Aussie Laura Enever Sets World Record For Biggest Wave Ever Paddled Into By A Woman
This month is was announced that Australia’s Laura Enever had broken the world record for the largest wave ever paddled into by a woman. The wave, ridden at an outer reef off the island of Oahu on January 22, 2023, measured in at 43.6 feet.
“When I looked over the edge and saw how far I had to go down and how big the drop was, I was like, ‘Okay, this is the biggest wave you ever caught,’” Enever told the Washington Post.
The previous record belonged to Andrea Moller thanks to a 42-footer at Peʻahi, Maui, in June 2016. That same winter, at that same spot, Aaron Gold set the world record for largest wave ever paddled into by a man, a 63-foot monster. It’s worth noting that Gold, live Enever, got blown up at the bottom of the wave. There has been some controversy around Enever’s wave due to the fact that she doesn’t safely ride the wave out into the channel. But the fact remains, like Gold, she successfully paddled into the wave, made the drop and made it to the bottom of the wave.
In terms of riding giants, the current record for the largest wave ever ridden by a woman is held by Maya Gabeira, who was towed into a 73.5-foot wave at Nazaré in Portugal in 2020. The men’s record is currently held by Germany’s Sebastian Steudtner, who rode a 86-foot monster at Nazaré, also in 2020.
In less than ten years, every big wave record in the books has been broken. With an El Niño winter on tap, we’ve already seen some heavy surf in Ireland, Hawaii and California. It’s going to be fun to see where what happens next.
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.