Buzz
Surfing massive waves is not for everyone. In fact, many dedicated surfers prefer waves no higher than twice the height of an overhead. The reason? Beyond that size, fear often dominates the thrill.
Wiping out on a massive wave can make many surfers feel like they're about to meet their end, yet astonishingly, few fatalities occur from big wave surfing. Buzzy Trent, a legendary big wave surfer from the 1960s, famously remarked, “Big waves are measured not in feet, but in increments of fear.”
So, let’s embrace that fear and dive into the top ten largest waves ever ridden, or at least those that have been recorded.
10. Greg Noll: Makaha, Oahu, Hawaii, USA, 1969
No discussion of big-wave surfing legends would be complete without mentioning the king of the 1960s, the incomparable Greg Noll. Noll, who passed away in 2021, was not only known for his signature black-and-white striped trunks and larger-than-life personality, but also for his insatiable desire to conquer colossal waves.
On the morning of December 4, 1969, during the renowned “Swell of ’69,” Noll, along with a few fellow surfers, tackled the powerful waves of Makaha Point on Oahu’s west side. It was there that Noll caught a wave dubbed the “Biggest Wave Ever,” reaching heights of over 12 meters (40 feet).
Noll caught the immense wave, managed to reach the bottom, but then wiped out, losing his board and barely surviving the ordeal. He decided to retire from big-wave surfing immediately, moving to northern California to take up commercial fishing and surfboard shaping.
9. Alec Cooke: Outside Pipeline, Oahu, Hawaii USA, 1985
During the 1970s and ’80s, the world of big-wave surfing was somewhat eclipsed by the rise of the professional surf tour, which garnered the majority of the money and attention within the surfing scene.
A key figure in reviving the focus on big waves was Alec “Ace Cool” Cooke, a local surfer with a fierce passion for giant waves and a background rooted in a prominent and historic missionary family from Hawaii.
In 1985, Cooke formulated an audacious plan to surf the largest wave ever. He would be dropped from a helicopter, carrying his board and an emergency oxygen tank, into the massive surf of Oahu’s north shore. A media team in the helicopter would capture the event through photos and film, which would then be shared around the world for validation.
The plan unfolded with relative success. Cooke rode an enormous wave, and the event was filmed. However, he was soon overwhelmed by an even larger wave, lost his board, and had to swim to shore. Photos of the ride made headlines, bringing Cooke considerable media attention. Despite this, many surfers criticized the “Biggest Wave Ever” claim, suggesting that the angle of the helicopter shots made the wave appear far larger than it truly was.
Cooke continued riding the massive waves of the North Shore, paddling out at Waimea Bay on the evening of October 27, 2015. He disappeared that night and was never seen again. Despite an extensive aerial search by the United States Coast Guard, his body was never recovered.
8. Brock Little: Waimea Bay, Oahu, Hawaii USA, 1990
A major catalyst for the resurgence of interest in big-wave surfing was the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau event, held on Oahu’s north shore in Hawaii. Known simply as “The Eddie,” this contest became the focal point of a successful marketing campaign centered around the life and legendary status of Hawaiian big-wave rider Eddie Aikau.
As “Eddie Would Go” only when the contest director determined that the swell was large enough and would last long enough to allow for the full eight-hour event, the contest wasn’t held annually. By 1990, the marketing machine was in full swing, and when “The Eddie” received the green light on January 21, the anticipation was as monumental as the waves themselves.
During the 1990 event, Brock Little, a young, fearless surfer from Hawaii, caught an enormous wave measuring 15 meters (50 feet). The wave was photographed from multiple angles. Although Little encountered a bump, fell off, and didn’t complete the ride, it was widely acknowledged that he had caught, stood up, and ridden the biggest wave of its time.
7. Ken Bradshaw: Outside Log Cabins, Hawaii USA, 1998
On January 28, 1998, the north shore of Oahu and other Hawaiian islands were placed under a “Code Red” alert by local authorities, signaling that the surf forecast was so large that all state harbors and beaches had to be closed.
Just before the Code Red was enforced and harbors were shut, several two-person teams on personal watercraft left Haleiwa Harbor on the north shore. Each team was made up of one surfer and one driver, with the driver steering the PWC and towing the surfer on a water ski rope to catch the giant wave. Tow-surfing is the preferred method for tackling such large waves, as human paddling is typically too slow.
One team made its way to an outer reef known as Outer Log Cabins, a spot that only breaks on the most massive winter swells. That morning, waves were estimated to be between 15 to 18 meters (50 to 60 feet). Spectators on the beach, armed with binoculars and telephoto lenses, watched as surfer Ken Bradshaw was towed into a colossal wave by driver Dan Moore. Bradshaw successfully rode what was captured in photos as an 18-meter (60-foot) wave, the largest ever ridden at the time.
6. Mike Parsons: Cortes Bank, California, USA, 2008
In the late 1980s, renowned Surfing Magazine photo editor Larry “Flame” Moore began researching the location and bathymetry of Cortes Bank, situated around 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the southern California coast. Moore had read a newspaper article about the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier colliding with a submerged seamount. If such a reef could damage a ship, might there also be waves breaking under the right conditions?
By 1990, Moore had a likely answer of “probably,” so he chartered a plane and, with a significant swell and light winds, flew out to Cortes Bank. He captured some of the first images of giant, rideable waves breaking over the bank in the heart of the Pacific Ocean.
By 2001, multiple expeditions to Cortes Bank had been completed by boat, with giant waves ridden and documented. Then, in 2008, a massive winter swell from the north Pacific Ocean, paired with light winds, was forecast for Cortes Bank.
Mike Parsons, a professional surfer from California, joined a group of fellow big-wave surfers on a boat trip to Cortes Bank. There, he rode the biggest wave ever ridden at the time, estimated at over 23 meters (75 feet), and safely navigated it into the deeper waters near the seamount.
5. Garrett McNamara: Nazaré, Portugal, 2011
In 2005, a local Portuguese surfer invited Hawaii’s big-wave legend Garrett McNamara to Nazaré, claiming that giant waves were breaking near the lighthouse during the winter, yet no one was surfing them.
McNamara, hailing from Hawaii and known for believing that Hawaii had the world’s largest and best waves, initially dismissed the idea that there could be even bigger waves in the Atlantic Ocean instead of the Pacific.
After five years and numerous photos, Garrett finally visited Nazaré in the winter of 2010 to witness the giant waves for himself. The next winter, in 2011, McNamara set a Guinness World Record for riding the largest wave ever surfed at 23.7 meters (78 feet), a record that stood as the biggest wave ever ridden at the time.
McNamara now resides in Portugal, and his pursuit of big waves is featured in the documentary series “100 Foot Wave.”
4. Ramón Navarro: Cloudbreak, Fiji, 2012
In 2013, Chilean surfer Ramón Navarro was honored with the prestigious “Adventurer of the Year” award from National Geographic, following his remarkable ride of a massive wave in Fiji during June of the previous year. The wave, a colossal blue tube, broke over a coral reef located miles out in the South Pacific Ocean.
Navarro had traveled from Chile to Fiji after hearing about an unusual weather forecast. Several powerful low-pressure systems were forecasted to align in the Southern Ocean near Australia, creating a huge groundswell that would travel northeast, all the way to the coral reefs of Fiji, thousands of miles away.
Although Cloudbreak’s reef in Fiji had been surfed since the 1970s, no one had witnessed waves of such enormous size in recent memory. Navarro, towed into the giant wave by his partner Kohl Christensen on a personal watercraft, managed to ride the massive 18-meter (60-foot) blue barrel into the deep channel next to the reef.
3. Sebastian Steudtner: Nazaré, Portugal, 2020
The massive waves at Nazaré are the result of its unique bathymetry: the powerful, long-period groundswells interact with a deep-water offshore canyon, causing refractions that amplify the incoming swell energy into enormous peaks.
At Nazaré, the canyon’s refraction effect is so powerful that it can cause the deep-water swell height in a forecast to be amplified—sometimes even doubling or tripling the original size. This results in the formation of enormous peaks, often breaking in front of the lighthouse at the now-renowned Praia do Norte, or North Beach.
During a significant winter swell on October 29, 2020, Austrian surfer Sebastian Steudtner—who transitioned from windsurfing to big-wave surfing—was towed by his personal watercraft driver into one of these colossal waves. He descended the wave at high speed, eventually finding safety on the shoulder.
Although Steudtner didn't realize it at the time, the wave he rode was later scientifically measured at a staggering 26 meters (86 feet). This achievement earned him a certified Guinness World Record for the largest wave ever surfed—a record that took experts 18 months to officially confirm.
2. Mark Healy: Puerto Escondido, Mexico, 2015
For decades, Zicatela Beach in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca state, Mexico, has been a well-known hotspot among surfers for its large and powerful waves, earning it the nickname the 'Mexican Pipeline' due to the challenging conditions.
Zicatela Beach faces directly southwest, allowing it to receive powerful groundswell from winter storms in the south Pacific Ocean between April and October. In May 2015, a particularly large swell was forecast for mainland Mexico, and big-wave surfer Mark Healy positioned himself to take advantage of this swell and ride some enormous waves.
Healy paddled out from the protected harbor on a 3-meter (10-foot) board, heading down the coast toward Zicatela Beach. There, massive waves were breaking much further out than usual, including some of the biggest waves veteran surfers had ever seen at this beach. The surge from the waves flooded the streets, even swamping several homes and businesses.
Healy carefully chose his wave and paddled hard, relying solely on his arms to generate enough speed to catch the swell as it began to break. He successfully caught the wave, stood up, and as it moved closer to shore, he felt the sand bottom and the wave started to break—it reached an impressive height of over 15 meters (50 feet).
Healy continued riding until the wave closed on him, and he was washed onto the beach, still alive thanks to the flotation support of his inflatable vest. Healy had successfully ridden the largest wave ever paddled into at Playa Zicatela, and possibly the biggest wave ever caught anywhere without a PWC tow-in assist.
1. Jamie Mitchell: Belharra, France, 2014
The Bay of Biscay, situated below the United Kingdom in the North Atlantic, is famously known as one of the stormiest seas on Earth, particularly during winter. This vast bay is open to the North Atlantic, where it receives powerful groundswells generated by storms that form near Greenland during the winter months.
In January 2014, a particularly fierce North Atlantic winter storm, named Hercules, generated an unusually large groundswell. This swell, fueled by the storm’s wind energy, was directed straight toward a reef off the southern coast of France in the Bay of Biscay, known as Belharra.
The deep-water reef at Belharra only breaks on the largest swells, which typically occur just two or three times during the winter season. On January 7, a small group of big-wave surfers were present to tackle the swell created by Hercules. Among them was Jamie Mitchell, an exceptional surfer from Australia, who paddled into and caught a massive 20-meter (65-foot) wave. Mitchell wiped out but managed to survive and received a 'Wipeout of the Year' nomination for 2014 for surviving one of the largest waves ever ridden.
