Big-wave surfers trained with Red Bull for 2026/27 big-wave season
NXTbets Pro | Published On: November 12, 2026
Big-wave camp
Red Bull brought nine big-wave surfers to Nazaré, Portugal, for a six-day Big Wave Performance Camp built around the 2026/27 World Surf League big-wave season. The group included Kai Lenny, Lucas “Chumbo” Chianca, Justine Dupont and Andrew Cotton. The camp gave them a focused block of work, with the site serving as the training ground. Its surf demands fast decisions, strong positioning and a body that can keep working after repeated wipeouts. That made the setting fit the mission. The camp was not about routine conditioning. It was about preparing surfers for the kind of powerful waves that can flip a session from practice to survival in a matter of seconds. Every part of the program pointed toward that reality, from movement work to breath control to the ability to stay composed when the water turns violent. The camp’s goal was to build the tools needed to handle Nazaré and the season ahead.
Training drills
The training sessions centered on three demands that big-wave surfers face again and again, staying controlled in the air, remaining coordinated under physical stress and managing underwater hold-downs after wipeouts. Trennon Paynter, Rapha Romano and João “Jojo” Parisot led that work, shaping the camp around the skills that matter when a surfer leaves the wave face, gets thrown around by impact or disappears below the surface for longer than planned. The drills were built to simulate the pressure of Nazaré’s powerful surf instead of relying on general fitness alone. Air awareness helped the surfers understand body position when they are airborne or off balance. Functional movement and mobility gave them a way to keep moving efficiently under strain. Apnea and breathing work trained the lungs and the mind for the moments when a hold-down stretches on and air becomes the most valuable resource in the lineup. That mix of work fits the reality of big-wave surfing, where strength alone does not solve every problem. A surfer can be in peak shape and still get overwhelmed by one bad landing or one heavy set. The camp targeted those moments directly. It treated breath, balance and control as survival tools, not optional extras.
Nazaré lessons
Lucas “Chumbo” Chianca’s nearly 30-second hold-down during the Nazaré Big Wave Challenge was cited as a clear example of why big-wave surfers train for survival as well as performance. That kind of experience explains the logic behind the camp better than any workout label could. Big-wave surfing asks athletes to manage force in real time, and Nazaré puts that test under powerful surf. The wave can launch a surfer into the air, slam them underwater and keep them there while the next set keeps moving. Training for that environment means preparing for the full range of consequences, not just the ride itself. It means learning how to keep calm when the board is gone, when the air is thin and when the body has taken a hit. It also means understanding that performance and survival are tied together. A surfer who handles the wipeout better can get back to the lineup faster and attack the next wave with more confidence. That is why a camp like this has value beyond simple conditioning. It gives surfers a controlled setting to rehearse the exact problems they will face when the season turns serious. For this group, Nazaré was both the classroom and the exam.
