90-Foot Waves off the coast of Portugal.

Weylin

Hawaiian Garrett McNamara surfs a 90-foot wave off the coast of Portugal. Photograph: ZON North Canyon Show

Related

• Swell surfing: Big wave contest makes a splash | 15/02/2011
• New wave discovered by surfers | 09/11/2010
• Riding Irish giants | 29/05/2010
• Ireland's mightiest waves | 03/04/2009
• New wave discovered by surfers | 09/11/2010
• Surfing tourism on crest of a wave after monster swell | 13/11/2010
• Living the dream in the belly of a wave | 12/01/2008
• Untimely death of a surfing pro | 06/11/2010
• Wave chasers | 05/05/2007

External

• Al Mennie
• Garrett McNamara
• Zon North Canyon Show
• Surfline

The Irish Times takes no responsibility for the content
or availability of other websites


KILIAN DOYLE
Hawaiian hellman Garrett McNamara has cheated death to ride what is being billed as the largest wave ever surfed.
The big wave rider caught the huge 30m (90 feet) monster earlier this month off the coast of Nazaré in central Portugal.
McNamara was tow-in surfing at Praia do Norte with Northern Irish man Al Mennie and English surfer Andrew Cotton when he caught the giant wave.
"Everything was perfect, the weather, the waves. Cotty and I surfed two big waves of about 60 feet and then, when Garrett was ready, came a canyon wave of over 90 feet,” said Mennie.
“The jet ski was the best place to see him riding the biggest wave I've ever seen. It was amazing. Most people would be scared, but Garrett was controlling everything in the critical part of the wave. It was an inspiring ride by an inspiring surfer.”
Praia do Norte is home to one of the only deep water canyons runs all the way to shore in Europe. It funnels large swells from the Atlantic Ocean and, under the right conditions, can create massive waves that dwarf those along the rest of the Portuguese coast.
McNamara has been working with the Portuguese Hydrographic Institute as part of the ZON North Canyon Project to understand how the waves reach such record-breaking heights at this particular point.
“As I rode this wave, it seemed pretty massive, but I couldn’t tell quite how big it was,” McNamara told surf forecasting website Surfline. “When I got to the bottom and turned and got around the wave and went to kick out, it landed on me and it felt like a ton of bricks. Probably one of the most powerful waves ever to land on me at the shoulder. It was pretty amazing.”

Leonidas BL

That guys got some big balls

Mitch Buchannon

Here is a video of Garrett riding the wave.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqT1fn18GCE

highdef

Impressive video. I can vouch for the waves around this area as I usually holiday every year in nazare and even when the wind is flat calm, the waves can often be a few metres high crashing onto beach

alfa beta

they're amazing waves - you'd want to know about that area if you toodling around in your little pedalo!!

I remember going through the Dursey Sound (between Dursey Island and whatever headland in West Cork it's off) a few years back in a 30ft sailing boat - I think the wind was only force 3 or 4 but whatever way the tide and the wind were working together, they managed to stir up a very steep swell - thankfully the tops of the swells weren't breaking that much but I'd say if the wind had been any bit stronger we'd have been in trouble. The swell wasn't even that big - probably only between 10 and 20 feet - problem was as we went through it it looked like steep walls of water heading for the boat - and when you're sat in your cockpit, hand grasped around the tiller, a 20 foot steep wall of water can look sorta like the end of the world - can only imagine what 90 feet of breaking wave looks and feels like as it hits you....amazing!!

knowing about the weather is only half of it when it comes to boats and stuff - it's incredible what aparently mundane land features and underwater features can do to stir up a bit of nastiness on the surface.

tfitzgerald

That's very impressive

pauliewallie

amazing stuff

WalterMitty

I thought around 13metres was max height for waves except when tsunami or storm surge type event?

alfa beta

WalterMitty wrote: »

I thought around 13metres was max height for waves except when tsunami or storm surge type event?

I guess with a normal ocean floor that would be true but from the article above this seems to be why huge wages occur here:

"Praia do Norte is home to one of the only deep water canyons runs all the way to shore in Europe. It funnels large swells from the Atlantic Ocean and, under the right conditions, can create massive waves that dwarf those along the rest of the Portuguese coast."