The Biggest Ever Surfed? Massive NorCal Wave Sparks Record Talk

HALF MOON BAY, CA — A Northern California surfer experienced a rare gift this holiday season in the form of a possible world record wave estimated by some to be over 100 feet.

“Yesterday I rode and witnessed some of the biggest waves of my life,” Alessandro Slebir wrote Christmas Eve in an Instagram post featuring a photo of himself riding an enormous wave Dec. 23 at the Mavericks area north of Half Moon Bay. “This wave was one of many that stood out to me.”

The wave also stood out to the Mavericks Rescue Team, which projected its size to be 108 feet. The current Guinness World Records title-holder for the largest wave ever surfed is 86 feet in Nazaré, Portugal, a measurement that took 18 months to confirm, according to SFGate.

Potential record-setter Slebir is 23 and from Santa Cruz, the outlet reported.

Informally, it seems the verdict may be in on Slebir’s wave.

“That is the world record,” professional surfer Mason Hyce Barnes commented on Slebir's Instagram post, one of many to share the sentiment.