Very few things about Nazaré are relatable to your average surfer. There is, however, we’ve all had that first-time experience of taking on a wave slightly above our pay grade — a place we are drawn toward but have probably been a tad nervous to paddle out to. If that wave isn’t one of significant consequence, maybe you took it upon yourself to just get out there and push your limits. But if that wave is a heavy one then odds are you leaned on somebody with experience and knowledge to help build some familiarity.
Nazaré is in that latter class of waves and Canary Islands surfer Laura Coviella was given two of the best possible coaches for her first swing(s) at it: Lucas Chumbo and Lucas Fink.
Coviella is no stranger to heavy waves. For starters, coming from the Canaries means you’ve seen your fair share of thick tubes. She’s put herself out there at Teahupo’o and scored. She’s grabbed big wave guns and paddled into monsters around her home island in the Atlantic. In that sense, upping the ante at Nazaré is just repeating some of the same steps in a whole new landscape. But when it came to getting her first proper day at Praia do Norte there was truly some unfamiliar territory to cover. Chumbo handed over one of his own tow boards, for example, as well as a briefing on the ins and outs of using a safety vest.
“Catching a wave here at Nazaré is obviously very dangerous,” she admits. “But I have my boys with me, Chumbo and Fink. I know I’m in good hands.”
Big wave surfing is known to require a ton of supplementary training to prepare for heavy conditions. The breath training, the comfort of swinging into a wave via tow rope, and even getting familiar with the sensation of pulling the cord on an inflatable vest (and the proper timing of it) are all tasks to take on before that first session. Laura Coviella has familiarized herself with all of those things to different degrees through years of chasing heavy waves around the world. But her first swing at Nazaré shows how that preparation at Portugal’s famed big wave can be a whole different ballgame.
