By Benjamin Arena*

Lucas Chumbo's team called me to work as a filmmaker. They call themselves "Teamperigro" and it's made up of him, Ian Cosenza, his wife Michelle, Kai Lenny and Ridge, Kai's brother.

Ian rented an apartment in Nazaré where we all stayed, along with José Carlos Molestina, an Ecuadorian who lives in Portugal, a friend of mine who is also part of the team.

The first day was great because the sea hadn't been too high and it was like a warm-up. All the equipment was tested. We started at five in the morning with a very strong breakfast and they started to coordinate all the logistics of Nazaré Surf Water Fun, the team there with whom they organize everything; a large warehouse where there is the Red Bull space and the Yuki Brand space, which is the other brand that sponsors them.

These are the two most advanced warehouses in Nazaré, it's crazy. They are spotless, they even have a jacuzzi, hot water and everything is very well organized.

That first day we went, they tried out the jet skis, the boards, the equipment, they caught some good waves and then came day 2, which was… It was crazy, even through their eyes. They talked about what it was like.

On day 2 we got up at five in the morning, Ian prepared a power breakfast with bacon, eggs and lots of vegetables, we ate at night, completely at night.

There we went to Yuki's warehouse where the whole team was. I filmed the whole backstage and they were quite mentally prepared, for example Lucas Chumbo stayed in the car listening to music alone, mentally preparing himself because it was a swell that could be heard from the warehouses.

"I filmed the whole backstage and they were quite mentally prepared, for example Lucas Chumbo stayed in the car listening to music alone, mentally preparing himself because it was a swell that could be heard from the sheds"

The port of Nazaré faces diagonally towards the lighthouse and from there you could see the bombs coming in, but above, you could see Big Mama exploding… The excitement of the crazy people was high, with anxiety. It's like they're starting to feel the adrenaline.

In the midst of that, the organization was at full capacity that morning, it was like everything happened very quickly because the only thing they were thinking about was getting involved.

They give me a Handy and all the logistics are coordinated from there.

At 6:30, at first light, they got on their bikes and went out and that was it, crazy. As soon as they left, you hear them talking about how “it’s huge, big mama in the back”… They start shouting, and you start to feel the adrenaline of what it was like. And it’s not just people who have never seen it break, these crazy people surf there every year and they talked about how huge and incredible it was.

"And it's not like they're people who've never seen it break, these crazy people surf there every year and they talk about how huge and incredible it was."

Because on top of that, it was not only mega giant but it was also perfect because it was a classic, without wind and with a sun that broke the ground, there were more than 8000 people watching on the Cliff.

They came out and said that they caught the waves of their lives. Lucas Chumbo seems to have broken the world record with that left hand, Kai Lenny said that he caught the biggest wave of his life, a right hand.

It was a day for the books and it was incredibly beautiful, because usually Nazaré is a grey, windy, rainy day… But this was a summer day with giant waves and everything went well, without injuries or unpleasant scenes.

From my point of view, I saw Nazaré break three or four times because I have lived here for four years. I have seen it break in a big way, but this time seeing it from the inside and experiencing everything from the inside with the best big wave team in the world, Kai Lenny and Lucas Chumbo, who for me are the two best big wave surfers in the world and the best motorcycle riders too, was crazy.

See how organized they are, how focused they are... They are trying to organize themselves as if they were a Formula 1 team or like Real Madrid, which has a first-class organization behind it.

The goal is to be able to make the most of this, the reality of big wave surfing, there is logistics and a huge investment, it is mega important for everything to work.

Yesterday I made them a barbecue and when we were talking Kai Lenny said that it's incredible how well the whole team that was put together is working so that they only have to think about surfing the waves.

The jet skis, the handys, the port logistics, the jet skis are quite tricky, things happen and they break, and everything worked flawlessly thanks to Nazaré Water Fun and the whole team behind it.

Yesterday we were talking about how it was a weekend for books.

Yesterday was a day when they shrank a lot and went back into the water. Kai Lenny had to go get tested to go back to Hawaii and then he went back to Nazaré because the sun was beating down on the ground, he had shrunk a lot and that's when you realise how great they are because they were laughing, doing crazy things with the bikes, using the foil or doing tube shots, flying with double grabs or doing 360 turns and getting on track, or doing backflips.

It was a good conclusion to three historic days.

*Benjamin Arena is an Argentine filmmaker based in Portugal. He has traveled around the world filming not only action sports but also mainstream sports, adventure and lifestyle. You can follow him on https://www.instagram.com/benjarena/