Garrett McNamara On 100 Foot Wave: No One Knows True Size Yet

Garrett McNamara already holds the record for surfing the largest wave to date and judging by a photo that went viral earlier this week he may have set a new water mark: A 100 foot wave.

But did McNamara really surf a 100 foot wave? Well, it’s difficult to tell.

And truthfully, we’ll probably never know. Wave experts will examine the footage of McNamara’s latest ride and eventually a definitive number will be put on the ride. But measuring waves really isn’t an exact science. Rather, it’s an exact science that is open to interpretation.

McNamara said that he’s already received estimates from experts that place the wave somewhere between 68 and 111 feet.

McNamara told the Inquisitr:

“There is a standard definition and formula for wave height, its just that the bottom is subjective so anyone can say its whatever size they want it to be. If you want it to be a 100 ft it can be. If you want it to be 50 ft it can be. I received an email from a professor at the Kinetics Body Movement institute who used computer software to measure the wave and he got 34 meters conservatively. Another guy said it was 68 ft. Its really hilarious!!”

It took the Guinness Book of World Records several months to conclusively decide that McNamara set a new record when he surfed a 78 foot wave in 2011. Measuring waves may be slightly subjective but Guinness was able to determine that McNamara beat the previous record by Mike Parsons by just “over a foot.”

McNamara said in an email to the Inquisitr: “LOL… Yeah, I’m still a little confused how they figured that out.”

So just how big was McNamara’s wave in Nazare, Portugal?

The professional surfer said that we’ll “have to wait and see what the ‘experts’ say,” but added that the wave felt bigger than his record breaking ride in 2011.

McNamara said:

“The drop was definitely a lot longer … (Was it 100 feet?) Who’s to say … I really have no idea. The definition of wave height is crest to trough. Its easy to find the crest but the rest is not something I want to do. It was definitely up there, we will have to wait and see what the “experts” say.”

Here’s a video of Garrett McNamara’s 100 foot wave.