Oh, Sure, This’ll Be Just swell…

Well, it's just driftwood or logs and things that's gone down the river and they'd just started building up. One would land, then another, until the jam might get as high as this building. Of course the river would run under it and all around it. It makes it kinda aggravating to get your boat around it. You couldn't go under it, you had to go around or over the top of it. Hauling these boats over a big pile of logs isn't easy.

Let's break down the swell signature for this one. If you'd like to take a look at the in depth details, you can click the historic tab under forecasts on the Nazare spot page to see all data from our archive, just enter the dates you want to see and hit go, this'll bring up the swell pattern, wind and more.

The swell capped out at 15ft@16 seconds, with a SE wind grooming the behemoth. Swell arrived from WNW, helping to create that canyon effect which magnifies those Nazare waves, there's just enough NW in it to create some of those classic A frames we love seeing out of that part of the world.

Jean Bison: Come on Jean, ya got it in ya. Those lumberjack games need some more competition, eh? What would attract the participants? Bullseye! I'll post the Clockwerk talons as a trophy... that should bring in the competition. Although, who'm I kidding, eh? I'm-a-gonna win just like every other year. Ha ha! Oh, it's tough being this tough, it sure is, yeah.

Sly Cooper: You're right, Murray. Those guys need to go. Okay, I'm just making this up on the fly, but... what if I were to lure the judges, one by one, into that cave? Once inside, you two will knock 'em out and take their clothes.

Bentley: As we all know, things are looking grim. Neyla has joined herself to the Clockwerk frame and the union has produced Clock-La. She's out and free to terrorize the world. This blimp is still in motion to Paris. I can only assume Arpeggio's autopilot will activate the hate hypnosis light show. If that happens, there'll be no stopping Clock-La. She'll be immortal. But we still have a chance. In her new form, she'll need to draw a lot of energy from this blimp's engines to stay strong. If we can disable the engines, that should be enough to weaken her to a state in which we can attack. Getting at these engines will require all three of us to work together in perfect harmony. We've pulled off some tough jobs in the past, but they were just the warm up round for what we'll be going through tonight.

Sly Cooper (narrating): And there we were, at the end of the road. The Klaww Gang had been defeated and the Clockwerk parts lay scattered around in heaps. Yet, despite the explosion, they remained pristine. It was as if nothing could ever hurt them. Carmelita cursed herself for showing up too late to get a few shots in on Clock-La. So, she took it out on what was close at hand: the Hate Chip. And just like that, it was over. Without that core piece, that essential center of Clockwerk, there was nothing left. The parts aged before our eyes, as if time had finally caught up with the ancient bird. How ironic that Carmelita, a police officer, would be the one to lift the curse from the Cooper family. The menace of Clockwerk would never again rise to threaten me, or my children. True to her nature, she informed us that we were all under arrest. But one look at my gang told me that we were in no shape for a fast getaway. So, I offered to go peacefully in exchange for letting my friends walk. They'd taken some bruises through all of this, but I was surprised, shocked really, to see them leave their gear behind as they walked away. Their wounds were deeper than I'd imagined. Those guys were hurting. Carmelita's old police unit soon arrived. With me in custody, her name was cleared, and she even got a well deserved promotion. It was the least I could do. The ride to HQ started with us sitting in silence, trying to read each other's thoughts. As the reality of my capture started to sink in, she began to relax, and we got to talking. We spoke freely about our previous adventures; comparing notes and even getting in a few laughs. Then we started talking about, well, everything; books, music, art. It was like we were on a first date. She even showed me the bottle she'd been saving for this special occasion of my arrest. My heart sank when she realized that our short flight across town had already taken two hours, a fact I'd kinda clued into after seeing the Eiffel Tower float by 17 times. She went forward to ask the pilot what was up, and it looked like my pals had left me a little going away present before taking off. Floating away on the night breeze, I could faintly make out Carmelita's voice.

Narrator: Lenin hoped Russia would lose because that would help him overthrow the Tsar. As long as he did that, who cares if Germany blows up half the country? And blow up half the country they did. An inefficient Tsarist government meant there were shortages of just about everything you need to fight a war, and if losing a teensy-weensy war with Japan upset the people, losing a giant-wiant war like this was much worse. Soldiers were deserting, the economy was imploding, and in no time, Russia was starving. The peasants were getting more peasanty, the workers were getting more workery, all the while Germany was getting more Germanery.

Narrator: Nicholas declared himself Commander in Chief and went to the front lines, leaving his German wife in charge while they were fighting the Germans. It wasn't a good look, and because Alexandra was so close to Rasputin, people believe that he was actually calling the shots and secretly destroying Russia and maybe even boinking her, an even worser look. At this point, a bunch of nobles just couldn't take it anymore.

Narrator: WW1 left Russia broke, hungry, and exhausted, and with Nicholas acting as Commander in Chief, he was getting even more blame. For the second time, Russia was on the brink of revolution. By 1917, Russia had been fighting a war it couldn't afford for three years. They were running out of many things, most worryingly, food. On International Women's Day, 1917, thousands of hungry women in Petrograd were so sick of being hungry that they took to the streets, and it turns out it's not just women who experienced hunger, but men, too, so the next day, they joined in as well. Gatherings on the streets were forbidden, but I'm not sure how you'd arrest 250,000 people. The crowds demanded an end to the war, an end to food rationing, and even an end to the Tsar autocracy. Now, normally, the troops would deal with this kind of thing, but as it turns out, soldiers get hungry too, and they were also tired of having to kill their fellow Russians so much, so entire regiments mutinied in the capital, and they joined the crowd as well, trashing symbols of the Tsar and his autocratic regime. Things were escalating very quickly. Liberal politicians watching the riots in the streets had long been dissatisfied with the Tsar since he would shut their parliament down anytime they did something he didn't like. They believed the only way to bring stability back to the streets was for Nicholas II to abdicate. The riots continued, the police fired on soldiers, soldiers fired on soldiers, the workers re-established the Petrograd Soviet, politicians began arresting the Tsar's ministers. He may have been an autocrat, but he just lost complete control of his capital city. Talk about embarrassing.

Narrator: Alexei just wasn't ready to be Tsar. Nicholas did have a brother, but given the state of the empire, he wasn't keen either. And so, 300 years of Romanov rule in Russia just kind of came to an end. The earlier 1905 Revolution hadn't changed much, but this new revolution had left Russia without a Tsar, and still, before the year was over, there would be one more revolution left to come. Nicholas's failure as Commander of the Armed Forces was the final straw that broke the camel's back. Do you think maybe you could have done any better? Well, guess what? It's time to find out in Rise of Kingdoms.Rise of Kingdoms is an ethic, massive multiplayer, free-to-play real-time strategy game. Choose from eleven historical civilizations, including Rome, China, or France. You can form alliances with other players or conquer the crap out of them in real-time strategic battles. Now, look, it's master tactician and handsome general Alexander the Great.

Narrator: That night, Lenin came out of hiding to play a bigger role in the revolution. With him back at the helm, they had one more job to do: storm the Winter Palace and arrest the Provisional Government, and here comes the final showdown. The palace was defended by a force known as the Battalion of Death, who immediately gave up, and just like that, Lenin had won. As far as violent, bloody, revolutionary uprisings go, this wasn't really one of them, but Lenin was finally in charge of Russia. He had spent his whole life dreaming of this moment. He set up the first council of People's Commissars, his own cabinet with him in charge. This was it: his chance to finally make his communist utopia with equality and freedoms beyond compare.

Narrator: A variety of Bolshevik forces had united together to topple Lenin's government, and Russia descended into a full-blown civil war. Now, the Russian Civil War was extremely intricate and would really need its own video, but essentially, the Anti-Bolshevik White Movement gained control of vast, underdeveloped areas, while the Bolshevik Reds controlled the industrial heartland. Using this to their advantage, along with the surprising military genius of Trotsky and the shocking disorganization of the White Army, the fortified Red Army gradually came out on top. It was an absolutely brutal conflict with both sides committing horrendous atrocities. To maintain order at home, the Bolsheviks began the Red Terror, and the secret police would execute tens of thousands of suspected traitors. No one was safe from the violence, not even Nicholas himself. You've probably been wondering what Nicholas has been up to this whole time. Well, after his abdication, he and his family were placed under house arrest. At first, they were allowed to live in their usual luxury, but after Lenin took over, their conditions worsened. The Bolsheviks were just holding on to Nick until they could work out what to do with him, but the civil war complicated things. The last thing they wanted was for Nick to be freed by the White Armies. And so, to stop this from happening, Nicholas's Bolshevik guards decided to act. It's not entirely certain whether Lenin ordered it or if the guards were acting on their own volition, but on July 17, 1918, with White Armies approaching, they woke Nicholas and his family in the middle of the night and brought them into the basement. There, a drunken squad of Bolsheviks murdered the entire family. Nicholas, the last Tsar, once one of the most powerful men alive, had met a brutal end. But after years of fighting and millions of deaths, Trotsky in his Red Army came out victorious. 2b1af7f3a8