Shane Dorian has challenged the big and powerful waves of Nazaré in Portugal in extreme weather and ocean conditions.
"The wave is big, glassy, and super challenging. It was pretty hard to be in the right spot paddling. It's shifty; the wave breaks wherever it wants, but as the tide filled in, it got really good", says Dorian.
The Hawaiian believes that the Nazaré wave has the same potential as Jaws, Mavericks, or Cortes Bank.
"The waves I saw today are absolutely enormous," adds the Hawaiian big wave surfer from Kailua-Kona.
The big wave surfing week in Portugal also attracted the French riders Benjamin Sanchis and Eric Rebière to a paddle battle with Nature at the well-known wedges of the Nazaré canyon.
The Portuguese jewel injured Dorian, leaving him out of the Mavericks Invitational 2012-2013.
He caught four waves and pulled the ripcord on his self-designed inflatable wetsuit three times. Tough stuff, Nazaré.
"We want to paddle the biggest waves we can find in Europe. We need to get our boards and our safety right, but this is just the start for us, so we are learning all the time. But I'm super psyched. There are so many opportunities in this part of the world", said Benjamin Sanchis.
The title of biggest wave ever surfed belongs to Garrett McNamara, and it was ridden in Nazaré.