Big Wave Surfing

Big wave surfing requires riding ocean swells of 20 feet (6 metres) or taller — at Nazare, Portugal, waves have exceeded 100 feet. The sport's central hazard is the hold-down: being trapped underwater by successive waves, with surfers sometimes held under for two minutes or more while unconscious from impact. Garrett McNamara set the world record for the largest wave ever surfed at 78 feet in Nazare in 2011; Sebastian Steudtner broke it in 2020 with an officially ratified 86-foot wave. The annual Eddie Aikau Invitational at Waimea Bay, Hawaii, runs only when waves exceed 20 feet and has held only 10 events since 1985.