The Strange Wave Formation Surfers Are Obsessed With
One of the coolest things about surfing is the vast variety of waves.
Waves come in all shapes and sizes, cater to all abilities of surfers and surf crafts, break slowly, extremely fast, barrel, crumble, slam on the shore, break far out to sea, tower the size of skyscrapers, or ripple at ankle-high. just about any type of wave your looking for, somewhere out there in the world, you can find it.
But every now and then, waves do strange things. And a lot of surfers are drawn to these novelty formations. Surfers like Blair Conklin, who rides everything from heaving shorebreak, to standing river waves, to boat wakes, and beyond. Then, there’s whatever this is:
The wave,filmed in nazaré,portugal,appears to be a sort of…circular wave? It’s hard to describe. it’s not a full circle, but a rotating, swirling section of water that seems to defy the typical linear progression of a breaking wave. It’s been dubbed a “vortex wave” by some.
nazaré is already famous for its massive waves, thanks to the Nazaré Canyon, which funnels large swells towards the shore. But this vortex wave is something else entirely. It’s a rare phenomenon, and surfers are eager to understand – and ride – it.