Big Mama

Nazaré, a 35-meter wave and the story of the man who first rode it

Big Mama, a now legendary wave, crossed the Atlantic to die on the beach of Nazaré, a town about a hundred kilometers north of Lisbon, Portugal, that has become the capital of tow-in surfing in recent years, the most extreme discipline in surfing, practiced by a small club of athletes who challenge the giants of the sea. Before exploding, that impressive mountain of water, over 30 meters high, met a man who had been waiting for it for seven years: Hugo Vau. The Portuguese surfer began riding it at sunset on January 17, 2018: “It was like snowboarding down a mountain with an avalanche behind you”, he said at the end of an unparalleled experience. Big Mama then became even more extraordinary when Vau was denied the record for the biggest wave ever surfed: there were no images with enough angles, they said, it was unmeasurable, the verdict. Thus, the story became legend, and this book, born from long conversations and experiences shared by Fabio Pozzo and Hugo Vau, tells it. From the first moment a childs eyes fell on the sea to that magical and unrepeatable moment. Vau and Pozzo's story is filled with characters, places, and situations, all linked to a single feeling: a boundless love for the ocean and its incomparable mystery.

This book, in digital and paperback edition, is also available in italian.