It takes a special death-seeking idiot to attempt to surf a wave estimated to have been 100 feet in height. In Portugal, a Brazilian surfer, Carlos Burle, successfully rode such a monstrous wave. The prior world record was set by Hawaiian surfer, Garrett McNamara, who rode a 78-foot wave in November 2011.
“It was luck. We never know when we will be catching the wave. I still hadn’t surfed any wave and everyone had already had their rides. Maya almost died,” Burle told Surfer Today