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The WSL Big Wave Surfing Tour is home to some of the craziest athletes on the planet. It takes a special type of crazy to voluntarily suit up to ride 80-foot waves that are moving so fast you can barely fit back the wind and stay standing on your board. Kai Lenny, Billy Kemper, Greg Long, these are some of the best surfers on the planet but they’re also some of the most certifiably crazy athletes alive.
The WSL Big Wave Tour isn’t over yet. The Nazaré Challenge in Nazaré, Portugal hasn’t taken place yet. The event is open-ended, running from Oct 17, 2017 to Feb 18, 2018, and will commence once Nazaré gets hit with an epic swell (note: the Nazaré videos below are from the beginning of 2017). I’ll actually be in Portugal in a few weeks and I’m crossing my fingers that Nazaré gets hit with some epic waves while I’m there so I can pop over and watch the world’s best big wave surfers ride giants.
Even though the WSL Big Wave Tour isn’t over, the nominees for the 2017/2018 Big Wave Awards are out. Below, I’ve included the nominees for ‘Wipeout of the Year’. If you’ve ever wondered just how dangerous and insane big wave surfing is then feast your eyes on this gnarly wipeouts:
1) Billy Kemper’s wipeout at the Pea’hi Challenge (2 angles of this wipeout)
and angle 2:
2) João De Macedo wipeout at Jaws
3) Lucas Chianca wipeout at Nazaré
4) Rodrigo Koxa wipeout at Nazaré…This one actually gets my vote just due to the absolutely monstrous size of the wave:
5) Andrew Cotton wipeout at Nazaré
6) Lucas Silveira wipeout at Puerto Escondido (Mexican Pipeline)
7) Angelo Lozano wipeout at Puerto Escondido
8) Kalani Lattanzi wipeout at Puerto Escondido
9) Coco Nogales wipeout at Puerto Escondido…There’s no possible way that all of the wind wasn’t completely knocked out of his chest after this wipeout:
To check out the latest WSL Big Wave Tour standings you can CLICK HERE to see where all the surfers are ranked.