Hugo Vau

Their story

Hugo Vau is one of the Portuguese pioneers of tow surfing at Nazaré. Late on 17 January 2018, Alex Botelho towed him into a wave breaking far out in front of the lighthouse, at a spot the locals call Big Mama, which only breaks on the very biggest days. Vau and others at the scene estimated it at about 35 metres (115 feet).

It never became a record. There wasn't enough footage from the right angles to measure it. Vau tells the whole story in his book Big Mama.

He's also a regular jet ski driver in the line-up. He was driving the ski in Alex Botelho's crash in February 2020.