It’d be quite the sight. Ross Clarke-Jones putzing around his North Shore rental in the pre dawn hours looking for something to do.

“For some fucked up reason, I wake up at 4am every day now,” Ross tells Swellnet at precisely that hour, not at all whispering, whinging or sounding like someone who has just risen.

 “It doesn’t get light for ages…I’m kind of at a loss for something to do.”

The only other occupant of the house, fiancé Angie, is fast asleep and Ross, who this year celebrates his 29th consecutive Hawaiian pilgrimage, has availed himself to tell the tale of last week’s trip to Nazaré.

 And like any tales involving Ross, it’s worth taking a seat.

Ross racing at the base of an enormous A-frame. Photo Jeff Flindt/Red Bull Content Pool

 “Well, for starters, to all the haters and disbelievers…that wave (Nazaré) is a real as it gets,’’ says Ross.

“It is seriously top to bottom and the swell I was there for was the most powerful one I’ve ever been in…and that’s taking Jaws into consideration.”

But, rewind a week and we find Ross face illuminated in the wee small hours by a computer screen and his attention piqued by a growing purple blob centred just off the coast of Portugal.

“I came over to Hawaii hoping for it (Nazaré) but not exactly looking for it,” he says.

“But, I saw an Instagram post announcing a 100-year swell heading straight to Europe and I figured this’d be the one. So I started looking at all the forecast sites like I used to. I’ll admit I’d lost the art of looking for swells because in the past I’ve been spoilt by forecasters like Ben Matson or Justin McMillan (Storm Surfers Director) telling me everything that happens. But this time I just went old school and checked every available website before I made the call.”

Call made, Ross packs boards and wetsuits for the first of three flights while long time shaper, Maurice Cole, works the phones looking for the first of two key components the former Terrigal High student had overlooked.

“I didn’t have a driver or a ski organised but I figured, when you’re determined it always seems to work out,’’ reckoned Ross.

“So while I was flying Maurice was using all of his contacts to get a driver for me and I was looking online to buy or rent a ski. And I swear I was looking the whole time I was flying I just could not find one. Luckily Red Bull in Portugal rented one for me, so by the time I got there I had a driver and a ski, now all I needed was a tow rope.”

Ross is tossed a rope by Garrett McNamara and in typical manner convinces newly anointed partner, Jaws stalwart, Michel Lauren to “Just get out there. Everyone wanted to wait, but I was just like, let’s just go, I was frothing so so hard.”

“You go out through this super deep harbour where nothing breaks and you come around the corner into Armageddon. It was so…fucking…big...but, I got one wave, one fucking wave and my balloon got burst.”

Ross’ ski breaks down and he soon finds himself back on shore frantically working to get the machine operational while considering making an on the spot purchase of another.

“I saw this playboy-looking guy sitting on one in the harbour and I offered to buy it off him. He wanted 12,000 Euros and I was keen but he wanted me to fill in all the paperwork, but I was just like, “Let me just take it out there for a quick test drive”. He wasn’t having that so I wasted two hours negotiating with him for nothing,” says Ross.

“We eventually got our ski fixed, but seriously man, I surprised myself with how calm I was all day, but when I went to bed that night, I was so, so pissed. I kept on trying to remind myself I only ever wanted to get one wave out there, and I had, so I should have been happy with that but as the night went on I just started getting more and more pissed.”

Ross wakes up the next morning and heads straight back out, is towed into a couple before lining up a bomb.

“I got down the face but there was quite a bit of chop and wind and a bit just got under my board and I got evaporated,’’ says Ross.

“In no way did I have enough floatation on and I just got smoked, it felt as though I had Anderson Silva and Mike Tyson kicking the shit out of me under there. Then I came up and saw Garrett coming in to rescue me and at the same time I could see a massive wall of white water right behind me and I remember thinking, “Oh we’re fucked here.” I think I got two fingers on the sled and we got hit.”

Ross, the ski and Garrett are ferried back to shore, with Ross the worst for wear.

“I was punch drunk, dizzy and seeing double and triple by the time I got back to shore,’’ he recalls.

“But I convinced Garrett to take me back out, I just wanted to see if I could regroup myself and have another crack, but no way. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt over the years is how to separate myself from my ego. I used to go out and get pounded over and over, but fuck that; I’m not a performing seal anymore. The wind had come up anyway.”

Also weighing on Ross’ mind is a potential Eddie swell and the logistical nightmare of the return journey back to Hawaii in time for the forecasted swell. He decides to call it a day.

Nonetheless, Ross says the trip met every expectation he’d anticipated when he first saw the wave in 2006.

“I remember seeing it that first time and thinking it looked like some sort of illusion and perhaps having that castle there in the foreground blew out the perspective of the size of the wave,” he says.

“But no way, it’s everything it’s cracked up to be and I’ll be back for sure. I felt like a kid going to Disneyland. It’s my new Disneyland and I’m going back for sure!”

Most impressive of all, he says, is the regard in which the often-criticised Garrett McNamara is held in the ancient town.

“It really is like he is the Mayor of Nazaré,” says Ross.

“Everywhere you go, it’s Garrett this Garrett that. Everybody loves him. What he’s done there, the way he’s set up…I can’t speak highly enough of him. It’s fucking awesome what he’s done.”

And so, with the festivities from Gabriel Medina’s world title win still going on just down the beach, Ross takes a second in the cool Hawaiian morning to really assess the enormity of what he’d just endured and accomplished.

“I’ve done some hell missions before, but that one tops it off for sure,’’ he says.

“And the best part about it was I did it for all the right reasons. I just wanted to surf that wave. I didn’t bring any photographers and I didn’t care about getting shot I truly just wanted to surf that wave.” //ANTHONY PANCIA

Photo Jeff Flindt/Red Bull Content Pool.