Laura Enever Sets New Guinness World Record for Largest Wave Paddle-in
Laura Enever Sets New Guinness World Record for Largest Wave Paddle-in
LOS ANGELES, California, USA (Wednesday, November 8, 2023) - The World Surf League (WSL) announces that Laura Enever (AUS) has set a new Guinness World Records title for the Largest wave surfed paddle-in (female). The WSL officially analyzed, measured, and verified Enever’s 2023 record-breaking ride at 43.6 feet (13.3 meters) as part of the WSL Big Wave Record Chase, making it the biggest wave ever paddled into by a woman.
Enever, who is 31 years old and from North Narrabeen, Australia, successfully surfed a wave measuring 43.6 feet (13.3 meters) from trough to crest at Outer Reef, the big-wave break on the North Shore of Oahu, on January 22, 2023.
“I knew it was big when I paddled into it, and then when I took off, I looked down, and I knew it was definitely the biggest wave I've ever caught,” said Enever. “I knew it was the wave of my life, the whole way it all came together and the way I committed, backed myself, told myself to go, and trusted I could do it. The ride was such a breakthrough for me and a moment that will be special and monumental in my surf career. To get awarded this months later is really cool, I can't believe it.
“I would never be in this position if it wasn't for all the big wave surfers who have come before me and paved the way, especially the really brave, courageous females who have always inspired me and made me feel like I could get out there and give it a crack. So, thank you to all the amazing women. I'm just constantly in awe. Andrea Moller held this record before me, and it's an honor to hold that record and keep pushing big wave surfing. And I know that the next girls, the next generation of female big wave surfers, are going to do the same.”
Enever’s World Record adds to an already stellar surfing career. She was the ISA Junior World Champion and Triple Crown Rookie of the Year in 2008, and World Junior Champion in 2009. In 2011, Enever qualified for the WSL Championship Tour, where she competed for seven years, consistently finishing in the Top 10. She has gone on to compete in WSL Big Wave events and push the limits of big wave surfing.
“Huge congratulations to Laura for this incredible achievement,” said Jessi Miley-Dyer, WSL Chief of Sport. “Laura is fearless, committed, and a real inspiration, and I’m so proud to celebrate her. These World Records really allow us to shine the spotlight on athletes like Laura who are pushing the boundaries of Big Wave surfing.”
Enever was awarded the Guinness World Records certificate in her hometown of Narrabeen in New South Wales, Australia, where she celebrated the accomplishment with her family and friends.
“I've worked my whole life to be a professional surfer and to be on the World Tour,” continued Enever. “I was there, and I gave that up for this pull and urge to surf big waves. I was just thinking I just wanted to go do this for me, and to be here today and to have a Guinness World Records title for the biggest paddle, I can't believe it.”
Enever’s record bettered Andrea Moller’s previous record by just one foot, which was caught on January 16, 2016, at Pe’ahi, Maui. Moller, an internationally recognized waterwomen, pioneer of big wave surfing, and respected paramedic, held the record for seven years. She was the first woman to paddle into a wave at Pe’ahi, the first woman to catch a wave in the prestigious Eddie Aikau big wave contest, and an advocate for equality and progression in big wave surfing.
About the Measurement Process
The WSL Science Team, led by Michal Pieszk, Senior Research and Development Engineer of the Kelly Slater Wave Company (KSWC), collaborated on the analysis of the largest waves ridden in the Paddle-In category during the 2022/23 WSL Big Wave Record Chase season. The team used a range of wave-measuring techniques using video footage, detailed information about the site, the location of the videographers and location of the wave, to determine the wave height
Several frames from the video footage were extracted and geometrically corrected based on camera positions and angles. Using known objects such as jet skis and actual measurements of Enever’s body geometry, it was possible to calibrate the images for conversion from pixels to feet. The location of the trough and crest of the wave was determined from analysis of the video from two different angles.
Comments
Well done Laura, fantastic feat and what a commitment.......!
Legend status now.
Laura is my spirit animal
Underwhelming on tour, but full credit to her since, including the commentary. Much better than that nasally American that sounds like a party balloon being let down slowly.
Ha ha! Nailed it.
Bahaha this wins comment of the week award Bustard
Amazing photo, incredible ride. Good onya Laura.
Much deserved. Yeah huge wave and incredible effort!
So exactly half the size of Seb Steudtner's tow world record - 86 feet - yet if rec surfers were asked which wave mattered more I imagine the order would be reversed.
Maybe not if Seb’s wave was shaped like the above.
Kinda shows the disconnect between the traditions of surfing: paddling an outer reef on Hawaii's North Shore with no entourage or expectation, and towing into Nazare seeking the trophy wave that'll garner MSM attention.
Fairly large entourage , back up jet skis and film crews for that Himi,s session too Stu.
Well done Laura
Not hers though. For instance, when she lost her board later in the session no-one came for her.
To put it another way: The current world record holder is Sebastian Steudtner, have you ever seen him on a large wave that isn't Nazare?
Same goes the previous world record holder Rodrigo Koxa?
There's a whole world of big and heavy waves out there, a surfer could spend their whole career chasing them, in fact surfers like Nathan Florence are doing just that, and then there's the PR factory that is Nazare where one wave can give surfers who are in it for different reasons a great big boost.
I'm on that train of thought too. It would be ideal if the "new' big wave tour isn't swamped with hyperbolic Instagramable language, but I know I'm dreaming. I perceive consistent arenas like Peahi and Maverick's to be significantly more than Nazare - no disrespect to anyone. I can't define "more" other than to say wave height isn't everything.
Does anyone find watching whip ins at Nazare impressive? I'm sure there's all sorts to contend with but paddling in like Laura, Mavs, Jaws, some of those slabs etc is a different sport really.
Are you sure no one came and got her?
Sebastian won the xxl big wave on a wave at jaws peahi !
before nazare was "discovered".
"In 2010, at only 24 years old, he surfed the year's biggest wave at Pe'ahi, Maui (Jaws), making him the first European ever to win the XXL Biggest Wave Award."
Someone hacked your account Mike, surely that wasn’t a compliment about big wave surfing?!? ;-0
More of an observation than a compliment Goofy.
Sucks to see that spot blown out to what it is now. Amazing wave.
This Guiness stuff confirms that if you take enough cameras with you and take off in front of them on a big wave you can be famous. Glad it was Laura who at least has a track record of charging rather than others that got on board the big wave train purely for the commodity.
Got to say that putting money into the big wave surfing pissing contest draws the wrong motivation and participants aka Nazare as the prime example as stated by Stu.
It certainly has become Insta-famous the last few years.
That session JJF had out there a year or two ago on the red board was incredible
You ( I assume ) watched the 100 foot wave series. What a wankerfest. So disenchanting. Wanna be heroes . All chasing the corporate $.ugh.
can't wait for the biggest wave ever surfed (transgender)
Small in stature with a massive heart on ya LE ..
Laura is 100% exceptional and well deserved to take this historic BIG WAVE accolade. The WSL put award up and made helped make it official with the Guinness Book of Records. But what does she receive? A trophy/plaque?
From memory there was talk of prize money on world record via the WSL.
Maybe i am wrong. Hopefully i am correct.
Lucy will sort it ...
Any word from her on what the hold down was like?
Fking massive wave
Amazing stuff, you're on another level.
Puts into question the definition of "wave surfed".
Was thinking that too
Maybe, but, if you turn and paddle and push yourself over the ledge on something like that, it's more than surfed i reckon.
I dont think anyone is doubting the incredible courage it takes to paddle in to something like that. But to say she surfed the wave is stretching it a bit, it's a big drop straight down and then falls off.
Did Laura fall off? Looks to me like she got swamped by the enormous whitewater.
Sure, if Laura had bogged a rail, or free-fell out of the sky, or nose-dived etc, then the award might be questionable.
In my eyes she did everything right at the most crucial times.
Didn't say the award was questionable.
The wave that held the record Laura broke was very similar - paddle in, take the drop straight down and then get swallowed. So based on the standards for this record Laura deserves it, no doubt.
Fair enough, but you did point out that she "fell off", which was therefore a detraction of the ride.
It definitely wasn’t “successfully surfed” like they say in the press release but amazing effort to do what she did regardless.
If you're watching your local reef on the biggest day of the year and the local charger catches an absolute bomb and makes it to the bottom, do you go up and tell him/her post surf that they didn't 'surf' the wave?
If you're watching your local reef on the biggest day of the year and the local charger catches an absolute bomb but just makes it the bottom before getting swallowed, would they claim it?
I don't think shes the one claiming it mate.
But probably yep. Waves of a lifetime are worthy of retelling and frothing over.
You're right, it's her employer the WSL who are claiming it. Noted for their integrity and strong moral principles they speak on behalf of all local chargers.
Cant argue w that last point.
Will agree to disagree on the other
She is an amazing woman. Super brave and charging.
I would have thought to count she would have had to surf it out, not just take the drop.
yeah you can get picky on this stuff but the facts are there for all to see . Luara paddled out knowing the risks were high , set herself up in the take off zone , picks a monster and takes the drop on point , the wave has a section that she cant get past , but trys but gets rolled . Just in doing that she has completed a ride that only 1% of the surfing population ( prob 0.01% ) male or female could do , go Laura
Alternatively, if someone else had been awarded the gong for a smaller wave, simply because they didn't get swallowed up by an enormous foam ball, can you imagine the outrage? Rightly so, too.
Laura's wave is phenomenal and she deserves the accolades.
What would it take in equipment to be able to turn 3/4s the way down so you can get ahead of that whitewater? Is it possible?
A Board in Dimensions of Albee Layers Big Wave Shorties .
The record she broke exactly the same thing happened, only thing different was it was a right, not left.
Absolute legend.
Onya Laura.
Cringed when I saw her smoked at Jaws so no question she'll go.
Shes got massive ovaries
;) surprised that it is the first ever time I have heard that comment.
Time to make it standard and remove the sexist balls stuff!
I bet feminists would still say "balls" with no sense of irony.
'Nads is actually the completely gender neutral and hence appropriate term.
Hopefully it starts to get recognition as such.
Hmmmm never heard of it. How about intestinal fortitude is that neutral of gender enough? Hmmmm....where is this heading? Are we in danger of disappearing up our collective rear exits with this tiptoeing around gender? Food for backlash .
Seriously, you can't remember Gonad Man?
Gonads is the biological collective term for the sex organs (ovaries or testes) that produce the sex cells (ova or sperm).
'Rear exit' has negative connotations so this should be replaced with 'orifice closest to grounded'. Thank you all in advance.
nice avatar Memla
I like it I will pass that onto the education department and the public service!
Big fan of Laura, for her surfing and her commentary on comps. I know when she is in the booth or in the water calling the action you will get sensible opinions from her.
Hate to go there, but a 43’ face? I’m sure they have it all worked out and go to great trouble, but I’m struggling to buy it.
Look, if it wasn’t for Guinness World Records requiring some slightly bs measurement, we would just say that was an effing big wave. Sort of takes away from the achievement to my dystopia-boggled mind.
Congrats Laura. Well deserved.
TV always makes people small. Laura's actually 6'8" in real life.
EPIC! Not a burger either like Nachozare
Am I missing something here she took a drop and ate shit ? I mean I think she is an absolute superstar and a lovely human but if your throwing out awards you would want to have completed the wave ???? And the size is questionable , yeah yeah I know I'm a sexist unwoke pig for questioning this my toxic masculinity just gets the better of me sometimes
Look at Mollers wave ( previous record ) .same thing happened .
Would have been me if I didn't have a sore big toe and left my big board at home!
Don’t worry about the toe fraz… it was a paddle award
If she knived the bottom turn maybe the biggest barrel as well ..amazing good on ya !!
Whats with the fake news title that gave the impression of the biggest wave paddled in by a surfer only to find it was for a female, even that was in brackets in the text. To classify as riding a wave it should be to paddle in, cut across the face and exit, otherwise it is just a farce how long you can stay on the board before the wave gobbles you up.
Triggered.....Bob??
Funny how Brocks wave at Waimea was considered one of the greatest rides of all time, yet he didn't even make it to the bottom, yet Laura, (a female) who made it all the way to the bottom on an arguably bigger wave, is derived for not riding out of an impossible whitewater explosion.
You gotta wonder what peoples real motives are.
Is that a kitchen buried under the whitewater of Lauras wave??
Anyway, here's Brocks wave and it was a wave that stood alone as one of the greatest rides in my mind as a grommet growing up.
Something a few of the commenters on this might consider doing.
https://tracksmag.com.au/waves-that-mattered-brock-little-waimea-bay-edd...
*fucken derided, not derived...
:-P
Looking forward to the conversation from those that considered Laura's wave 'unsurfed' in defending Brocks historical wave that has been widely acclaimed in history as being one of the biggest and best paddled into and ridden in history.
Really...how are you going to defend this? Do you see where this is going??
Could get awkward for all you L.E naysayers.
I have a feeling you're all a bunch of kerb crawlers anyway hey 'bois' .;-)
Woke never sleeps
southernraw/bluediamond has been on the drink lol
A closeout at Waimea in a pair of boardies with no jet ski rescue flottila s a whole differnt ballgame to a shoulder at Himalayas with life jackets and safety everywhere
Not even the same catagory
( I still have Brocks wave poster on the shed wall , RIP legend)
Credit to Laura, paddled in to the wave and made the drop, that's good enough imo. It's a fucking huge wave, it was on the day "the Eddie" was held at close out Waimea bay right? (Luke Shepardsons day)
Kudos new world record, Twiggy called it wayback when. New world record!
Spot on @clam
Come on guys, if you took off on that wave and got as far as she did, you'd be claiming that you 'rode' or 'surfed' that wave before getting clipped. I farken would.
It's big wave surfing, not an air show, and I think there is a lot of hair splitting here over the definition of the word 'surfed'
Just my 2 cents.
Yeah can't believe the comments re not successfully ridden. Jeez, what more could she have done, also she wasn't the one claiming it either.
Huge effort to be out there, put yourself in position, make the drop and successfully ride it out to then get avalanched on.
And as others have said, if that was anyone of us that surfed that wave, you wouldn't have mates going, aww yeah nah, you didn't make it so it doesn't count. They'd all be losing their shit re the size and energy!
muchisimo respect for paddling in, what an epic ride!
A clean make is icing on the cake
The part where she grabs rail and puts her head over it.
She surfs it alright
Innies or outies, she's got a set in her
Was this wave on the same day the Eddie went Go ?
Yep @Caml.
Same day, and a bigger swell than the 1990 Eddie mentioned above.
Wow, that makes sense knowing that, if I recall correctly, the buoy swell about 19sec and 7.5-6.5 metres ? To catch a wave that breaks top to bottom is an incredible feat, a narrabeen pro, and a woman.
Anyone saying it's not worthy is a kook troll
Indeed!
Nailed it @Clam
Onya Laura!!! Huge feet (or feat)
i saw something on BG about JMD interfering with the initial result, was that a piss take or legit claims from the other girl up for the award.
December 4th, 1969 Greg Noll took off on a wave in a swell considered to be one of the biggest of the century. He made it to the bottom, it shut down and he got blasted off his board by the wash. That was considered the biggest wave ever ridden at the time. I think you could say Laura did something similar.
This looks like a WSL award, in their comps if a surfer does not ride out after an air, then it doesn't get credit right ? Maybe there is different criteria for biggest wave paddled.
Did a fellow surfer in the line up call Laura on to that wave ...? .....we may never know if it was Hawaiian etiquette... or
“I knew it was the wave of my life, the whole way it all came together and the way I committed, backed myself, told myself to go, and trusted I could do it,” she said.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/nov/09/laura-enever-breaks-womens...
https://kdvr.com/news/money/ap-charlize-theron-encourages-people-to-find...