World Record Wave - Official

[EE_]

McNamara Claims Record For Biggest Wave Ever Surfed
May 8, 2012 2:30 PM

Garrett McNamara now has the Guinness World Record for the largest wave ever surfed after riding a 78-footer in November off the coast of Nazare, Portugal.

Mike Parson had the previous mark, riding a 77-footer off the Southern California coast in 2008.

The ruling became official on Friday by a panel of experts for the annual Billabong XXL Global Big Wave Awards.

McNamara told Petethomasoutdoors.com, “It’s amazing we get to do what we do, I am so grateful. The world record doesn’t mean as much to me, this is for the town of Nazaré and Portugal and for all my family and friends there.

“To be able to give them something to be proud of and inspire them… I didn’t want to get caught up in it all, but I have to tell you the truth, when they announced my name I got a bigger rush than probably on all the waves I rode this year.”


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHnHIUugClw&feature=fvst

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/05/08/mcnamara-claims-record-for-biggest-wave-ever-surfed/

[D sciple]

Gnarly

[ximmy]

How can they tell the difference between a 77 and 78 foot wave??... I demand a recount.

[solid]

Big wave surfing videos always leave with a sense of awe.

Never was good at surfing, but one the most intense, actually terrifying experiences, I've ever had was while surfing. Was out when it was double overhead, and the fog was so thick, you couldn't see the waves, until they were on you. Out of the fog, you see a 2 story building coming at you and you hope you can get over the top before it breaks..

Anyway, lot's of respect to these folks. Could not imagine a wave that big, the power of it, must just be incredible.

[joboo]

Buddy is nuts. I've been rolled under by a wave maybe 10 times smaller than that, on smooth sand even, and it sucks. My guess is something that size would crush you up into a crumbly bag of bits and pieces.

+1 for the spicolli-esque game play at the end.

http://i393.photobucket.com/albums/pp16/daveheinze/Spicolli.jpg

[gunDriller]

my limit is 20 feet. i'm thinking if you can't enjoy the wipe-out, or at least survive it, it's not a good wave to go for.


http://BillabongXXL.com

the website for this year's big wave awards.


Nathan Fletcher's Teahupoo wave i thought was a lot more "critical" (life threatening). it is a deep water break onto a very shallow & sharp reef.

http://a1.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/p480x480/576658_10150857788974929_202936059928_9545087_9644 87701_n.jpg

that wave is breaking in about 3 feet of water.

so far only a few guys have gotten the "Coke Bottle treatment" there. referring to the old-fashioned glass Coke bottle, the way you opened it - put the cap in the bottle opener, twist the bottle, cap comes off.

i thought this would eventually happen at Teahupoo & it did. guy went head-first into a pocket on the reef during a wipe-out, the wave moved his body over but the head stayed in the pocket. dude died shortly thereafter.


and my personal favorite for Wave Freakiness - Shipstern's Bluff

http://cl.jroo.me/z3/p/c/H/d/a.aaa-Surf-Big-Waves-at-Shipsterns.jpg

[solid]

my limit is 20 feet. i'm thinking if you can't enjoy the wipe-out, or at least survive it, it's not a good wave to go for.

This thread has me wanting to give surfing another go, it's been awhile. My limit is overhead. I wipe out a lot. After wiping out on bigger waves, I don't care to take the beating anymore. The place I was learning at is labeled advanced, because of sharks, rip currents, and supposedly the locals are not nice. Never saw a shark, and only met nice folks, but I did get caught in a bad rip current once.

Have you ever seen a shark while surfing gundriller? While sitting on the board waiting for a wave, I can't help but think about what lurks below me. Surfing in the red triangle, you know they are there.

[Serpo]

I thought that vid was GSUS members on that surf board riding out the financial destruction wave in progress.............

[gunDriller]

Have you ever seen a shark while surfing gundriller? While sitting on the board waiting for a wave, I can't help but think about what lurks below me. Surfing in the red triangle, you know they are there.

No, just dolphins.

The sharks i tend to see more when i'm diving.

i think i may have a guardian angel. i don't want to push my luck.

[solid]

i think i may have a guardian angel. i don't want to push my luck.

I don't want to push my luck either. :) Really looking forward to getting back out there, again though, once my health returns. We saw a lot of seals in the waves here. At first, you think shark, but seals like to surf too. They are cheerful, playful creatures.

[Santa]

If God had intended me to surf, he'd a given me a shack on the beach in Malibu.
And he wouldn't a given me a pot belly and a farmers tan.

[Horn]

If God had intended me to surf, he'd a given me a shack on the beach in Malibu.
And he wouldn't a given me a pot belly and a farmers tan.

You could pull the guy on the jet-ski.

[gunDriller]

I don't want to push my luck either. :) Really looking forward to getting back out there, again though, once my health returns. We saw a lot of seals in the waves here. At first, you think shark, but seals like to surf too. They are cheerful, playful creatures.

i like being around seals in the water too.

except for the fact that they attract great whites.

seals remind me of dogs. most of the time, like wild dogs who are in a good mood.

it's tempting to try & pet them but their response is un-predictable. and their teeth, mouth & gums have some very serious bacteria.

[BrewTech]

No, just dolphins.

The sharks i tend to see more when i'm diving.

i think i may have a guardian angel. i don't want to push my luck.

Grew up in Huntington (with StackerKen, though I didn't know at the time), plenty of dolphins, especially on a clear Santa Ana day because they are easier to see, but no sharks ...

My choice of wetsuit at the time was a crimson and yellow Rip Curl Aggrolite... what the hell was I thinking??

[gunDriller]

Grew up in Huntington (with StackerKen, though I didn't know at the time), plenty of dolphins, especially on a clear Santa Ana day because they are easier to see, but no sharks ...

My choice of wetsuit at the time was a crimson and yellow Rip Curl Aggrolite... what the hell was I thinking??

well that looks less like a seal than my black O'Neill XL 3/2.

my swimming stroke is all right but my guess is, from 100 yards or 50 yards, i look a LOT like an injured seal.

to top it off i have been known to pee in my wetsuit. urine attracts sharks along with blood.


so at least you were more non-seal-like in your crimson & yellow wet-suit.

actually, that's not unlike the colors a lot of the pros wear. Matt Wilkinson wore a Riddler wetsuit in the last contest, green with black question marks.

[Errosion Of Accord]

You guys don't know the thrill of surfing until you surf the ankle snappers at Myrtle Beach, SC. I did make it to the Outer Banks and Florida for some real surf but I'm like some of the other posters. A little over head was more than plenty for me. I can't imagine surfing over coral reef, that takes a certain kind of madness.

[solid]

to top it off i have been known to pee in my wetsuit. urine attracts sharks along with blood.

Is this true? I've been known to pee in the wetsuit. You have to, really. Usually it's when I first step into the cold water.

BTW, I look like a seal in my wetsuit too. I was told if you see seals, it's OK...but if you notice them all of sudden disappear, it might be a good time to catch the next wave in. :)

[steyr_m]

I'm with ximmy, how can they tell the height of the wave; but then again -- I don't give a crap either...

[solid]

I don't know how these guys survive. Some of these wipeouts are just painful to watch. The worst one, imo, is at the end at the 3:06 mark.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psk1NWT9pf4&

[solid]

Nathan Fletcher's Teahupoo wave i thought was a lot more "critical" (life threatening). it is a deep water break onto a very shallow & sharp reef.

that wave is breaking in about 3 feet of water.

Here's a really bad wipeout at Teahupoo. The #2 guy. You can see him just tumbling along in the wave. The #1 guy, that's just an awesome wipeout, and funny too.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG5JhwuEock&

[Libertytree]

I'd love to get stoned and do that on a body board, sharks be damned.

[gunDriller]

I'd love to get stoned and do that on a body board, sharks be damned.


hope you have good affordable medical care ! typical cost for a helicopter ride from the beach to a hospital was $7000 - in 2005.


first wipeout - secret spot, don't know.

second wipeout - Teahupoo.

third wipeout (Josh Kerr) - Pipeline (Hawaii).

fourth wipeout (Mark Healey) - don't know.

fifth wipeout - Cloudbreak (Tavarua).

[Twisted Titan]

I thought that vid was GSUS members on that surf board riding out the financial destruction wave in progress.............

Dude I'm on a packed train and I busted out laughing when I read that.....I said excuse me several times

[solid]

and my personal favorite for Wave Freakiness - Shipstern's Bluff

gunDriller, check out this video of Shipstern's. These are the craziest waves on the planet. These guys have waves breaking inside the wave, out of nowhere, knocking them off their boards.

Neat video, amazing video of nature's brutality.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oH_SI3nseYM

[gunDriller]

gunDriller, check out this video of Shipstern's. These are the craziest waves on the planet. These guys have waves breaking inside the wave, out of nowhere, knocking them off their boards.

Neat video, amazing video of nature's brutality.


actually i've watched that video about 5 times already, but thanks !

that wave is really the 8th Wonder of the World !

i wouldn't want to surf it, but i'd like to dive it on a small day, and watch it on a bigger day, to see what causes the wave to be shaped to uniquely.

i think it's a combination of boulders in the impact zone, and the fact that it's so close to shore so that it gets reflections of waves from the shore. i've seen that at other beaches, just not so freaky. plus also a deep water break, close to shore.

and also size-able swells coming in from the Indian Ocean, which in that neck of the woods is basically the Antarctic Ocean.

http://www.surfposter.com/images/images_big/B02%20Shipstern%20Bluff.jpg

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_VLUbPJjsXsQ/Svwzqyg132I/AAAAAAAABEI/L3vSvF9O2EU/s400/Picture+1.png

http://cl.jroo.me/z3/p/c/H/d/a.aaa-Surf-Big-Waves-at-Shipsterns.jpg


it seems a little odd to me that no one has died there yet, or been paralyzed. i can only guess that very few people surf it. Pipeline has killed a lot of people and put a lot of people in wheelchairs, Teahupoo has killed a few. heck even the Wedge has killed a few.

of course Pipeline & the Wedge get a lot more people trying it out.

[solid]

it seems a little odd to me that no one has died there yet, or been paralyzed. i can only guess that very few people surf it. Pipeline has killed a lot of people and put a lot of people in wheelchairs, Teahupoo has killed a few. heck even the Wedge has killed a few.

It is surprising, those waves look like a monster trying to eat the surfer. I think a lot of places people have died. Ocean beach in SF has taken some as well. Heck, I came close to drowning there. The waves were 8 feet or so, very steep, fast, and pounding. Much over my skill level and I shouldn't have been out there. I got held down. 3 waves broke on top of me before I could get a breath of air.

[gunDriller]

It is surprising, those waves look like a monster trying to eat the surfer. I think a lot of places people have died. Ocean beach in SF has taken some as well. Heck, I came close to drowning there. The waves were 8 feet or so, very steep, fast, and pounding. Much over my skill level and I shouldn't have been out there. I got held down. 3 waves broke on top of me before I could get a breath of air.

well, glad you survived.

water safety, great white shark attacks, and surf trivia are sort of obsessions of mine, sort of like how some guys are baseball afficionadoes and know details about the "64 Yankees" or whoever.

partially to educate myself, to keep it safe in the water.

i met a guy who cracked a neck vertebrae body-surfing at La Jolla Cove. he said he was going through a divorce and wasn't paying attention. so i learned from that, and started making it a habit to ALWAYS have my arms bent, over my head during a wipeout, so that if i am upside down & get bottom slammed my elbow takes it.

sure enough, that came in very handy precisely once so far - a real solid bottom slam, right on my elbows, 3 inches away from my noggin. it wasn't a huge swell, like 6 feet at 17 seconds - big for So-Cal. if i hadn't listened to the other surfer at the Y, it would have been my head being smacked on the bottom.


i wonder about the 'training regimen' for the guys at Shipstern's. it came out in the last 5 years that the incredible feats that we saw, for example, in the '97-'98 Maverick's season, all those amazing photos - the guys were high on Meth. even Peter Mel, who looks real 'square'.

[solid]

well, glad you survived.

water safety, great white shark attacks, and surf trivia are sort of obsessions of mine, sort of like how some guys are baseball afficionadoes and know details about the "64 Yankees" or whoever.

partially to educate myself, to keep it safe in the water.

i met a guy who cracked a neck vertebrae body-surfing at La Jolla Cove. he said he was going through a divorce and wasn't paying attention. so i learned from that, and started making it a habit to ALWAYS have my arms bent, over my head during a wipeout, so that if i am upside down & get bottom slammed my elbow takes it.

sure enough, that came in very handy precisely once so far - a real solid bottom slam, right on my elbows, 3 inches away from my noggin. it wasn't a huge swell, like 6 feet at 17 seconds - big for So-Cal. if i hadn't listened to the other surfer at the Y, it would have been my head being smacked on the bottom.


i wonder about the 'training regimen' for the guys at Shipstern's. it came out in the last 5 years that the incredible feats that we saw, for example, in the '97-'98 Maverick's season, all those amazing photos - the guys were high on Meth. even Peter Mel, who looks real 'square'.

Well, I will not surf Ocean beach again. That was the only time I was really held down like that, like the waves said "I'm not letting you go".

Glad you didn't take one on the noggin. Arms over your head is good, also so you don't get whacked in the head with your own board during a wipeout. I think I may take up long boarding. It's easier, not quite the adrenaline rush, but you can surf smaller waves and take less of a beating.

[gunDriller]

Well, I will not surf Ocean beach again. That was the only time I was really held down like that, like the waves said "I'm not letting you go".

Glad you didn't take one on the noggin. Arms over your head is good, also so you don't get whacked in the head with your own board during a wipeout. I think I may take up long boarding. It's easier, not quite the adrenaline rush, but you can surf smaller waves and take less of a beating.


one of the things that i think is worth paying attention to is, debris in the water.

i have seen things floating around that if you surfed into them, you will end up with nasty & hard to imagine injuries. e.g. pieces of logs with long metal spikes hanging out of them, sheets of plywood etc.

[solid]

pieces of logs with long metal spikes hanging out of them,

Those are called dead heads, in nautical terms. Those logs, pilings, are the fendering off of docks, a layer of protection from the concrete structure that supports the dock. You'll see them around bridges too. They are meant to absorb energy when the pier gets touched by ships, barges, etc.

During storms, a lot of the old ones break loose. They float, usually in a vertical way, with just a small portion of the top sticking out. Even though they look small from the surface, they can be quite large, hence the term dead head.

Yes, watch for those, particularly if surfing after a storm rolls through. I've never seen one while surfing. Sailing, yes though.

[Glass]

Seems that Garrett is at it again. Also in Portugal.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtXFJOXSYjg

A Hawaiian surfer may have beaten his own world record for riding the largest wave ever surfed - a monster 30-metre wall of water off the coast of Portugal.

It means the world to me. Today was an awesome day and so fun to be out there
If the claims are verified, big wave surfer Garrett McNamara will go into the Guinness World Records with his incredible ride on a wave estimated to be more than six metres higher than his previous record, set at the same spot at Nazare in Portugal last year.

http://images.theage.com.au/2013/01/30/3991591/af-mcnamara1-20130130112115848135-620x414.jpg

Photographs and video taken on January 28 show the 45-year-old as a small speck on a towering wave as he plunges down its face. He rides numerous sets, at one stage wiping out on the face of a wave and diving into the churning water.

McNamara was towed by a jetski onto the largest wave, which formed over an undersea canyon known as one of the biggest wave-generators on the planet.

Few more photo's at the story link (http://www.theage.com.au/sport/surfer-rides-monster-wave-20130130-2djvs.html)