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Europe’s weather seemed relentless this winter, but that didn’t always translate to ideal kitesurfing conditions. So when the charts aligned for Portugal’s legendary Supertubos, Nuno Figueiredo didn’t hesitate to make the two-hour dash to catch the window, joining other local heroes and photographer Heidi Hansen who also braved the 16th December storm.
Peniche is well known for awesome waves and for being one of the best locations in Europe for surfing. It has beaches and breaks facing three distinctly different directions, making it a very consistent spot. In winter time, if the forecast shows wind you are going to kite for sure.
For the 16th December the forecast was showing super strong wind from 36 to 48 knots although the direction would ideally have been a bit more offshore. I got in touch with Christophe Tack, 2014 freestyle world champ, who is living in Peniche, enjoying its waves. As I was leaving my home in Porto he told me that it didn’t look very good as there was too much wind, but that it might improve. I decided to go anyway since Peniche would be the best spot in Portugal that day – wind and waves were guaranteed. On the way I had a message from some Lisbon kiters saying the same thing: “Looks hardcore. You are going to have fun and we are going in survival mode!”
When I arrived two hours later, there were kiters on twintips doing huge jumps, using the waves as kickers but avoiding the main wave spot. It was really nuclear and when someone asked me if I was going out, I replied “Of course, I haven’t driven for two hours for nothing.” I pumped my WS 6m and realized that it was really windy – up to 50 knots – making it the windiest wave riding session in my 25 years of kiting. Any wrong touch on the bar and I would be ejected from my strapless board, meaning no room for mistakes.
The other kiters were surprised that I went strapless. Using straps would have been easier for sure, but there were a few clean waves and it always feels much better riding them like pure surfing. Ultimately all that matters is enjoying the session. Survival mode soon changed to ripping-it-up mode and I ended up having a lot of fun…
Photographer Heidi said: “Normally at Supertubos it is fairly easy to find cover from the wind between the sand dunes. On this day, however, it was a bit of a struggle as the wind came in from a different angle than usual – more directly towards the beach and right into my eyes and camera. But no matter the weather, it is always fun to watch and shoot the riders in action!”
José Carlos Molestina, big wave surfer from Ecuador, who now lives in Portugal, surfing, towing others at Nazaré, and also kitesurfing, said: “As someone who’s spent years chasing big waves from Nazaré to Peniche, I’ve learned that Supertubos doesn’t always hand you perfection on a platter. That session the swell came in at a weird angle – not the clean west or northwest we all pray for – turning the lineup into a chaotic mess of heavy, almost closeout barrels and relentless backwash surging back like a washing machine. The conditions were frustrating, testing everyone’s patience and positioning, but that’s exactly what makes this place special. I watched our local ripper Nuno drop in late on a steep right, threading the needle as the lip threatened to clamp shut completely. He made it through the barrel by a hair, only for the backwash to rebound off the sand and launch that whitewater into an absolute rocket of a kicker. Without hesitation, he exploded off it into the air, sticking the landing with pure style.”
Sergey Sheidorov, who was out on his twintip that day, said: “We saw an amazing forecast and promising wave charts, so were hopeful for magical waves, which may happen only a couple of times per season at Supertubos. But when we arrived, the sea was very messy, so we preferred to switch from surfboards to twintips to have some Big Air fun, leaving the mutated monsters for the big strapless boys to play with. The most fun part of the session was about competition – who would get the highest jump. It was quite gusty near the beach and it was difficult to get a nice gust aligned with a good kicker. When I managed a 21m jump, I knew it was the highest jump ever registered at Supertubos! But fellow kiter Miguel Silva saw my jump and that only pushed him to try harder. He went straight into the impact zone after that, hunting for the biggest sets in order to take it to the moon, navigating between the monster waves in survival mode. His persistence paid off – he got the perfect timing, sending it with maximum speed from a perfectly cresting ramp off one of the biggest waves of the day, and he got lucky with a good wind gust, achieving a jump of 24.69m as registered by Surfr app – a well-deserved spot record.”
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