[imagesource: Instagram / Mason Barnes]

That little speck riding a monster wave is Mason Barnes, a relatively unknown name in the world of big wave surfing.

Well, looks like that’s about to change because Barnes may well have ridden the first-ever 100-foot wave at famed Portuguese surf spot Nazaré.

Barnes, from North Carolina, is  6’2” inches tall, and in his crouch is around 5’ 5” inches tall.

No need to break out your yardsticks just yet, we’ll get there.

Let’s first enjoy the wave, which Barnes shared to his Instagram account:

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Mason Hyce Barnes (@masonhycebarnes)

BeachGrit has crunched the numbers:

Surfers surf the faces of waves from crest to trough.

That is irrefutable. So that is what we will measure.

From crest to trough the face of this wave measures 23 units of Mason’s crouching height of 5’5” inches.

23 X 5’5” = 126.5 feet.

Therefore in a surfers reality, since we surf from crest to trough, since this is our actual measurable playing field, this wave is 126.5 feet tall.

…even if we knock off a cool 25 feet for those loyal to the time-honored yet downright ridiculous approximations of the current wave height calls, this wave still comes in at over 101.5 feet.

Holy shit.

The quest to ride a 100-foot wave has been immortalised in the superb series, 100 Foot Wave.

Big wave pioneer Garrett McNamara hoped he would be the man to tick that box but at least Barnes credits him with “introducing me to this special place and teaching me everything I need to know to find a wave on days like this”.

The problem with big wave surfing is that it’s not like long jump, for example, where you can measure as an exact science.

Because of this, records are tough to verify. The Inertia has also covered Barnes’ wave, but with a little hesitancy:

We’re by no means experts at measuring waves but it certainly looks like it could be a 100-foot wave. Barnes’ Instagram audience surely shared their opinions in his stories and in the comments. If this isn’t a 100-footer, it’s gotta be close…

So how big is this wave? We’ll leave it to the experts. Regardless, it has to be one of the best waves ridden at Nazaré this year.

Now we await official confirmation from the surfing powers that be, and then the Guinness World Records team usually gets involved.

Either way, Barnes has surfed a monster.

[sources:beachgrit&inertia]