Aritz Aranburu won the Allianz Perfect Chapter 2016 tuberiding contest in thumping 8-10ft barrels at Nazaré’s infamous Praia da Norte.

Perhaps better known for attempts at the 100ft wave shown on nightly news bulletins around the world when a monster swell unloads at the Portuguese big wave Mecca, Nazaré also turns on Hossegor-style shorebreak barrels on small-medium sized swells, and proved an ideal location for the 5th edition of an invitational event that judges surfers on one thing only – tuberiding.

Taking out a heavy field including the likes of Balaram Stack, Bruno Santos, Dylan Graves, Nic von Rupp, Pedro Scooby and Tiago Pires, Aritz got the call up late to appear in the event, and required very little persuading.

As the tide filled in throughout the day, conditions got better and better focusing on a crazy A-frame bank just yards off the beach. With some serious lickings gong down and plenty of broken boards, Aritz used all his experience in heavy conditions to eek past Balaram Stack and Dylan Graves, who both also had excellent scores in the final.

With previous Perfect Chapter events held at Supertubos and Carcavelos, there was only one beach likely to get heavier and hollower on the right conditions, and that was Nazaré. With a packed crowd lining the beach on Halloween, glorious 25 degree sunshine and sheet glass all day, the Indian summer provided ideal conditions for a tuberiding comp.