Technically awaiting confirmation but I won’t quibble over a few cm’s.

Must be scary/exhilarating as hell.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/surfing/68856022

Urgh that makes me feel ill. 2m and glassy was beyond my limit of comfort. Water weighs lots.

That’s some serious bravery….

Wowzers.

Also worth a watch if you’re into that sort of thing, an oldie but a goodie https://youtu.be/dhjP1c5agLU?si=tVJvfrYCowhSiOo7

But he didn’t surf it, he just surfed the lower end of it not the big bit. And he didn’t start at the top.

*feels conned*

But he didn’t surf it, he just surfed the lower end of it not the big bit. And he didn’t start at the top.

This makes no sense. You can see his wake.

What you should be questioning is the height measurement…28.57 from where to where?

There’s a pretty good Sky documentary series called “100 Foot Wave” about Garret McNamara & the other surfers who discovered & surfed the giant waves in Nazare – well worth a watch.

I just watched the linked BBC vid. There are three views. In the last one it shows how he was towed in by a jet ski started about half way up the wave and rode out in a totally undramatic style. Having viewed some really impressive runs I was disappointed.

28.57M

That’s some seriously accurate measuring 🧐

28.75????

Bet he enjoyed a Guinness after that

Pah… a kitesurfer would have easily cleared that wave 🙂

He didn’t surf that, I’m not a surfer.

Well, he did.

Pah… a kitesurfer would have easily cleared that wave 🙂

And kitesurfers doing jumps are just wet trapeze artistes 😉

I just watched the linked BBC vid. There are three views. In the last one it shows how he was towed in by a jet ski started about half way up the wave and rode out in a totally undramatic style. Having viewed some really impressive runs I was disappointed.

Well colour me shocked.

You don’t have to bash the top lip of a wave to have surfed it. In the case of some of these monsters there’s not enough power at the top to make that possible anyway.

The biggest waves I’ve ever surfed are around triple overhead, I’ve seen the cribbar surfed at around 10m. I can’t wrap my head around this kind of thing

What happens if you bin it on a wave like that?

What happens if you bin it on a wave like that?

Yeah, was also wondering what the consequences are if you catch an edge or something.

And what happens at the end when the wave inevitably gets you? Do you just hold your breath for a long time and hope you bob up to the top eventually?

My only experience of anything like this is wave machines in dodgy waterparks in asia back in the 90s – an intrepid 10 year old boy with a body board can hit a wave at an angle such that he can dragged underneath in a washing machine cycle for just about as long as he can hold his breath. Rinse & repeat!

Having viewed some really impressive runs I was disappointed.

Also  “Yeah I’ve got a girlfriend, she goes to a different school, you wouldn’t know her”

I was watching a thing on Red Bull TV about a former pro snowboarder becoming a pro big wave surfer and his training for Jaws in Hawaii involved things like sessions with a freediver to help him be able to hold his breath for minutes at a time.

Pretty gnarly stuff – I don’t think it looks as impressive as it sounds because the footage is fairly raw with no big Red Bull Media House cinematography and colour editing. I’m sure when a documentary comes out about it it will look amazing.

For those asking about binning it watch the previously mentioned 100 Foot Wave docuseries. It’s brill!

At honeybadger yeah opener to Billabong Odyssey still one of my favourite openers to *anything*

I have surfed, very badly. I like watching surfing enough to follow the world tour on YouTube.

But this sort of thing really doesn’t do it for me. It’s a huge test of skill and courage. But it’s a tow in and its just a big messy wave.

Plus big wave surfing seems to rival F1 for rediculous amounts of flying. F1 probably flies less distance but they take cars with them. Surfers will fly to Nambia for a swell then off to Ireland after a days surfing. People will fly in from Hawia to portugal for one swell

To me this is surfing at its best

The wave in honeybadgers video is way better

The 100 foot wave doc is bonkers. Those guys are properly addicted, like crack head addicted. Watching friends basically die then going out on the same swell because it looks good.

28.75????

…or 14 Hawaiian. I admit it is sold overhead.

Not surfed it top to bottom? I never knew there were rules but whatever, the peak will have rolled under the surfer as the jetski whipped him in. There’s no other way in.

There’s as many flavours of surfing as there is riding bikes. This is obviously hugely impressive – I’ve seen tow ins on some sw France waves and it’s quite something close up. But not really what does it for me. I hate jetskis for one thing.

They wear an inflatable vest . Like an avalanche airbag that pops then up to the surface if they get rolled.
And I think there’s a re breather system that allows you to breath the air in the ba . So you get a minute or so extra if you get tangled up with the leash in amongst rocks or coral.

You can find lots of girlfriends in the same school on Youtube, Nickc. I find these rides more impressive but that’s just me:

What happens if you bin it on a wave like that?

andrew cotty broke his back at Nazare.

Looked like he had some sort of pull cord floatation thing on in the BBC video?