British surfer may have set new women’s world record for largest wave
A British surfer and former Love Island contestant may have claimed the women’s world record for riding the largest wave ever after taking on a colossal swell in Portugal last Saturday, reports BritPanorama.
Laura Crane, a 30-year-old from Devon, tackled what she described as “one of the most perfect big waves” while competing at the Nazaré Big Wave Challenge. The current record stands at 73.5ft, set by Brazilian Maya Gabeira at the same location in February 2020.
Ms Crane believes her wave exceeded that height, and Guinness World Records is now evaluating her achievement. Speaking to the BBC, Ms Crane stated she had “never seen a wave that big” before, adding that it came as “a big shock.”
Big Wave Challenge judges are collaborating with Guinness to verify whether she has indeed secured the record. Her teammate, Antonio Laureano, towed her into the massive wave on a jet ski, travelling at approximately 30mph, while warning her it was going to “be a bomb.”
Ms Crane described the experience as “flying” and “a total out-of-body experience,” for which she had no adequate words. After riding the wave, she was overwhelmed with emotion, saying, “When I came off the back, I cried straight away. The adrenaline is incomparable.”
Upon being collected by her support team, her feelings of joy and excitement were palpable. She recounted to The Times, “It was just incredible tears of happiness and joy, and that I got to have this incredible experience with this wave that I have seen in my dreams a million times over.”
The remarkable ride occurred during an unexpected window of opportunity; a technical fault had halted the competition, prompting most competitors to call it a day. Ms Crane, however, refused to abandon the water: “Most surfers packed up, but I couldn’t. I had just hours of light left and the swell was dying. It was a race against time,” she said. She ventured back out alongside fellow Briton Andrew Cotton despite uncertainty over whether surfing could continue.
This achievement further cements her pioneering status in the sport. In the previous year, she became the first British woman to tackle the notorious Nazaré waves, known to reach extraordinary heights due to a three-mile-deep underwater canyon off the small fishing village north of Lisbon.
Earlier in 2024, Ms Crane suffered a broken ankle while training on Nazaré’s enormous swells, spending months working towards her comeback in this winter’s competition. Big-wave surfing carries significant dangers, with surfers who wipe out being forced down to depths of 20 to 50 feet. Ms Crane reflected, “I believe I have been training for this my whole life. I wouldn’t want to live through some of the things I have lived through again, but it’s given me a thick skin and belief to keep fighting and keep that path open for someone else after me as well.”
The prospect of breaking the record is “very exciting for British surfing,” according to Ms Crane, highlighting both her personal journey and the significance it holds for the wider surfing community.
In a sport where the interface between courage and nature is often blurred, Ms Crane’s experience serves as a vivid reminder of how dreams and realities can collide in the most extraordinary ways. For a surfer, that chance to embrace the ocean’s might is perhaps the ultimate thrill.
