VIDEO: Surfers ride 'biggest waves ever' as storm lashes Europe
The storms that battered Europe over the past couple of days left devastation and tragedy in their wake, but for elite big wave surfers they were a once-in-a-lifetime chance to catch true behemoths.
As with January 28th last - when a similar confluence of 'perfect storm' conditions saw pro boarder Garrett McNamara break the world record for the biggest wave ever surfed - the focus of the action was the Portuguese village of Navaré. North of Lisbon and exposed to the full force of Atlantic swells, Navaré is now the European mecca for big wave surfing.
"Definitely the biggest waves I have ever seen," UK surfer Andrew Cotton told magicseaweed.com.
“Tricky, challenging and definitely dangerous”.
All the big names in world surfing were there yesterday, with Brazil's Carlos Burle catching a break that with an estimated height of over 100ft has been described as "the biggest wave ever surfed" - even bigger than the 78-footer McNamara made headlines with in January.
For one wave rider - Brazil's Maya Gabeira - yesterday was however a day to forget, as she ended up hospitalised after being knocked unconscious and washed ashore after a heavy wipeout.
Don’t worry - Maya's alright today and suffered only a broken ankle. She posted the below picture on Facebook.
The below video clip from Hélio Valentin of Surf Portugal magazine captures the utterly epic nature of the day.
And yes, there is Carmina Burana. Nothing else will do.
Sit back, put on your headphones, click 'full screen', and enjoy.
(The best bit comes from 02.55 onwards - seriously. Just… seriously)
Out of patriotism, we'll also add this clip off riders taking on 20ft waves off Mullaghmore Head, Co Sligo on Sunday..
It's not quite world record-breaking stuff, but it's not to be sneezed at either.
