Nazare’s opening day was actually last week. But this past Tuesday and Wednesday saw the floodgates open wide at Europe’s most notorious open-ocean beachbreak, when a number of the world’s best big-wave pros, including Lucas “Chumbo” Chianca, Nic Von Rupp, Maya Gabeira, Sebastian Steudtner and more, tackled the beast with PWC assist.

View: Live Nazare Cam

We tapped Surfline forecaster Charlie Hutcherson for intel. “A very complex pattern over the far northern and eastern North Atlantic set up a week of large waves in Portugal and a few days of heaving peaks at Nazare,” he explained. “Late last week, a strong, storm-force low tracked across the northern Atlantic, setting the table for the next system by stirring up the seas. Last weekend, a frontal low moved over the Canadian Maritimes and intensified over the Labrador Sea, deepening off the tip of Greenland into a hurricane-force low. The 950mb low had a 1027 high off the Maritimes to the south, setting up a hefty, 77mb pressure gradient that blew a wide fetch of winds over already agitated seas, making it easier to build a big swell. The storm weakened and lifted north along the Greenland coast at the start of the week.”

Nic Von Rupp, November 13th. Vid: @pinesi

“As long-period swell from the storm traveled east towards Europe, Azores high pressure strengthened to 1035mb,” Hutcherson continued. “Another compact, gale-force low tracked around the high through the week, diving into Biscay and northern Spain on Wednesday. This brought gale-force winds to within 500 miles of Nazare around the middle of last week. In addition to swell from the two lows, we saw wide fetches of 30-knot and greater winds to the northwest/north of the area.”

More on the way? (Yes.)

“The strongest storm off Greenland did most of the heavy lifting for Nazare this week,” finished Hutcherson. “It sent well-angled, long-period swell that started filling in on Tuesday afternoon, peaking overnight, but holding solid on Wednesday. The other players added more large surf to the mix the past few days, helping to skew the buoy readings by showing larger swell and shorter periods. To really see Nazare turn on, you need the right swell direction and a long swell period – the platinum blob off Greenland had both.”

The heaviest situation of the day — Pedro Scooby getting mowed over by a beast — is documented below:

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Cam Rewind of the Day: November 13th.

“Sebastian caught what was probably the biggest wave of the day, so heavy,” said Antonio about Wednesday. “And Chumbo always stands out with the lines he draws — he surfs so loose, it’s amazing how comfortable he feels. The local crew, Nic Von Rupp and João Macedo, scored some perfect lefts by the end of the day when most of the teams were already at the harbor. It always pays off to stay out a bit longer. You never know when the best ones will come.”

SWELL SIGNATURE:

Storm Location and Movement: Frontal low pressure tracked over the Canadian Maritimes into the Labrador Sea, intensifying into a hurricane-force low off the tip of Greenland before lifting north and weakening.

Peak Wind: Hurricane-force as analyzed by the OPC.

Peak Seas: Satellite confirmed 45-foot seas; modeled seas over 50 feet.

Travel Time: Two-three days.

Swell Height, Period and Direction: Long-period NW swell mixed with shorter to mid-period WNW to NNW swell.