Sporting Witness
Sporting Witness
Surfing the world's biggest waves
Up next
October 15, 2020
14 minutes
Available for over a year
The story of how the legendary surfer, Garrett McNamara, pioneered riding the colossal 100ft waves at Nazaré on the Portuguese coast. At Nazaré in 2011 he broke the world record for the biggest wave ever surfed, officially judged to be 78ft (23.8m). Nazaré has since become a centre of big wave surfing. Garrett McNamara spoke to Alex Last about how he first came to surf Nazaré and why he risks his life to ride giant waves.
Photo: Garrett McNamara riding his record breaking wave at Nazaré in November 2011 - recognised at the 2012 WSL Big Wave Awards (Credit:WSL/Ribiero)