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GIGANTE: PORTUGAL AND GALICIA

Thomas Traversa chases a huge Atlantic swell through Portugal and Galicia, joined by German ripper Leon Jamaer, who tells us how the mission went down.

Words: Leon Jamaer // Photos: Siam Images – Mathieu Pelikan

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“The charismatic Frenchman Thomas Traversa has been enthralling windsurfing fans with his trips to big wave locations, near and far, for many years. Each mission begins with meticulous analysis of weather maps, followed by an often very quick decision to embark on a journey to an exciting and usually rather frightening wave. Once on site, he meets acquaintances or like-minded people. The courageous rides are captured by talented photographers and videographers and appear a few months later on the covers of magazines, or told in exciting stories with the help of impressively shot films.

If the conditions don’t play along, then it’s just back home and back to the weather maps. Many windsurfers love this natural, unforced approach and are exhilarated by the unprecedented courage. It doesn’t matter how long it’s been since your last windsurfing session, how far away your local spot is, how much your office job is nagging you or your body’s ailments are plaguing you – the exciting stories and impressive pictures break the routine for a little moment and the windsurfing spirit is rekindled.

BACK ON THE ROAD

I urgently need to rekindle my windsurfing spirit. An unsightly injury after the Aloha Classic in 2019 and the Corona pandemic that then began around the same time put my windsurfing plans on hold. There have been hardly any competitions or events, and travel options have been severely restricted. So instead, I deal with very German things, like buying a new car, extending a house and working on a serious plan B, mixed in with a few good sessions with north-west wind at Weißenhaus, Germany in the Baltic Sea or in Denmark.

On the plane to Portugal I can’t remember the last time I rode real groundswell waves. My ankle has been bothering me for a few weeks and the gym membership hasn’t paid off this winter either. It’s a good thing that on January 7th and 8th the biggest waves of the winter are supposed to hit from the Atlantic. My theory is less fitness equals less muscle mass, meaning less energy use getting rinsed. This in turn means a more relaxed time underwater when getting held down – that’s my theory anyway, but I’m not sure it’s scientifically sound!

BACKUP PLAN

When I see the waves in Nazaré, I ask myself, what am I doing here? For a few hours we watch every monster that rolls in. The swell is a few degrees from the wrong direction and the waves aren’t breaking the way Thomas wants them to be today. So, change of plan, we head to Peniche, which is a relief for me. There the waves break less chaotically and powerfully and are lined up neatly on a small rocky outcrop. Gliding towards land on the long, fast groundswell feels good and my soul is really set free from the tiring cycle of lockdown and work of the last year. Sun, beach and salt water have rarely tasted so good. While Thomas throws down vertical turns and busts out gigantic aerials, I notice how the office rust gradually falls off me.

WIPEOUT

The wave is difficult to read and a misplaced turn sends me towards the rocks along with a broken mast. I make it back to shore with a messed up rig, but high on adrenaline. I make a second attempt at sailing. Soon after, I’m not paying enough attention and a monster set rolls over me from behind, forcing me to swim again. I take it easy and go with the flow; Thomas also ends the session on the rocks. Even for his light weight, the wind on the inside was too weak. On the rocks we meet Mat Pelikan, himself a windsurfer from Portugal and our photographer on this trip, as well as Jamie Hancock and Luke Raistrick, the two Brits filming for the next Windsurf Project movie.

THE WINDSURF PROJECT

Jamie has been producing amazing windsurfing videos for a number of years. The Windsurf Project is an affair of the heart for the former PWA rider. Most recently, I was with him in Namibia, where he captured what was probably the best windsurfing trip of my life. On other projects he follows Thomas from storm to storm across Europe.

He wants to tell a story with his videos he says, capturing the windsurfing action from the water, with a drone or from the land. To make it all happen depends on a number of variables – the right light, good music and of course, breathtaking wave rides.

GALICIA

The sun turns the waves green and the spray golden-yellow, but there is no time to mourn the destroyed material over a beer in the parking lot. A six-hour drive to Galicia lies ahead of us. On the way to the big wave spot of Isla Pancha, news reaches us before we even see the sea that the waves are gigantic. Thomas is happy. The news, paired with the strong Spanish coffee and the tortilla breakfast, triggers different feelings for me. Thomas not only knows the differences between all the forecast models, but also almost every spot in the world – some from stories and reports, but most from personal experience. He knows what kind of wind you need, what the tide has to be like, what period and direction the swell has to have and what weather has a positive or negative effect on the conditions. He is also well connected, knows locals and big wave surfers from many countries, enjoys their respect and can count on their support on day X.

However, such a mission cannot be planned down to the last detail. Our jet ski driver in Galicia surprisingly lets us down. We are on our own. Isla Plancha’s wave is just perfect – and a real beast. The jet ski support would have had many advantages, but you can do without it. We look at the entry and exit options, weigh up the risks and swimming distances and go out on the water as soon as the wind is strong enough at noon, just as Thomas predicted it would be.

CRAZY MISSION

Is it crazy to be chasing giant waves in Europe in early January? From Hamburg to Lisbon, on to Galicia, back to Lisbon and back to Hamburg in just four days. With the first bottom turn in front of the rocks of Isla Plancha, any doubts vanish. It’s just a treat to blast down double mast high waves with a perfectly clean face and a full shoulder. How different this feeling is from my routine of the past few months. Thomas is also equally enthusiastic and calls out to me that his first three waves have already made the trip worthwhile! Unfortunately, we did not score many more waves, because the wind started to turn offshore and died almost completely. I swim in the lineup for a good hour and wait for the wind to come back.

ANOTHER WIPEOUT!

When the wind returns, it has swung side-shore. I drop in too deep and don’t get to the safety of the wave face in time from the falling lip. After a hairy swim I climb up the jagged rocks. At the same time, Thomas suffers exactly the same fate. However, the current does not pull him into the safety of the small cove that I make it into, but further into the river towards a cliff edge that clearly does not offer an exit. In order not to be washed onto the dangerous rocks, he sacrifices his rig and paddles further up the river with just his board and boom to a place where he can get ashore.

GAME OVER

The wind is now fully back and we watch one perfect wave after another roll by unridden. Without a jet ski, however, we have no chance of getting back on the water before sunset. In the meantime, Matt and Jamie have sorted accommodation for the night, a sick house beside the lighthouse we have been sailing in front of. Surfing the best waves of my life, being swept away by a giant lip, then finding sanctuary on a private island, and falling asleep on that same island a few hours later, exhausted and happy – I couldn’t have imagined that when I started this trip. I am hugely grateful for this experience that Thomas has selflessly given me and that Matt, Jamie and Luke have documented this unique weekend trip. I’m already looking forward to the next mission, wherever that may be!”