A wave is a disturbance that transfers energy, and in the ocean, this disturbance is created by multiple forces, including wind, earthquakes, and landslides. Determining the “tallest wave ever recorded” depends entirely on the type of wave being measured. The record changes based on whether the wave is a monumental displacement event, an open-ocean giant, or a towering swell successfully ridden by a surfer, as each category uses different metrics.
The Absolute Tallest Wave Ever Recorded
The largest wave in recorded history was a displacement wave, or megatsunami, caused by a massive geological event, not a wind-driven swell. This record belongs to the 1958 event in Lituya Bay, Alaska, a narrow, T-shaped fjord susceptible to seismic activity. On July 9, 1958, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake along the Fairweather Fault triggered a landslide of approximately 30.6 million cubic meters of rock and ice into the head of the bay.
The impact of this rockfall instantly displaced an enormous volume of water, creating a surge that slammed into the opposite slope. This surge climbed the hillside to an astonishing altitude of 524 meters (1,720 feet), a height known as the maximum run-up. Run-up is the vertical distance a wave travels up a slope above the still-water level, distinguishing it from the wave’s height in the water column. The resulting wave stripped trees and soil from the hillsides, leaving a visible trimline imprinted on the landscape today.
Oceanic Giants (Rogue and Wind-Generated Waves)
Waves generated by wind and ocean currents in the open sea are measured differently from displacement tsunamis. The most dramatic examples are “rogue waves,” also called freak waves, which are unusually large, sudden, and steep waves that defy traditional statistical models for sea states. Their existence was confirmed in 1995 with the measurement of the Draupner wave in the North Sea.
This wave was detected by a laser rangefinder on the Draupner gas platform off the coast of Norway on January 1, 1995. The instrument recorded a maximum wave height of 25.6 meters (84 feet) from crest to trough. The peak crest elevation above the still-water level was 18.5 meters (61 feet), more than double the significant wave height of the surrounding sea. Rogue waves form through constructive interference, a process where multiple smaller waves align momentarily, combining their energy into a single, massive peak.
The Tallest Waves Surfed
The most recent record for wave height is in big wave surfing, focusing on the maximum vertical distance a person can successfully ride. The location most famous for producing these waves is Praia do Norte in Nazaré, Portugal, due to the unique bathymetry of the Nazaré Canyon. This deep, underwater canyon channels and amplifies incoming Atlantic swells, causing them to rear up into enormous breaking waves close to shore.
The current Guinness World Record belongs to German surfer Sebastian Steudtner, who, on October 29, 2020, rode a wave at Nazaré officially measured at 26.21 meters (86 feet). Measurement verification is a complex, multi-year process overseen by the World Surf League (WSL). The WSL uses photogrammetry to compare the surfer’s height to the wave’s face, measuring the vertical distance from the trough to the crest. Because these waves are too fast and large to catch by paddling, “tow-in” surfing is necessary, where a jet ski tows the surfer into the wave at high speed.