When Garrett McNamara caught a 23.7m wave off Portugal in 2011, it was greeted as a great moment in surfing history and set a Guinness World Record. Many thought that was the end of the story.
However, McNamara, now 45, returned to the Atlantic coast off Nazare on Tuesday and caught a monster wave that may well have beaten his previous feat, with some estimates putting it at more than 30.4m.
A spectacular photograph shows the Hawaiian surfer plunging down the vertical wall of water toward the town, leaving a white wake trailing behind him. The town’s surfing company, Nazare Qualifica, said it was trying to find out exactly how massive the wave had been.
Photo: Reuters / To Mane / Handout
“Authorities from the company have asked two experts from the US to certify the size of the wave,” the Lusa news agency reported.
Miguel Sousinha, head of Nazare Qualifica, said: “McNamara’s people think that the wave he surfed today is even bigger than that of 2011.”
He said the experts usually worked with the Billabong XXL surfing contest organizers.
“Nazare was hit today by a massive nord-west [sic] swell with a breeze of south-east wind!. Perfect conditions! McNamara was charging!” Billabong XXL wrote on its Facebook page on Tuesday:
The surfer tweeted on Tuesday: “Thank you for all your support. It means the world to me. Today was an awesome day and so fun.”
McNamara warned at the end of last year that he was in the perfect mood — which he calls “present moment awareness” — for creating new records.
“Garrett attributes present moment awareness to riding his world record wave last year,” his blog said. “When you are in this moment you can tap into all the energy around you and use it to create your destiny. You have no control over what has already happened and really no control over what’s going to happen.”
The US’ bid for a fourth consecutive CONCACAF Nations League title came to a stunning end as they fell 1-0 to Panama after a stoppage-time goal from Cecilio Waterman on Thursday in Inglewood, California. Despite dominating possession, the US struggled to break down a resilient Panama side for long periods. Panama spent the bulk of the match defending, but pounced on a giveaway by the US before substitute forward Waterman sent a shot from the right side of the area to the bottom left corner late in stoppage time. Up next for Panama in tomorrow’s final is to be Mexico, who beat
DOMINATION: McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris took the first two spots as Mercedes’ George Russell and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed them Australian Oscar Piastri yesterday roared back from season-opening disappointment in his home race by winning the Formula One Chinese Grand Prix from pole position in a McLaren one-two with championship-leading teammate Lando Norris. George Russell finished third for Mercedes, ahead of Red Bull’s reigning champion Max Verstappen with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Saturday’s sprint winner Lewis Hamilton fifth and sixth respectively. Piastri’s win denied Norris a third victory in a row, including last year’s Abu Dhabi season-ender, but left champions McLaren unbeaten in two races so far this year. “Mega job guys. The car was very, very lovely,” Piastri said
TO FINAL FOUR: France had 22 chances and scored two goals, while Croatia could not manage a single shot on target in 120 minutes. Les Bleus won 5-4 on penalties France on Sunday overturned a two-goal deficit to qualify for the UEFA Nations League Final Four by eliminating Croatia 5-4 on penalties after a 2-0 victory in their quarter-final second leg at the Stade de France. Dayot Upamecano scored the winning spot kick in a nail-biting shootout in which France keeper Mike Maignan made two saves, sending Les Bleus into the semi-finals against Spain. Michael Olise opened the scoring and Ousmane Dembele doubled their lead 10 minutes from time to send the tie into extra time after their 2-0 loss in Split, Croatia, on Thursday. France had a total of
Armand Duplantis will be among the reigning Olympic champions adding star power to the world indoor championships this weekend when the Chinese city of Nanjing hosts the first major global athletics meet since the Paris Games last year. The three-day event was originally slated for 2020 and faced multiple postponements due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but Nanjing’s Sports Training Center would finally welcome more than 570 athletes for the start of the showpiece today. One of the main attractions would be pole vaulter “Mondo” Duplantis, who soared 6.27m to break the world record for a staggering 11th time in Clermont-Ferrand last
RSS