Was the 100 Foot Wave Surfed? A Semi-Scientific Breakdown (Clip)

Now, the matter of actually discerning the wave heights comes into play. The current Guinness World Record for “largest wave surfed” is already held by Steudtner, from an 86-footer, also from Nazaré, but back in 2020. And although officials have yet to weigh in on the two new waves from Chumbo and Steudtner, armchair experts are speculating.

Tanner Waite, (aka Beach Cowboy), an engineer and big-wave surfer himself, has provided a semi-scientific analysis of the wave heights – as seen above.

“Two surfers may have just broken the world record for the largest wave ever ridden in history,” Waite says, “and both of which could very well be bigger than 100 feet. In today’s episode of ‘Surf Physics’ we’re gonna let Kyle [a cartoon demon] break it down for you.”

First, the cartoon demon looks at Steudtner’s original Guinness World Record Wave from 2020. Then, he uses that as a reference point for gauging the recent rides.

“By establishing to top and bottom [of the wave],” he explains, “we find that the height is just over 105 feet tall, which shatters his old record.”

What about Chumbo’s wave, though?

Well, it looks like Waite and his cartoon avatar are going to tackle that in another episode – stay tuned for that. However, hinting at what’s to come, there’s a superimposed prediction on the image of Chumbo’s wave stating: “300 feet?!”

Exaggeration? Gotta be.