Garrett McNamara will be facing the Nazaré winter giants with a new surfboard made entirely out of Portuguese cork.
The Hawaiian daredevil is back in Europe with groundbreaking innovations. A joint venture between Mercedes-Benz, Corticeira Amorim and Polen Surfboards gave birth to a cork missile.
One year after announcing the spectacular "MBoard 1.0", McNamara gets ready to surf the monsters at Praia do Norte with a cork surfboard, named "MBoard 2.0."
"The virtues of cork such as its high durability and flexibility make cork surfboards sufficiently strong to withstand the impact of huge waves," explains Garrett McNamara.
"As Portugal is the world's largest producer of cork, it makes perfect sense to use this material to produce a high-performance board to ride the legendary waves off the coast of Nazaré."
GMAC believes "these surfboards will be the benchmark in terms of technology for those surfing giant waves" and that they are ready for the power of Nature. Next goal: the 100-foot challenge.
The three companies shaped what they believe to be "the perfect balance among a board's weight, flexibility and speed to enable Garrett to challenge the formidable waves of the famous Nazaré Canyon."
In 2013, the Hawaiian, 47, rode gigantic waves of Nazaré at 62.4 km/hour (38.7 mph), on a surfboard equipped with a built-in telemetry system. Garrett McNamara is the current world-record holder for the largest wave ever surfed.