World Record! Surfer rides 90 ft wave. (previous record was 77 ft)

pretty epic if you ask me.

just saw this on liveleak and was pretty mindblown.

i've got a lot of respect for surfers, i think surfing is an art.

but this really got my blood going, just imagine being 90 ft in the air! and riding on a wave of water.

the vid

enjoy

ETA:
youtube vid.

wow that is amazing i know for sure i wouldnt be able to do it

So like where is the end ???? did he make it? and where did he make it too ... emblish ,please

Looks like it was in Praia do Norte, Nazare, Portugal. Something about the location causes huge swells.

How does anyone know the exact size of the wave?

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Wave height is actually measured at the back instead of the face of the wave.

I learned this from my many summers in the Junior Lifeguard program in Huntington Beach way back when.

reply to post by dezertdog


ive seen a few videos now claiming 77ft , 85ft and now 90ft. I just dont see how they can measure something accurately that is moving and without a tape measure.



this one is claiming 85ft

Originally posted by dezertdog
reply to post by PhoenixOD

 

Wave height is actually measured at the back instead of the face of the wave.

I learned this from my many summers in the Junior Lifeguard program in Huntington Beach way back when.

This seems to be a common misconception, and I think it stems from the size of the swell being smaller than the size of the wave face when it breaks. Swell size is the amplitude of a wave in the open ocean. However, once that swell hits shallower water, it can grow in size and shape depending on the ocean floor topography. A 3 ft swell, can break with a 5-6 ft face under some conditions.

Measuring a wave from the back is not a useful way to measure waves, as different types of waves have different shapes and some massive waves have almost no back to them. A good example is Teahupoo in Tahiti, known as the worlds heaviest wave, yet it has almost no back to the wave whatsoever due to the way it breaks over a very shallow reef from very deep water. The wave in the OP and other waves such as Jaws gradually build up over deeper reefs and have a much bigger back, even for the same size wave face. Therefore wave face is generally measured from the face of the wave, which can be a lot bigger than the size of the swell that produced it. Wave face measurements can sometimes be estimated by using the height of a surfer as a reference.

Here's a clip of the big wave highlights from the southern hemisphere from the last 6 months, with waves from Teahupoo-Tahiti, Cloudbread-Fiji and Shipstern Bluff in Tasmania. Some of these waves are known as slabs, which are waves which barrell and break with a thick lip, without neceassarily having high wave faces. Enjoy.

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Yeah wave height measurement is pretty ambiguous. There are differing methods employed around the world.Here's a link to some info.

Cowabunga

reply to post by PhoenixOD


Use the surfer as a scale.

It looks like a big wave to me.

Must of been one hell of a ride

Originally posted by dezertdog
reply to post by PhoenixOD

 

Yeah wave height measurement is pretty ambiguous. There are differing methods employed around the world.Here's a link to some info.

Cowabunga

That was an interesting read. But I must say, none of the surfers I know use the "back of the wave" method, and I didn't realise many peopl used it, for the given reasons that it is not very accurate. There is a lot of debate on wave measurements, but generally here in NZ (and Australia), the swell size is used to describe wave size, and different breaks will have different wave faces for a given swell size. That's why surf of 4 ft, can break "overhead" for a 6 ft man. But I guess there's no set method, so anything goes really

reply to post by Curious and Concerned

I agree.
For the purposes of the largest wave award they do use the trough to crest height. Gotta use something I suppose but it doesn't really tell you much about the mass of the wave (of course a 90 foot anything is pretty enormous).

I still can't shake the "Hawaiian" method of calling wave heights. Rather than representing the face of the wave, it's more a matter of the height of the crest above sea level. This makes it less dependent on the character the wave. A wave which breaks in relatively shallow water draws a lot of water off of the reef creating a trough in front of the wave while a deep water wave doesn't have the same effect. Look at it this way; the drop on a six foot wave at Pipeline is a bigger deal than a eight foot wave at Sunset. So, if the forecast calls for eight feet in the country it really depends on which spot you end up at. Sunset will be fun but Pipeline will be getting spooky.

In any case...Portugal?

Here's a big wave break 100 miles off the California coast with an explanation of it's characteristics.