
Portugal
Local Nazaré charger
Tony Laureano grew up with Nazaré in the family. His father, Ramon, is a jet ski rescuer and one of the town's big wave pioneers, and he's usually the one towing Tony into waves. At 15, Tony became the youngest surfer ever nominated for the XXL Big Wave Awards, in the Biggest Wave category.
On 29 October 2020, the same day Sebastian Steudtner set the world record, Ramon towed him into a wave that the University of Lisbon unofficially measured at 101.4 feet, about 30.9 metres. It was never ratified.
In January 2024 he drove the jet ski for Maya Gabeira when she won the women's title, and kept driving even after he got hurt.
The biggest wave of his life, 29 Oct 2020.
One email when giant waves (10 m+) show up in the models, usually 5 to 7 days ahead.
Photos: Carlos Eduardo Joos (header), CC BY 2.0; S Pakhrin (Maya Gabeira), CC BY 2.0; Walterpeitz (wave photo), CC BY-SA 4.0; Carlos Eduardo Joos (wave photo), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.