Surfer rides 78-foot wave into Guinness World Records

Garrett McNamara, a big wave surfer, broke the world record for the largest wave ever surfed, off the coast of Portugal, in Novermber 2011.

The wave was an estimated 90 feet at that time. But Guinness Record judges used McNamara’s height in a crouch and the length of his shin bone to help compare it to the wave’s top and bottom, and gave it a record of 78 ft.

McNamara knocked out the previous world record, according to Gizmodo, which was set by Mike Parsons in 2008, when he rode a 77-foot wave.