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Two Jet Skiers at Maverick's reef faced deadly 100-foot waves (2007) (sfgate.com)
42 points by curtis on May 29, 2016 | hide | past | favorite | 7 comments




Big, but certainly not 100ft. As a surfer it's really annoying how headlines throw around 100ft claims without any sort of verification. A 100ft breaking wave has yet to be surfed, let alone proven to exist.


Obviously you missed out on the action at Nazare in Portugal the last few years. Yes, there is a 100ft wave that has been surfed in 2013. Was big news at the time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtVQJCq2cCM


I don't think anybody has ever claimed that anyone surfed a 100 foot wave on "100 foot Wednesday", only that some people believe the waves got that big. In the linked story, the claim is that that the waves got so big that even the hard core tow-in surfers had quit.

The last two people on jet-skis were about to come in and got caught by two very large waves in succession that were much larger than anybody had surfed that day. They think the waves -- especially the second one -- may have been 100 feet.

The writer hedges his bets however:

Some doubt that the waves Alladio and Cahill surmounted did indeed reach a height of 100 feet. Wave expert Sponsler cautiously allows that "theoretically, it's possible."

Washburn says he took film footage of gigantic swells nearby later that afternoon. When he shows them to other hydrology experts now, they say the waves seem to be at least that tall.


TFA claims that as the waves got bigger and bigger, the surfers pulled out, and that the last wave surfed that day was measured at 68ft. The claimed 100ft waves were encountered by a pair of rescue/support personnel on jet skis.


Cortez Bank? I heard it hits 100 ft on occasion and had been surfed.

Coincidentally, a group of stand-up skiers rode it in '07 @ 80ft, if memory serves. I cannot find pix @ the moment, and sadly, I never saw/heard of any video taken that day. If they can be found, the pic of Randy Laine barreling down the monster face as the tip of the underwater mountain appeared in the trough ahead if him was chilling. He bunny-hopped it.


To be fair, here's the caption of the video: Raw footage at Mavericks on November 21, 2001 "100 foot Wednesday"

So it's not the headline writers coming up with the hyperbole.




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