We use cookies to keep things fast and improve your experience 🤙
Surf spot guide · Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Rio's big-wave laje: a rare, heavy right breaking over a flat rock slab off Vidigal when winter south swells hit hard.
Laje do Sheraton, known to most cariocas as the Laje do Vidigal, is Rio's big-wave arena: a flat rock slab sitting roughly 270 m off the small beach below the old Sheraton hotel, between Leblon and São Conrado. It sleeps most of the year and wakes only when solid south to southwest winter swells arrive, a handful of days each season. When it does, a heavy, hollow right unloads over the shelf and runs toward the middle of the bay, holding faces from around 1.5 m to beyond 4 m on the biggest sets, the reason locals call it the carioca Waimea. Riders reach it with a paddle of twenty minutes or more from the beach, or by ski on the days tow teams work the outer sets. The lineup stays empty through flat spells and gathers a small, experienced big-wave crew when it finally breaks, with no localism reported. The suction over the shallow rock, the distance from shore and the sheer weight of the wave make this strictly an advanced call.
A flat rock off Vidigal that sleeps all summer and throws four-metre rights when the winter south swell finally lands.
You’re seeing the next 3 days. A free account opens all 14, which is the difference between checking tomorrow and planning a trip.
Rio de Janeiro
A beefy righthand point over a rock ledge at the west corner of Leblon, sheltered from west winds and holding swells well overhead.
Rio de Janeiro
A consistent sand-bottom a-frame off Leblon's Posto 11 lifeguard tower, catching nearly every swell that reaches Rio.
Rio de Janeiro
A heaving, hollow sand-bottom beachbreak in Rio that barrels hard on solid SE swell.
+9 MORE →Empty almost all year because it rarely breaks. When a big winter swell lands, Rio's big-wave crew arrives fast, with paddle and tow teams sharing the peak.
Feared big-wave arena
Watch it from the mirante on Avenida Niemeyer before committing, the takeoff zone over the slab reads far better from above.
Budget twenty minutes or more for the paddle from the beach, or arrange a ski if tow teams are working that day.
Wait for a solid south to southwest swell of 1.5 m or more, smaller pulses roll over the slab without breaking.
Give the inside of the slab a wide margin, the suction over the rock is strongest right where the wave unloads.
It breaks only a handful of days a year, so move fast when a winter swell lines up.
HAZARDS · KNOW BEFORE YOU PADDLE
Empty almost all year because it rarely breaks. When a big winter swell lands, Rio's big-wave crew arrives fast, with paddle and tow teams sharing the peak.
Feared big-wave arena
Enter from the small beach below the old Sheraton hotel on Avenida Niemeyer; the slab sits about 270 m offshore. Tow teams launch skis on the biggest days.
Open in Maps