Pittwater Life December 2023 Issue

News
Laura’s monster wave record
“I Narrabeen professional surfer
knew it was the wave of my life,”
says Laura Enever, the North
who was awarded the Guinness Book of
Records world record for the largest wave
ever “paddled-in” by a female last month.
She had spent around two hours near
the shore, watching other Big Wave surfers
getting smashed while she waited for
a monster at Oahu’s Outer Reef off the
Hawaiian coast.
Video footage shows Enever paddling
past a crowd of a dozen surfers. “When
it came I was in the perfect spot,’’ she
recalls.
“When I took off I looked down the face
and realised it was the biggest wave I had
ever been on. That’s when I told myself I
had to make it to the bottom. Focus. Hold
on and ride this wave.”
She said it felt like an eternity hurtling
down the face in a near free-fall, before
the 31-year-old was engulfed in a
maelstrom of whitewash.
“I looked up and saw the height of the
wave coming down on me. It exploded on
me. I was underwater getting thrashed
around but I had a smile on my face.”
She had survived, without injury –
unlike one of her first Big Wave contests at
Maui’s famous Jaws break when she had to
BIG ACHIEVEMENT:
Laura Enever with
her record certificate
at North Narrabeen.
take herself home to the Northern Beaches
to recuperate for six months.
“My family and friends thought that
would be the end of Big Wave surfing for
me. But I couldn’t wait to get back.”
At just 1.6 metres and of slim build,
Laura isn’t the ideal body shape for
tackling Big Waves. Most competitors –
men and women – are taller and stronger.
But, as Jessi Miley-Dyer, Chief of Sport
of the World Surf League, put it: “Laura is
fearless, committed, and a real inspiration.
Athletes like Laura are pushing the
boundaries of Big Wave surfing.”
The first indication she might have
broken the world record, set by Brazilian
Andrea Moller at 12.8 metres in 2015, was
when one of the videographers told her.
“I got that on film. It might be a world
record.”
The paddle-in (most Big Wave surfers
are towed by high-powered jet skis) was on
Valentine’s Day 2023, but it took the WSL
scientific team months to authenticate.
The scientists used a series of wave
measuring techniques including video
footage from several angles and Laura’s
own height to gauge the distance from the
trough to the crest of the monster.
Ultimately they judged Laura had
paddled-in on a 13.5-metre wave, beating
Moller’s previous record.
The world record was presented to
Laura in front of family and friends at
North Narrabeen.
In the many interviews for global TV
and the surfing press, she thanked Moller
and the previous generation of female
Big Wave surfers who had inspired her to
get into the sport. “And I know the next
generation of female big wave surfers are
12 DECEMBER 2023
The Local Voice Since 1991