60ft+ 'Nazaré Will Be Maximum Capacity': Erin Goes To Europe

Originally posted on SURFER | By Chris Dodds | Last updated Aug 25, 2025 5:42 PM ET

This past week was certainly 'one for the books' for East Coasters as Hurricane Erin sent waves from the Caribbean on up through Canada. Some spots, like the Dominican Republic, went so big as to earn comparisons to Nazaré. Well, now that Erin has wrapped up with the American leg of the tour, waves aplenty are en route to Europe and the real Nazaré looks to have the earliest XL swell in recent memory.

I went to Nazaré back in June and, aside from a few windows, the legendary Praia do Norte was only serving up 2 foot shore break. That's pretty common in the summertime as the giant waves that made the small Portuguese village famous usually fall in the winter months of October-April, with most of the XL days falling between November-February. But Erin could very well change that and Nazaré local and Portuguese legend, Nic von Rupp, is pretty fired up on what's about to go down.

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A post shared by Nic von Rupp (@nicvonrupp)

Yesterday Nic posted the above reel and said, "Never ever have I seen a swell like this in the peak of summer in Europe. Next week is going to be 4.5 Meters at 20 seconds. These are going to be huge waves, these are the swells we wait for the whole winter and it's coming in the peak of summer. It's going to be Nazaré at maximum capacity, 60-foot plus. France is going to be massive. Canaries. Morocco. Everywhere is getting blasted with tons of swell."

Nic goes on to ask, "What's going on in this world? I would love to hear what you guys have to say. thoughts: climate change, heating of the Atlantic Ocean. I've never seen anything like this in over 20 years."

One interesting comment pointed out, "It started as a little cloud that then blasted São Vicente, Cabo Verde in the early hours of August 11th. She developed into Erin and her swell will now make it's way back to Cabo Verde almost two weeks later. Crazy and fascinating."

Crazy and fascinating, indeed. As with any swell, there's tons of factors to consider so stay tuned and we'll see how it pans out. If you score and have some wild stories and photos from Erin, be sure to send them our way. Drop me a line at chris.dodds@surfer.com

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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