrelling towards
Nazaré between October and April. And there's one on the way now. Friday, we are going to have one swell that
is supposed to be the biggest swell of the season. The swell is huge. The wind is perfect. The direction is like a good direction. The direction is really important because
if it's the right direction we can have the effect of the canyon. The canyon that sits beneath the surface,
just off the coast sets Nazaré apart from every other
big wave spot. It begins here, then runs for 230 kilometers
right up to Nazaré’s beach. It’s half the length of the Grand Canyon but nearly 3 times as deep at its deepest point. [in Portuguese] If Nazaré didn't have the canyon Nazaré would be a different land. [in Portuguese] My name is Jorge Barroso I was the mayor of Nazaré for 20 years. So how does this canyon lead to giant waves? Can you give me... two minutes? [in Portuguese] So, here we have the canyon. [in Portuguese] The canyon's head is 300 meters off the coast. From that point, here, the canyon plunges
in depth remarkably quickly. Over here, the water is just 20 meters deep. But right over here, the canyon is
200 meters deep. The length of a 60-story building. This difference has a major effect on incoming
swells. When a swell approaches Nazaré it hits the canyon and
gets split into two. The part in this shallow water slows down. But the part inside the canyon continues
to move fast and turns inward toward the canyon wall. When it hits the wall, it’s suddenly forced
upwards resulting in a big wave. But when that coincides with a slow swell,
the result is a humongous wave. [in Portuguese] We've here almost a perfect storm of current waves, depths, and energy. [in Portuguese] That's why this place is the only one in the world. So, why did it take so long for big wave surfers
to find Nazaré? It's Portugal! Portugal is a small country and we don't have
a big culture of big-wave surfing. But for centuries, Nazaré did have
a unique culture one that was also shaped by these waves. "Nazaré in Portugal." "Where the only industry is fishing." [in Portuguese] It was a quiet neighboring village, with simple and calm people. [in Portuguese] In my family, we're all fishermen. [in Portuguese] Men have all been sailing since my grandfather's and
great-grandfather's time. [in Portuguese] And the women are fish sellers. [in Portuguese] Since there has been Nazaré, there has been dried fish. [in Portuguese] It was for people to have something to eat during the winter. [in Portuguese] Here in Nazaré anything about fish is what gave Nazaré its soul. Fishing sustained Nazareans for generations but it also required many to risk their lives. [in Portuguese] It was known worldwide, precisely for death. [in Portuguese] For the harshness of the sea. [in Portuguese] Many people died, many people. [in Portuguese] People still came at night to see if they could find the bodies. [in Portuguese] Because, you know, people died at sea and could appear six or seven months after. But despite the dangers, fishing continued
to be Nazaré’s main industry until the mid-20th century, when it began
a slow decline. Largely because the fish populations were dwindling. [in Portuguese] Our fisherman was an ecological fisherman. [in Portuguese] They preserve by fishing with hooks. [in Portuguese] Then, trawling began to appear from other ports. [in Portuguese] Trawling destroys everything that it catches along the way. [in Portuguese] There are less fish, you can tell. [in Portuguese] I don't know if it has to do with global warming or if it's exploitation with extensive
catching [in Portuguese] But it's noticeable. The drop in fish populations forced Nazaréans to turn to a different source of income
which came from here: Praia de Nazaré. In the summers, Nazaré’s waters were calm and this beach attracted a lot of tourists. [in Portuguese] I was already very resourceful as a
child. [in Portuguese] Always here on the beach. [in Portuguese] I would hold out my hand and say, [in Portuguese] "Sir, money to eat? [in Portuguese] My father died on the boat." [in Portuguese] My father would die 30, 40 times. [in Portuguese] As many times as I decided. But these tourists only came during the summer. So Nazaré needed a boost in the winter. And they found it on the other side of town:
Praia do Norte. [in Portuguese] Praia do Norte was completely
forbidden. [in Portuguese] Absolutely forbidden for any
Nazaréan. Forbidden, because of the monstrous waves
that launch out of the canyon here in the winter. But that changed in the early 2000s, when
some locals who had been bodysurfing in these waters recognized the the thrill
in riding these waves. And it inspired them to look for someone who
was willing to try to surf them. [in Portuguese] There's a guy who surfed a wave, who waited for a glacier to fall to surf the wave. That man was Garrett MacNamara. They invited him to Nazaré. And after a year of training, McNamara caught
the 78 foot wave that set the world record in 2011. I was seeing Garrett and I was like... "Wow!". [in Portuguese] I thought it was impossible for a guy to get into those big waves. [in Portuguese] We saw that there was an opportunity, we tried to take advantage of that opportunity. Over the next few years, big-wave surfers
increasingly came to Nazaré. In 2017, Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa beat
McNamara’s record by surfing this 80 foot wave. And in 2018, another Brazilian, Maya Gabeira
set the women’s world-record here on this 68 foot wave. Then set it again in 2020. Today, 5 out of the 6 biggest waves ever surfed
happened at Nazaré. And it’s led to a rise in tourism, year
by year. Driven by people visiting in the winter to
watch big wave surfing. In less than a decade, Nazaré became the
new capital of big-wave surfing. But all this success has come with complications. [in Portuguese] This used to be a fiber, ship building, and repair shop. [in Portuguese] And then surfing came. [in Portuguese] All this is gone. This is João Delgado. A former fisherman who’s now, a politician. [in Portuguese] Nowadays, people are coming to
Nazaré from foreign countries who can pay several hundreds of
thousands to buy houses in these places. [in Portuguese] Something that is practically
inconceivable for the average family living in Nazaré. [in Portuguese] Many younger families are leaving our
community. [in Portuguese] Our concern is that Nazaré doesn't
become one of those examples that most
typically defines mass tourism, where the culture fades and disappears as a result of this invasion of visitors. Tomorrow, here at the lighthouse,
is going to be crazy. When I'm in the water, if someone does
a really good wave you can see the crowd just getting crazy
and cheering. Honestly, I feel nervous. But I feel ready and I'm confident in the
people with I'm surfing, with my boards with my surf, and with my voice. I just want to go out there and do the best
performance possible. [in Portuguese] This is it, it's a swell day. [in Portuguese] At the best height of the day, I'm going
to surf, make my waves. [in Portuguese] It's the season finale. [in Portuguese] And yeah, that's the plan. Well, we hope to see the biggest wave ever. -For us.
-For us! It's like a natural forest like fire that just has such a big power that it like keeps you
focused on it like it's hard to look away. You get goose bumps. It's something really special, yeah. [in Portuguese] I think we're done with today's action. [in Portuguese] And, look, in one hour, I managed to catch two good waves. Sometimes I feel a lot of pressure because I'm the young kid from Nazaré,
you know, and surfing big waves. I'm Portuguese, I want to represent my country
like the best way I can do it. [in Portuguese] Having a young kid that we
consider Nazaréan, growing up, catching the waves, is a source of great pride for us. [in Portuguese] Am I upset by the changes in Nazaré? [in Portuguese] No. [in Portuguese] The most important part of our culture is the ability to change within the
culture [in Portuguese] How do surfing and fishing co-exist in
Nazaré? [in Portuguese] Very well. [in Portuguese] You'll see a surfer asking fishermen what they think about the sea, if it's going to be good. They were like the real badass, the real heroes. In some giant days, they would manage to pass
the waves to the middle of the sea to fish, to make money, and to bring food home. But right now, big wave surfing is becoming
a tradition. I'm part of that new tradition, you know? [in Portuguese] Nazaréan culture will never be lost. [in Portuguese] No, the Nazaréan culture is rooted in
people. [in Portuguese] Our heritage isn't what people come
here to do. It's what we have here. [in Portuguese] Here the sea is inside you, it's inside people.
