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hurrengoa
sliding through the perfect chaos    Sometimes millions of elements are capable of joining together and organising themselves into a different whole. And sometimes, this mathematical chaos is actually able to communicate with us. Clouds, flames or waves just to mention a few examples. Every now and then, however, that mathematical chaos reaches epically spectacular proportions. When that happens, we are overcome by a niggling uneasiness and we fully realise our own fragility and nature, so much more powerful than we are, hypnotises and paralyses us.

There are some, nevertheless, who refuse to remain still when faced with this perfect chaos. When the sea gets rough and reminds us that we are dry-land animals, a certain few souls seem to be captivated by the voices of the wave fairies and they rush out to sea. And contrary to the idea that’s put across, the surfers who sail along the lips of these giant waves do not want to dominate them. These surfers climb up these waves in their bid to become another microparticle making up that moment of perfect chaos. As far as they are concerned, there is no greater victory than being able to form part of that magical unrepeatable moment when they become one with the perfection of the wave.

The smaller you are on the wave, the bigger the moment. Surfers of big waves are special creatures.

There are plenty of places round here to surf big waves: Mundaka, Punta Galea, Meñakoz, Deba, Roka Puta... In the last few years not only have local surfers been seen gliding along largish waves, but they have also been spotted playing with the really big mothers. The Basque Country has earned itself a spot on the world map of big waves. Belharra was the first one. Basque guy Peyo Lizarazu was a member of the international surf team that slid along Belharra. That was followed by Ibon Amatriain and Mikel Agote and their first adventures on the big waves at Playa Gris. They were nominated for some of the most important prizes for giant wave surfing for that little escapade. They’ve been nominated for this year’s Billabong XXL Awards for their surfing on a new big wave: Agiti.