How Nazaré's Massive Waves Support an Emerging Local Industry

Nazaré has been bustling. I’m not just talking about the thousands of spectators who lined the cliffside above Praia do Norte last weekend. This started nearly 15 years ago, when Garrett McNamara put Nazaré on the big-wave map in 2011. And the ensuing XXL swells have brought an undeniable economic flurry to the coastal town. 

The recent TUDOR Nazaré Challenge is just one example. According to a 2024 study about WSL events in Portugal, each Nazaré Challenge has generated €3 million in spending (mostly on goods and services) every time it runs. The estimated tax revenue for the town per event is €900,000. The study didn’t take into account the media exposure, though the author estimated that it was worth another almost €9 million. 

But it’s not just the headline events that are changing the town. The attention on the surf has opened up a marketplace for locals who’ve been around these waters for generations. A most illustrative example of this phenomenon is Above Creators, a growing film production company based in Nazaré. Its co-founder and CEO is Luís de Sá, who was born and raised a bodyboarder on the sweeping sandy shores.

As a teenager, bodyboarding and making surf videos were his two loves. Watch this to see his commitment to packing pits. But before Luís turned 20, he saw no chance to have a career in either. Looking to support his family, he joined the Fuzileiros, Portuguese Navy Special Forces, for seven years. The year he started: 2010. Just before his hometown became global news thanks to McNamara. So Luís watched from afar. After seven years of service, he was ready to get back to his hometown, camera in hand. "Coming back to Nazaré, I was doing surf lessons," he said. "But I was aware of what was happening with the big-wave scene, and I wanted to be involved." One filming gig led to another, and Luís kept recording.

As the spotlight grew on the peaks off the lighthouse, Luís said many local surfers and bodyboarders felt pushed aside in the new rush. There wasn't an emphasis on homegrown filmers, drivers, spotters and surfers. "In the beginning, we saw everyone coming and taking a piece," he said. "And we couldn't partake."

That's no longer the case these days, with Portuguese surfers Manuel Frois and 23-year-old Tony Laureano (who started towing Nazaré at 13-years-old) making names for themselves. Now, when the XXL swells hammer the coastline, a season that previously had shuttered the historic fishing town, the gears of capitalism begin to whirl. “Everyone’s working,” Luís said. “Everyone is getting jobs and opportunities in the big-wave season. You can make money here, and people are coming here for business.”

The transition from once-overlooked locale to bustling tourist zone is not new to surfing. There are downsides to rapid economic growth: More wealth coming in can lead to higher prices, inflating prices on housing, goods and services, often at the expense of the locals. Things aren't perfect, but the wave and its exposure have had an undeniable impact on many Portuguese residents. “When I was a kid, you had a few supermarkets, bars or restaurants to work in,” Luis continued. “Now, you can be a jet ski mechanic, drive skis, rent them, film surfers, repair surfboards, or work as a spotter.”

These days, Luís juggles the logistics and oversees the Above Creators team of photographers, filmers and editors to cover Nazaré swells from all angles. A key element of their business is making sure someone gets paid to shoot every time it breaks. “Sometimes during swells we’ll get hired for other stuff,” he said. “But I always try to have one guy filming for us, so I know that imagery is for us. Not Red Bull, Monster, it’s our shots for our films.”

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Much of their output regularly goes on YouTube and Instagram. Most of the daily stuff lives on a related 'gram account, The Nazare Plug. If you want to know who rode what or how a ski flipped at Praia do Norte, it’s the account to follow. It isn’t always the familiar big-wave names; they showcase real-deal Portuguese talent involved at the canyon. “That’s something I’m focusing a lot on this season,” Luís said. “We want to promote our guys. We’ll film the highlights, and if you have a nice shot, it doesn’t matter who you are, we’ll showcase it.”

In addition to publishing their own content, they’ll work with companies, brands and surfers on various projects. For example, film producers looking for Nazaré b-roll or specific rides. A drone shot over the lighthouse? Sebastian Studener’s world record bomb? It’s all squared away. “I’d say 99% of the time, we have what they’re looking for,” he said. Then there’s the commercial opportunities, like the campaign for an Indian beverage brand, that got 230 million views on Instagram and 29 million on YouTube. 

Luís and the team see Above Creators as more than just a reel of Nazaré highlights. They want to uplift and invest in the communities they grew up in. They’re having a blast doing collaborations with Lego, Monster Energy, and Vans. “We still want to have fun,” Luís said. “We don’t want to be super serious all the time.”

The end of 2025 will mark the second-ever Nazaré Surf Film Festival, a project that has been especially gratifying for the Above Creators team. The submissions aren't limited to the Nazaré lens, but they should have a story about the raw power of the ocean. Click here to learn more about the festival, which runs on December 27.

“It makes all the sense for Nazare to have a film festival,” Luís said. “We have an amazing cinema in the heart of town. We have amazing films made here. There are a lot of artists in Nazare. So we wanted to do it before someone outside came to run it, because it feels like something that could last.”

Related: Is A 1000-Foot Wave Physically Possible?