Surfing is nothing but controlled falling in moving water, but this is a jaw dropper. Garrett McNamara is a professional big wave surfer who travels a world wide circuit, and on this particular outing off the shores of Portugal, he caught a rogue wave, estimated to be 90 feet tall at the crest. Here’s another take:
Garrett McNamara caught a monstrous wave Tuesday off Nazaré in Portugal, but did the wave face measure anywhere close to 90 feet, as a witness in the surfer’s group implied and as news reports suggested? Is it the largest wave ever ridden, as stated in the headline of a news release issued after the epic tow-surfing session?
Both points are debatable based on footage provided by McNamara to GrindTv.com, for its Tuesday afternoon post on the surfer’s incredible ride.
It was, without doubt, an amazing performance by the big-wave surfing icon from Hawaii. The wave face, however, does not appear to measure 90 feet. It’s worth noting, though, that footage captured from up high or far away, as was mostly the case here (there is some helmet-cam footage), can be misleading.
According to the folks who were there:
McNamara, a big-wave surfing icon from Hawaii, was riding large waves with Andrew Cotton and Al Mennie when three gigantic waves appeared on the outside. Cotton used a personal watercraft to tow McNamara onto the massive shoulder of one of those rogue waves. Mennie was siting in the channel on another vessel, acting as lifeguard, and described the event: “Everything seemed to be perfect, the weather, the waves. Both Cotty and I rode two big ones in the 60-foot-plus range and then when Garrett got on the rope a wave, maybe 30 feet bigger, came out of the canyon.
A fifteen-foot tall wall of water intimidates many surfers, but the guys who get the most credit are those running the towing operation on huge offshore breaks. They time the swells, estimate the breaks, and after dropping their cargo of brass balls off of a multi-story tower of water, manage to escape with their lives.
Fortunately, most of us don’t deal with that kind of awe-inspiring death-defying thrill-seeking bravado because we can be internet dare-devils instead, on
The Overnight Open Thread.
Tags: Garrett McNamara, Overnight Open Thread, Portugal, Rogue Wave, Surfing
I could do that. I just don’t want to.
The advent of tow-in surfing has made riding huge waves a reality -- far cry from the wave Greg Noll rode at Makaha back in the 60′s. Paddling out in those days was a commitment.
Having spent considerable time at Mavericks in Northern California, I have nothing but respect for the big guns that face a 30 ft. wall of water. My best was a 12′ at Todos Santos in my 20′s when two Heinekins made me very, very brave.
Water, water, water.
I’m surround by water almost daily.
Swim team extrodinare car pool mommy, fond of hanging out in parking lots for long periods of time many times a week while lurking on Blogmock.
Brazos
Two big ones
@ tuco:
I’ve done that. Prove that I didn’t.
I recobanize your nic from a long time ago. Prove that I don’t.
@ Carolina Girl:
Mavericks has a rep.
There was an article in Alaska Magazine(?) about towing surfers past a nasty break with huge sets coming in. Gunning the engine, the tow-er almost lost power on the face before he got over the lip. Would have been certain death.
Bunk X wrote:
I have 3 people who saw that you did not do that, they wish to remain anonymous.
@ Prebanned:
Guess I’m busted. I was more of a river rat anyway.
@ Bunk X:
@ Prebanned:
Joint press conference between you and the others please.
I wish to discredit Bunk.
Calo wrote:
Bladder problems?
Holy Big Kahuna that was a big wave…
@ Calo:
Piss away. I diffused the situation by speaking truth to power.
Calo wrote:
You can’t discredit Bunk, he aint go to credit to be dis’d…
Bunk X wrote:
I thought you only spoke truth to powder…
Calo wrote:
The Law office of James Sokolove will begin airing commercials, we can make this thing a class action lawsuit!
We are going to take our country back, YeeeeAaaarrrrggghhhh!
@ Bunk X:
I posted what was no doubt an incredibly profound comment many moons ago which may or may not have involved some sort of fart humour. Either way, it was a long time between drinks and I’ve already quadrupled my total post count in one day.
@ Prebanned:
Yes! we are the 99% who iz gonna
takesteal Bunk’s mojodoriangrey wrote:
Ever read Corky Carroll‘s column in the OC Register? He’s got some good stories on the history of SoCal surfing.
BFD, I jumped out of a perfectly good plane from 15,000 feet.
/Yeah, I rock.
@ tuco:
Fart humour is always a colourful addition to any blogthread. Have at it.
@ Bunk X:
Seething, English style right now.
Calo wrote:
Heck, we are the 99 and 44/100ths
@ Bob in Breckenridge:
Yeah, and I played rhythm guitar with a band I’d never met and who never practiced together. Now THAT was scary.
@ Prebanned:
What, we only left Bunk with .56% of his mojo.
I am so gonna pay for that now.
Thanks Prebanned.
Prebanned wrote:
No Time For LoLos ‘Cause We are the Ivorys — Of The Soap.
Bunk X wrote:
I wasn’t scared. I was 20. And I was ordered not to be scared by my LPO. Now, the 10,000 foot freefall was exhilarating, to say the least.
@ Bunk X:
Soap joke.
MUST. BE. QUIET. NOW.
Time to find a tune to drift off to sleep to.
@ Calo:
I’m gonna name my next band
“20-Year Warranty Garage Door Spring.”
@ Bob in Breckenridge:
Cool. My gig was in front of a bunch of *gasp* SUGAR-WIRED MORMONS. Busted 3 E-strings, and the crowd went wild.
Bunk X wrote:
Beats the hell out of “The Butthole Surfers”.
/Yep, staying on topic.
@ Calo:
“Why are you foaming so?” said the shaker to the snail.
Bunk X wrote:
I thought caffeine was verboten with them. Or was it Kool-Aid?
Bunk X wrote:
I had a knucklehead working for me a few years back, he wanted to start a band and call it “Hitler Stole my Potato”. Did I mention he was a knucklehead???
@ Bob in Breckenridge:
And “The Surf Punks” sucked donkeys.
I liked these guys:
@ doriangrey:
Names are everything when it comes to garage bands, but we didn’t know it. “Teenage Mutant Ninja Nuns” and “Blind Melon Daquiri & The Continental Breakfast All-Star Blues Review” didn’t make the nut, but “Rufus & The SandBats” had promise.
Prebanned wrote:
Saw this on failblog today: He has a sign
@ Bob in Breckenridge:
Chocolate. Milkshakes. Candy bars.
It was fun. My beer was in a cooler in the parking lot.
@ AZfederalist:
WIN!
@ Calo:
Found it.
Corny but it works.
AZfederalist wrote:
ROTFLMAO… Imitation as the most ruthless form of mockery…
Calo wrote:
Here, let this coax you into slumber-land…
@ doriangrey:
Excellent. I remember that song.
@ Calo:
That’s one of my favorite Stones songs.
@ Bunk X:
Yep -- never appreciated the Stones til I was more mature.
AZfederalist wrote:
Saw that on FB last week. I think the closet cons and libertarians are quietly passing that around
@ Zimriel:
Here’s another in the same vein.
Alberta Oil Peon wrote:
Now yer talkin’. I’m not out on the rigs or seismic crews any more (thankfully), but I’m still on the road almost 300 days a year (in a good year.) So anybody demanding access to my wallet can fucking well earn it by doing the same. Of course, then they wouldn’t need access to my wallet, now would they?
PS -- None of my clients or employers of the last 37+ years has had much call for people with MAs in Queer Studies or MFAs in Puppetry no matter how expensive the granting institution was.
This is what I want for Christmas (hinthinthint):
http://www.amazon.com/Drunk-Stoned-Brilliant-Dead-National/dp/0810988488
If that’s too much, I want one of these.
@ Bunk X:
If you don’t already have it, what you need is this…
http://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Mark-Twain-Vol-1/dp/0520267192/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1320911945&sr=1-1
@ Bunk X:
Damn. That was supposed to be a private message to Calo.
@ Mike C.:
That looks like a good pick for just about anybody, even Dorian.
@ Bunk X:
Two more volumes coming. It was published last year because Sam dictated in his will that it was not to be published until 100 years afters his death, and he died in 1910. He came in with Halley’s Comet, and he went out with Halley’s Comet.
If Mr. Peabody loaned me the keys to The Wayback Machine for just one trip, to meet just one person, Samuel Clemens/Mark Twain would probably be my choice. King of the Grouches, and author of some of the funniest material ever written in the English (or any other) language.
If this doesn’t make you blow beverages out your nose, you need professional mental health help…
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3172
And BTW, that is the single most devastationg critical review of a work of literature EVER written. The fiercest critics of my lifetime are mere children in comparison.
Of course, perhaps their subjects in these diminished days weren’t up to the task, either.
Good morning everyone. Yesterday was black and white, today it’s expired colour film…
For Phillip Daniel:
Thought of you when I saw this.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nHJ6Z8li7Os
For those of you who are into revisionist history.
@ Mike C.:
Good one.
@ Mike C.:
More effective criticism:
Bumr50 wrote:
I disagree that they are significant. Certainly, no news outlet has covered the persistent rumors that Hillary Clinton is secretly gay or that Obama has had trysts with other men. Are these significant stories? Why are they not, but Herman Cain’s rumors are? Let’s face it, the more we know about his accusers, the less credible they seem.
@ Iron Fist:
It is the Columbia Journalism Review.
The fact that even they stepped in to tell Politico how irresponsible they are speaks volumes.
Happy Birthday to the United States Marines
@ Nevergiveup:
OooRah! Happy Birthday to the Corps!
@ Bumr50:
That is true. The frenzy against Cain has been unrelenting. I hope he survives it, what with Perry comitting seppuku last night. God, what an awful performance! I can’t believe how vulnerable Obama is and this is the best we can turn out. It is awful. Obama has the luck of the Devil. Maybe he is the antiChrist…
Good Morning All…gonna be a great day