FAR OUT

German Surfer Smashes World Record With Ride on 86-Foot Monster Wave

It took 18 months to confirm that the wave Sebastian Steudtner conquered off Nazaré, Portugal, was indeed the largest ever surfed.

It was a monster wave that took 18 months to measure, but officials are finally ready to announce that Sebastian Steudtner has broken the record for tallest wave ever surfed. The World Surf League and the Guinness World Records determined the wave that the German pro surfer rode back in October 2020 off the coast of Nazaré, Portugal—a hot spot for goliath waves—was an astounding 86 feet tall. “I’ll never forget what I saw when I started to drop behind the peak and saw the entire wave,” Steudtner, 37, said. “I started to accelerate like crazy. I had tears from the wind speed and was just holding on with everything I had—not doing anything funny, just hanging on.” “You don’t feel the size,” he added. “You feel the power. I felt the most power of any wave I’ve surfed at Nazaré.” The previous record was held by Brazil’s Rodrigo Koxa, who conquered an 80-foot wave off Nazaré in 2017. Measuring massive waves takes time, since scientists have to carefully study images that might have been distorted.