A tidbit for the many North Coast surfers and surfing fans: SFGATE reported that Santa Cruz, California resident Alessandro “Alo” Slebir had possibly broken the Guinness World Record by surfing a 108-foot wave in December at the Mavericks surfing location at Half Moon Bay, California.

The current holder of the surfing “the largest wave (unlimited) — male” is Sebastian Steudtner of Germany, who broke the previous record in October 2020 at Praia do Norte in Nazaré, Portugal, by riding an 86-foot wave. Of course, the new wave height will have to be verified by Guinness, which took 18 months to recognize Steudtner’s world record.

Slebir, who described the wave as an “extraordinary cartoonish barrel,” doesn’t care how big the wave was. “Regardless of the number, it really doesn’t matter how big the wave was to me,” he said. “It was really the biggest wave of my life, and that’s all I really care about at the moment.” (Photo: Frank Quirarte)