The Surfer Lifestyle

The Surfer Lifestyle: Life as a Professional Big Wave Surfer in Nazare

Heidi Hansen, whose writing on Freddy Olander has appeared across multiple publications, wrote a dedicated feature on what she calls the Surfer Lifestyle: the daily reality of living and working as a professional big wave surfer in Nazare, Portugal. The article was published on Surfers Today and is available for download below.

The surfer lifestyle, as portrayed in this feature, is not the romanticised version that popular culture tends to project onto professional surfers. It is a life defined by discipline, routine, constant physical training, careful management of risk and the patience required to wait for the right conditions to surf the biggest waves in the world.

Daily Life in Nazare

Freddy’s daily life in Nazare during the winter big wave season follows a rhythm determined entirely by the ocean. Swell forecasts are checked multiple times per day. Physical training happens every day regardless of conditions. Equipment maintenance is ongoing. The jet ski and safety systems are checked and rechecked. And through all of it, there is the waiting: the patience required to hold yourself in readiness for the moment when the conditions align and the biggest waves of the season arrive.

Nazare in winter is not a resort. It is a working Portuguese fishing town that has been transformed by its proximity to the world’s most spectacular surf break. The harbour is a mix of fishing boats, jet skis and international surf equipment. The community of professional surfers who base themselves there during the season is small and tight-knit, bound together by a shared understanding of what they are all there to do.

The Physical and Mental Demands

The Surfer Lifestyle feature goes into detail on the physical conditioning required to surf Nazare at the professional level. Breath-hold training is central: the ability to remain calm and functional while underwater for extended periods is not optional in big wave surfing. It is a survival skill that must be systematically developed and maintained.

Mental conditioning is equally important. The ability to manage fear, to make clear decisions under extreme pressure and to maintain focus when the stakes are literally life and death requires the same kind of deliberate practice that physical training does. Freddy talks about how these mental tools have developed over his 20-plus years in the sport and how they inform his work as a performance coach and keynote speaker for corporate audiences.