re: California man potentially sets world record for tallest wave ever surfed.

Assuming he's 6 feet tall, that wave would have to be 16 times his height. That wave is nowhere near 16 times taller than the surfer. Still a monster wave, but it's closer to 75 or 80 feet tops.

That break is known as "Mavericks". It breaks 1/2 mile off shore and takes massive balls just to paddle out to it. For those that don't know it's story, here you go...

I remember when Hawaii-based surfer Mark Foo flew from Hawaii to Half Moon Bay after a night of partying. It didn’t end well.

If you thought that was impressive, watch this

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The documentary “100 Foot Wave” about the Nazaré waves and the guy who helped the town develop to support a surfer ecosystem there is really well done. Would rec.

Gnarly, brah

Impressive! He's got balls of steel.

Here's your primer baws.... These big waves are caused by the sudden collision of a fast moving deep ocean swell with a sharp reduction in depth. Such as the cliff face of an undersea mountain like the Dungeon off Cape Town. There the water depth goes from 1100 meters to 2.5 meters within a linear distance of 250 meters.

But that's why you're there, for the resulting monster, right? Lekker. Two things to keep in mind - first, stay on the board no matter what. Even if you have to lay down, don't go into the water without it. That tonnage of water on top of you will slam you into the bottom rocks and keep you down for minutes, even at a shallow depth and even with a flotation device. The only thing a flotation device does is make the coroner's job easier.

Secondly, the primary cause of losing your board is the extremely fast takeoff. As soon as the surfer starts, he just drops off the wave peak and hits an almost vertical face. That face is the biggest difference between big waves and these freaks. If you don't cut a rail into the peak as soon as you pop up, your board will be airborne on the way down. At that point you've lost the board and can only go fetal and grab as much air as possible.

But hey, with waves like these you don't have to worry about sharks. Sharks have too much sense.