The Times - UK (2022-05-26)

the times | Thursday May 26 2022 3

News

Inexact science of riding the highest

Measuring a wave isn’t

an exact science. In fact

methodology divides

the surfing community,

which has developed

three techniques

(Charlie Devereux

writes).

The most common is

known as the Bascom

Method, named after its

inventor, Willard

Bascom, an explorer

and oceanographer. It

measures the distance

between the crest of the

wave and the average

level of the sea, as seen

from the water’s edge.

Some surfers feel this

exaggerates the real

height.

Hawaiians (and

surfers in the Canary

Islands) measure the

wave from behind. This

is easier for a surfer to

calculate, since they can

use their height as a

reference, but it reduces

the height of the wave

by about half compared

with the Bascom

method, since it cuts

out the wave’s base.

The Surfable Wave

Method calculates the

height from when the

wave begins to barrel or

break, measuring the

actual area ridden by

the surfer.

The height of the

surfer is often used as a

yardstick but some

argue that it is not

reliable since surfers

vary in height. It can

also be misleading

when used as a

reference in photos

since a surfer’s height

can vary as they adopt

different positions.

Surfer’s 86ft wave wipes out record

postures, with some crouching more

than others. The experts in Steudtner’s

case focused on his lower leg because it

cannot be bent, Adam Fincham, a Uni-

versity of Southern California engineer-

ing professor told The Washington Post.

Using his lower leg as a ruler, they

studied several photographs and videos

to rule out any distortions that could

have been caused by certain camera an-

gles or lenses. Fincham, who conducted

the analysis with colleagues at the

Scripps Institution of Oceanography at

the University of California San Diego,

travelled to Nazaré to study the loca-

tions where the images were taken and

to interview two of the photographers.

Jürgen Klopp, the manager of Liver-

pool, congratulated Steudtner on his

“absolutely insane” world record.

It is possible that other surfers have

ridden bigger waves: the World Surf

League measures only those ridden

during competitions. Last year the

Brazilian Vini Dos Santos rode a wave

at Nazaré that he put at 97ft.

Surfers used to scour the globe and

pore over weather forecasts looking for

monster waves. Now they just head for

Nazaré, which in the past decade has

become a mecca for big wave surfers,

thanks to developments in jet skis that

can tow surfers in and out from the surf

quickly. Large waves are formed when a

deep seabed abruptly meets a shallow

shelf, which is why most big wave spots

are on islands. Nazaré is a mainland

anomaly and meets the criteria because

of a 140-mile canyon that runs out to

sea directly from Praia do Norte. Its

lowest point is three miles deep.

It was popularised by Garrett

McNamara, an American professional

surfer, who heard about its giant waves

from locals and first visited in 2010.

Charlie Devereux Madrid

JOERG MITTER/LIMEX IMAG/SIPA/SHUTTERSTOCK

V

isitors to Mont

St Michel

usually reach

the abbey by

walking along a curved

bridge, but a Frenchman

has found a new route

— by tightrope (George

Sandeman writes).

Nathan Paulin, 28,

claimed a new world

record when he

completed the 2,200m

(nearly 1.4-mile) walk on

a wire suspended

between the island and a

crane on the mainland.

It took Paulin two

hours to reach the tidal

island off the Normandy

coast, which is home to

a Benedictine abbey and

has been a Unesco world

heritage site since 1979.

Paulin, who was

secured to a safety line

while making the

crossing, started his

walk on Tuesday

afternoon. He did so

barefoot with the

slackline measuring

only two centimetres

wide and fixed at an

elevation of about 100m.

His team said that

Paulin was forced to let

himself down from the

wire a few metres before

the end due to “safety

reasons” but that he had

already broken the

record by that point.

“He reached the

stopping mark and so

the record is beaten,”

Laura Zhang, his

spokeswoman, said.

Paulin previously held

the record when he

crossed 1,662m above

the Cirque de Navacelles,

a steep-sided canyon in

southern France, in 2017.

Visit from

on high to

the abbey

Professors studied the

surfing stance of Steudtner,

circled, using photographic

and video evidence, before

giving him the record

On a turbulent day 18 months ago
Sebastian Steudtner took his surfboard
out into the infamous swells off
Portugal and caught a wave so
monstrous he and many others be-
lieved it to be the biggest ever ridden.
Yesterday it was confirmed by Guin-
ness World Records and the World Surf
League, who recorded the wave off the
Praia do Norte in Nazaré in October
2020 at 86ft (26.2m), 6ft higher than the
previous record set off the same beach.
The German surfer, 37, said he knew
it at the time, telling himself: “Get me
this wave now,” and hanging on for dear
life as he accelerated into its path.
“I’ll never forget what I saw when I
started to drop behind the peak and saw
the entire wave,” he told The Sydney
Morning Herald. “I started to acceler-
ate like crazy. I had tears
from the wind speed and
was just holding on with
everything I had — not
doing anything funny,
just hanging on.” He
added: “You don’t feel
the size, you feel
the power. I felt the
most power of any
wave I’ve surfed at
Nazaré.”
At the presenta-
tion ceremony he
said: “It’s an amaz-
ing feeling to fi-
nally hold the
world record in
my hands. To
stand here today
and to have
achieved every-
thing in my sport

is epic. I hope my journey

and this world record

will inspire lots of

others to chase their

dreams as well.”

The surfer had to

wait so long for

confirmation

because of the

elaborate na-

ture of meas-

uring. Judges

often use the

height of the

surfer to

compare it

against the

wave for

size. But

surfers

adopt

different