Fake Beach Police · Case 003 · October 2026 · 3 min
The Biggest Wave Ever Surfed: The Record Changed in 2020 and Some Guides Never Noticed
The record is 26.2 metres, set at Nazaré in October 2020. A travel guide still online in 2026 gives the 2017 wave. So did we, until this month.
The biggest wave ever surfed is 26.2 metres (86 feet), ridden by Sebastian Steudtner at Praia do Norte in Nazaré, Portugal, on 29 October 2020. Guinness World Records and the World Surf League both accept it, and it was still the record in 2026.
| Year | Surfer | Wave | Standing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Garrett McNamara | 23.8 m (78 ft) | The record at the time |
| 2017 | Rodrigo Koxa | 24.38 m (80 ft) | The record until 2020 |
| 2020 | Maya Gabeira | 22.4 m (73.5 ft) | The women's record, and the biggest wave anyone rode that year |
| 2020 | Sebastian Steudtner | 26.2 m (86 ft) | The record |
| 2024 | Sebastian Steudtner | 28.5 m (93.7 ft) | Measured, not yet declared official |
All five were ridden at Praia do Norte, Nazaré.
The charge
A travel guide to Nazaré, written in November 2020 and still online when we saved it in July 2026, says the town is home to the biggest wave ever surfed, back in 2017, at 24.38 metres. The wave that replaced it had been ridden shortly before the guide was published. Nobody has gone back to change the sentence.
We had it wrong too
Our own record for this beach carried the same line until 12 October 2026, with the wrong year on it as well. We found it when we checked the sentence against its source before putting it on a page. That is the whole method: every sentence is checked against where it came from, ours included.
A record is a fact with an expiry date.
Why it keeps going up
The waves at Praia do Norte are made by the Nazaré Canyon, the largest submarine canyon in Europe: about 230 km long and about 5,000 metres deep. It makes incoming swells pile onto one another. Every record in the table was set on the same beach, and the 2024 wave suggests the table is not finished.
The verdict
Guilty of not updating. If a page tells you the biggest wave ever surfed was 24.38 metres, look for its date. If it has no date, that tells you something too.
Asked
- What is the biggest wave ever surfed?
- 26.2 metres (86 feet), surfed by Sebastian Steudtner at Praia do Norte, Nazaré, Portugal, on 29 October 2020. It is recognised by Guinness World Records and the World Surf League.
- Where was the biggest wave ever surfed?
- At Praia do Norte in Nazaré, Portugal, where an underwater canyon makes the waves far larger than on the rest of the Portuguese coast.
- What is the biggest wave surfed by a woman?
- 22.4 metres (73.5 feet), by Maya Gabeira at Nazaré on 11 February 2020.