Is a 1,000-Foot Wave Actually Possible?

The whole podcast is solid, especially if you're a wave nerd. For anyone though, the conversation gets interesting when Ridge asks, "Do you think there is a ceiling where physics can only allow waves to get so big?"

Kevin Wallis, Surfline's Head of Forecasting, replies, "There's a point at which all of these big waves spots, whether Waimea, or Cortes, or Jaws, or whatever, that it gets so big it's just going to close out, they have an upper limit. For a spot like Waimea, that's going to be around 55ft or 60ft. For a spot like Jaws 90-95 ft , that's like a mile off shore where that happens.

So it seems that, to the extent of our knowledge, a 150-feet may be the limit for a rideable wave and that would be at Cortes Bank. Given our limited mapping of the ocean, its totally possible that there are other deep sea spots, yet to be discovered, that could rival Cortes Bank. Finding them and studying them enough to know the conditions could be giant and surfable, is another quest entirely. As Wallis says, Surfline Founder Sean Collins and photographer Larry "Flame" Moore spent nearly a decade researching Cortes Bank.

Beyond storm-generated groundswell there are tsunami waves, which originate from underwater earthquakes that could create waves with more force than any storm swell. Even more destructive would be the wave from a meteor hitting Earth, potentially a cataclysmic event, and I'm sure that ain't nobody gon' surf that...