Laje de Fora.

Laje de Fora is exactly what its name says: the outside slab, a charted rock islet off the point east of Itaúna, about 800 m beyond Backdoor and roughly a kilometre from the sand. It sleeps through ordinary conditions and only matters on the big southwest and southeast swells that overwhelm Itaúna itself, the handful of days each season when the region's big riders go looking for open water. What breaks over the slab is a left, and it holds serious size: in the documented November 2008 session, Marcos Monteiro and Patrick Reis, the two local lifeguards who pioneered the wave, paddled out after riding Backdoor and dropped lefts on a day when the sets out there were estimated near 6.5 m faces, with the biggest waves arriving close to an hour apart and darkening the horizon. There is no ski culture here and usually no witnesses: sessions happen far from shore, unsupported, ridden by surfers who grew up on this reef. Access is a paddle from Itaúna beach, ten minutes in ordinary conditions and harder on the days that count. Strictly a call for experienced surfers who handle real size.

A charted rock a kilometre off Itaúna that sleeps until a serious swell lands, then throws lefts with faces the locals put near six and a half metres.