Sebastian Steudtner: 26.2 m world record at Nazaré

26.21 mGuinness world record

86 ftIn feet

29 Oct 2020Day of the ride

May 2022Record confirmed

Their story

Sebastian Steudtner is the German surfer who holds the world record for the biggest wave ever ridden. On 29 October 2020 he was towed into a wave at Praia do Norte that Guinness World Records later measured at 26.21 metres, or 86 feet. Checking it took a long time: the record was only confirmed in May 2022, about a year and a half after the ride.

He hasn't stopped looking for a bigger one. In February 2024 his own team measured another Nazaré wave at 28.57 metres. That number has never been ratified, so 26.21 metres is still the official mark.

Best ride

The 26.21 m Guinness world record wave

His 26.21 m Guinness world record wave, 29 Oct 2020.

SurferToday

The ocean that day

29 October 2020, offshore of Praia do Norte

5.5 mOffshore swell

17.8 sPeriod

314° NWDirection (from)

Our formula says: Super giant biggest wave about 25.4 m

The real ride 26.2 m Sebastian Steudtner

Swell from the ERA5 reanalysis (Copernicus / ECMWF) at the hour of the ride. Biggest wave = 1.5 × sets, sets = 2.85 × swell × √(period ÷ 15) on this data scale. How we forecast

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See the next one live.

One email when giant waves (10 m+) show up in the models, usually 5 to 7 days ahead.

Alert me when it's big

Photos: Carlos Eduardo Joos (header), CC BY 2.0; S Pakhrin (Maya Gabeira), CC BY 2.0; Fredodo64 (Justine Dupont), CC BY-SA 4.0; Carlos Eduardo Joos (wave photo), CC BY 2.0; Walterpeitz (wave photos 1, 2), CC BY-SA 4.0; Luis Ascenso (wave photo), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.