The highest waves ever in the world
24-meter waves, Portugal, 2011 and 2017
These are two separate waves, recorded in the same place 6 years apart. The first monstrous 24-meter wave, which occurred in Nazaré, Portugal, was surfed by Garrett McNamara in 2011. At the time, it was the biggest wave ever surfed, a record that will hold for another 6 years.
This record would then be broken on the same surf spot in 2017 by Rodrigo Koxa. The Brazilian surfer launched into a wave higher than the previous record by only a few centimeters! While many people immediately think of Hawaii or Tahiti when talking about surfing and big waves, Nazaré has truly become the new hot spot for surfing.
But why are waves there so impressive? Nazaré Canyon, a deep gorge off the coast, sinks about 4900 meters below the ocean surface and helps shape the energy of the incoming waves. It is therefore the very particular topology of the seabed there that allows the creation of these gigantic waves.
But if it is a favorable location for large waves, it is almost impossible to predict their size in advance. So in addition to being extremely talented, surfers who venture into these waters must also be pretty lucky in order to break a record.
Sharon Gilman, a biological oceanographer at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina, explains: “If they are not stopped by anything, waves can travel across entire ocean basins. The waves on your beach could come from a storm on the other side of the world.”
So let’s see now what the three biggest waves in the world are.