Did The Mythic 100-Foot Wave Just Get Ridden In Portugal?
In 2020, Germany's Sebastian Steudtner broke the world record for the biggest wave ever surfed when he was towed into a monster 86-footer at Nazare in Portugal. After a recent run of huge, North Atlantic swell, that record may now be in danger of falling.
On February 24, with the surf at Nazare reaching heights that are too hard to measure, and even harder to comprehend, once again Steudtner was on the scene with tow partner Eric Rebiere. Also getting in on the potentially record-breaking swell was Brazil's Lucas "Chumbo" Chianca and partner Alemao De Maresias. Both Steudtner and Chianca rode what are being considered the biggest waves of the swell. And while the conditions were windy, chunky and uninviting, the two surfers knew exactly what they were getting themselves into.
"I’ve dreamt about riding waves this size for a long time and it finally came together," Steudtner shared on Instagram. "A few years ago we wouldn’t have looked at the waves of Friday/Saturday last week, too stormy, too big, impossible to surf. Our project, Mission Wave Alpha, was created to make it possible to surf waves of a completely different size. From safety development to surf equipment and a dedicated team, we put it all together and defined what’s possible
Chianca was more concise with his description, simply commenting, "Biggest ever."
Big wave documentarian Tim Bonython was on the scene in Nazare to capture all of the action. He just dropped a new 42-minute edit from the three-day run of swell that's definitely worth spending some time with. It's going to be awhile until any official announcement is made about the world record as the experts and officials have to do all their measurements, but at the start of this El Nino winter there was speculation that a new world record could emerge from Nazare, and now it looks like that may be a possibility.
Watch: Why Are The Biggest Waves In The World Ridden At Nazare?
With more than 25 years of writing about surfing, the ocean and action sports, Jake Howard continues to share stories, profiles and issues that shape the surfing world. One of the premier subject-matter experts in the field today, he's savvy in the ways of print, digital and social media, his breadth of work is expansive. Getting his start writing Surfline surf reports and recording the phone reports for 976-SURF in the late '90s, Jake served as the managing editor for Surfer Magazine in the early 2000s before moving on to launch RedBullSurfing.com and cover surfing for ESPN and the X Games. Over the years, Jake has also enjoyed time behind the edit desk at The Surfer's Journal, as well as the World Surf League, where he worked as the Senior Editor for a number of years. Beyond producing editorial content, Jake has served as a digital marketer and copywriter for iconic surf brands such as Quiksilver, Roxy and Rip Curl. Writing thousands of pages of copy for Surfline, he has deep SEO experience as well. The surf columnist for the San Clemente Times, Jake continues to dedicate himself to the culture and history of the sport through his involvement with the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente.