Surfpolitik Big Wave Measurements Leave Me Flaccid

In: Surfpolitik by Stu Nettle 35 Comments Wed 9th Nov '11

Tags: big waves , garrett macnamara , mike parsons , ken bradshaw

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Yesterday Hawaiian big-wave surfer, Garrett Macnamara, rode a huge wave at Nazare, Portugal. It was a monster, no doubt, but the size attributed to it - 90 feet – just didn't seem to add up. It reminded me of an old joke:

Why do women have trouble parking cars?
Because men keep telling them that six inches is ten.

Crude, yep, but a good illustration of what's been happening in big wave surfing over the last decade. Each year bigger waves get ridden yet the criteria for measuring them gets changed along the way. The 100 foot goalpost just keeps getting lower and lower.

In January 1998, Ken Bradshaw rode Outside Log Cabins on Oahu's North Shore and jagged what was then considered the largest wave ever ridden (see image 1). In his book, North Shore Chronicles, surf journalist Bruce Jenkins said Bradshaw rode a wave that morning which "was in the mythical 40-foot realm, a cut above most of the waves ridden that day".

Bradshaw himself says he caught his biggest wave in the morning, but "I got another 30-plus wave in the afternoon." The wave sizes – 30 to 40 feet – were proportional to what was being paddled into at big Waimea and big Mavericks.

Sometime around the turn of the millennium big wave competitions took hold and wave sizes were covertly recalibrated. 50 foot became the new Code Black.

In 2001 Mike Parsons rode what was considered a 66 foot wave at Cortes Bank (see image 3). In 2008 he rode one that didn't appear any larger yet was measured at 70+ feet. That six inches was growing...

Now Garrett Macnamara has ridden a wave that the big wave valet attendants are calling 90 feet and the operation is almost complete (see image 4). Click through all the images from 1 to 4 and watch as they grow. From 40 foot to 90 foot. 6 inches to 10 inches. It's enough to make a regular big wave surfer feel inadequate. 

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