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The world's biggest wave, explained

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The world's biggest wave, explained

And how it’s transformed a Portuguese town.

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Nazaré, Portugal was for centuries just a small fishing village known for its fishermen and dangerous seas. Then one day in 2011, a pro-surfer named Garrett McNamara strapped on a surf board and rode a 78 foot wave right off its coast. It was a new world-record for big wave surfing and the moment that changed Nazaré forever. Now, Nazaré is the capital of Big Wave surfing. The secret to Nazaré’s giant waves lies under the surface, where a huge underwater canyon funnels swells right up to its cliffs, then launches that energy straight up, sometimes 60, 70, or 80 feet. Many surfers visit in the hopes of catching a 100-foot wave.

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40 COMMENTS

  1. Hey everyone, Sam here saying thanks so much for watching. This was a big project for us, but there’s a lot more to this story. As Tony told us, every surfer in Nazaré is hunting for one thing: the 100 foot wave. The “official” record is 80-feet, as certified by Guinness. But there have been several surfers that have ridden waves that appear to be around 100 feet — and they are backed up by experts.

    Tony’s 2020 wave was measured by scientists at the University of Lisbon, who concluded it was 101.4 feet tall. The problem is… measuring waves is really, really, hard and there’s more than one way to do it. Here’s a great article about how it's done: https://news.usc.edu/179187/biggest-wave-surfed-2020-usc-adam-fincham-maya-gabeira/

  23. What a Great Context… This is how a story is told.

    This is true Journalism… Context is everything, and everyone understands.
    this is why VOX is good.

    Thank you very much for coming to my country… and for knowing how to extract the essence and values.

  32. I live 15 minutes from Nazaré , and believe me , there are a lot of local surfers and surfers from the nearby beaches and villages who have been surfing record breaking waves for years, specially the Nazaré surfers, but before the McNamara wave, no one bothered to make a fuss or tape whatever we were watching because no one else knew or cared about Praia do Norte massive waves.
    Fun fact: the Nazaré women traditional clothing includes 7 layers of skirts. Men here are patient and never get tired 🤣

  35. Oh c'mon, that was not by any measure the biggest wave. It's not the tallest. It's not the most massive. It's not the widest. It's not the longest wavelength. It's not the most destructive.

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