Watch American Surfer and Crazy Man Garrett McNamara Ride a 100-Foot Wave, Not Kill Himself

Share

Every now and then you see some guys trying to surf the Jersey Shore, and you pretend that they pretend that they're actually doing this.

Well, a guy named Garrett McNamara actually is riding a 100-foot high, world-record breaking wave.

There's a spot off the coast of Nazare, Portugal that just so happens to create the largest waves in the world as result of its geography, related weather patterns and a 16,000-foot underwater canyon that is over 2.5-times the depth of the Grand Canyon.

"In Nazare," the Hawaiian surfer told Time (via NPR), "the ocean is known as a place of death, not of riding waves."

It's where he set the world record in 2011 for the biggest wave ever surfed and where he married his wife in November.

Hey, Honey! If I come back, let's get married! Or maybe before I go out there? Before? It's your call.

As mentioned above, McNamara — a native of Pittsfield, Mass., who now surfs out of Hawaii — already holds the world record for surfing a 78-foot wave in that exact location, but he has now negotiated what is thought to have been a 100-foot wave, although its exact height is the matter of dispute amongst people who dispute this sort of thing. A separate NPR posting — citing the Boston Globe — points out that McNamara originally said the 78-footer was 90-feet high.

Why do we bring this up?

1. It's different, 2. It's a world record that doesn't involve chicken wings, 3. The waves themselves are horrifying/impressive to look at on their own, and 4. McNamara — as should not go without mention — is still alive, which seems an achievement in its own right.

Surviving takes training in such things as holding your breath. Surfers such as (Laird) Hamilton and McNamara can hold it for two minutes plus, (forecaster and CEO at Swellinfo.com, a surf forecasting site) Micah Sklut says. When it comes to wiping out in big surf, "you kind of have to let it do what it wants to do and try to relax," he says, though he admits he has never surfed anything close to the really big ones.

For the full writeup, click here.

To watch him ride the 100-footer*, see below.

To watch a member of the McNamara family play Little League as a kid (not really) and other related clips that will help you kill time this Friday afternoon, keep scrolling.

*

*

*

Contact Us