What makes you wake up early on a Saturday when it’s still dark outside and the temperature is so low out that your bed keeps calling your name?
What makes you take the warmest gloves, boots and thickest wetsuit that you have at home?
What makes you stay out of the car despite the rain and grab your board to paddle out there anyway?
I only have one answer to all these questions: Winter.
In Europe, winter is technically between the month of December to March, but the pre-winter season starts in late September, beginning October.
That’s when the Pro Tour land in Europe and to be honest, it is my favourite part of the year. The swells are coming, the wind is lining up in the right direction, the days are becoming smaller and the light out is suddenly turning to a soft orange/yellowish colour.
With almost 1000 km of coastal shoreline in Portugal, you can imagine how many beaches and point breaks are just waiting for that season to deliver some perfection.
The search is constant—you wake up early, pick up your stuff, get in the car, drive to paradise, put your wetsuit on and enjoy a cold offshore sunrise in the lineup.
You can get everything you’re looking for: lefts, rights, barrels, and for the brave ones, XXL waves in Nazaré.
Is winter so bad? Because for us, it’s only another winter day…
