Biggest Waves Ever Recorded On Camera

There are places all around the globe renowned for their gigantic waves, and only the most skilled, brave, and crazy people in the world have the guts to try and conquer them. But the cleverest also make sure to get it on camera! From surfers and sailors to storms and tsunamis, let’s take a terrifying look at some of the biggest waves ever recorded on camera.

Nazaré Waves

Let’s start our thrill-seeking hunt in Nazaré, Portugal. Daredevils all over the world know the name of this place because of the sheer size of the waves that are seen off its coast. Like this 60 ft monster captured on camera back in 2019!

But there’s actually a lot more going on beneath the water. Underneath the surf lies Nazaré Canyon, an undersea canyon which has a maximum depth of about 16,000 ft! Normally, when waves travel towards a shore they’re slowed down as the bottom of the ocean gets shallower. But in Nazaré, the canyon causes the water to get incredibly deep before its approach to the shore, resulting in waves that climb really big really suddenly!

That’s why world record breaking surf records are usually made here, like the once 78ft world record breaking ride from Garrett McNamara back in 2011. McNamara later revealed that the water hitting him from that height felt like a ton of bricks smashing onto his shoulders.

And if you thought that wave was scary, check out this one, surfed by Lucas Chumbo Chianca in February 2017:

Between October and March, high winds blowing in from the North Atlantic Ocean generate waves like this, some of which can be over 100 ft tall! One of the world records for largest wave ever surfed was a 80ft high beast, surfed by Rodrigo Koxa, who smashed the previous world record in 2018 by surfing down this gargantuan wave.

The current world record is held by Sebastian Steudtner, who surfed a mind-blowing 93.7 feet (28.57 meters) in Nazare, beating his own previous record of 86 feet (26.21 meters).

Japanese Earthquake And Tsunami Of 2011 In Tōhoku

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the power of a massive wave comes only from its height, but footage from the Japanese tsunami of 2011 proves that wrong in a terrifying way. After a magnitude 9.0 earthquake off the coast of Tōhoku, the Japanese coast guard encountered this behemoth wave just 3.3 miles from the shore.

But how could a wall of water that long and high just suddenly appear in the ocean? During the earthquake the seabed on one side of a fault line had suddenly lifted. This lifted a vast expanse of water along with it, called a tsunami front.

According to the estimates of the panicked coast guards this particular front was some 30ft tall, leaving them with no choice but to try and get over it! But then it gets worse. A second wave was suddenly reported less than 1.5 miles from their location. As the earthquake continued to jolt the seabed, it sent out another tsunami front. But this was apparently even bigger than the one before!

With so much force behind them these massive waves traveled about 6 miles inland. Footage reveal that they destroyed almost everything in their wake. Entire villages and towns were swept away, and the Japanese government estimates that five million tons of debris were swept offshore!

Damage costs from the earthquake and tsunami soared to $300 billion, while 20,000 people were reported dead and another 2,500 missing. Sadly, many are still unaccounted for to this day.

Rogue Wave In Biscay

The Bay of Biscay is notorious for its violent storms and large waves because it’s exposed to the rough Atlantic Ocean. But even on a calm looking day, the seas of this bay definitely aren’t to be trusted, not even by sturdy oil and chemical tankers!

This tanker, called the Pink Coral, was sailing to Rotterdam when it encountered a huge rogue wave that rocked the entire ship from side to side. And that’s no small feat seeing as the Pink Coral is over 100 ft in width! For some perspective, that’s almost the same as rocking a Boeing 737 nose to tail!

Rogue waves, sometimes called freak or killer waves, are extreme waves whipped up by high winds. These giant walls of water can be more than twice the height of the surrounding waves, and as their names suggest, they’re almost totally unpredictable. Because If you could foresee such bone-chilling displays of nature, who in the right mind would willingly sail out into them?

Cruise Ships VS Big Waves

The MV Viking Sky cruise ship aws caught in the waves of a terrible storm off the coast of Norway back in 2019. The ship was carrying 1,300 passengers and crew when it lost power and was pummeled by the extreme weather. Reports even stated waves in this area reached almost 60 ft in height!

Usually the hulls of these ships are broad enough to prevent big waves from tilting them this badly. But when you consider that the ship itself is only about 100ft wide, and was dead in the water, it’s not surprising that it was threatening to do a barrel roll!

But MV Viking Sky isn’t the only cruise ship to have been challenged by some giant waves. Just take a look at this soul-crushing footage supposedly taken from the bridge of the P&O Adonia, then known as the Sea Princess:

This footage, uploaded in 2008, shows a cruise ship dropping down the back of wave that was so high it caused the bridge crew to smash into the floor! Whilst the description of this footage claims it’s the Sea Princess, there are no reports that the ship was caught in these drastic conditions.

However, around the same time in 2008, the cruise ship Pacific Sun was caught in a hellscape of 50 knot winds and 25 ft waves, about 400 miles off the coast of New Zealand. CCTV footage shows the tilt of the ship was so steep that furniture was flung across the rooms, and around 40 guests were injured!

USS Kitty Hawk Aircraft Carrier VS Typhoon

Around 2008, the USS Kitty Hawk was making its way along the North Pacific Ocean when it encountered Typhoon Fengshen, with winds of 51 miles per hour that whipped up waves around 38ft high! Considering this aircraft carrier measures over 200 ft from the waterline to its highest point, these waves were hardly a threat.

Although, it’s pretty incredible to watch something that cost $400 million to build getting thrown about like a toy boat in a bathtub! But with all that money, couldn’t they have installed something a little more impressive than those school-bus style windshield wipers?

Tanker VS Monster Waves

If these single giant waves already had you trembling in your boots, imagine facing a whole series of them! Just take a look at the footage below of a small bulk carrier ship, which is a kind of merchant ship, taking on the giant waves of a West African storm:

These are way more than just choppy seas! While the channel "deepsea" that uploaded the ungodly footage to YouTube didn’t mention when the storm took place, they do state that the waves were about 20 ft high. That may not seem like much, but wave after wave of this power and height has the potential to do some serious damage!

Huge Waves VS Oil Rigs

Choosing to work on the open sea is one thing, but opting to live on an oil rig means you can’t always escape the giant waves coming your way! Just ask the crew of the Dunbar Oil Rig. Located off the UK’s east coast, this static rig is planted to the ocean floor and has a deck that’s 164 ft long, 98 ft wide and 72 ft high. That’s one massive structure! That is, until you compare it to the waves that pummeled it on Christmas Day in 2013:

The gaping void beneath the deck looks almost the same height as the deck itself! That means the water surges filling that void and hammering the rig must have been about 70 ft tall! Apparently, the waves were so violent that morning they woke up all the staff, what a terrifying gift to receive from Mother Nature herself on Christmas Day! But not all components of oil rig operations are planted to the ocean floor.

Take the Borgholm Dolphin for example, which is a floating accommodation platform around 145 miles east of Scotland. This semi-submersible accommodation station stays anchored to the spot using an electric and hydraulic mooring winch system. And thank god it does, otherwise giant waves might have dragged the rig ashore! When hurricane-force winds of 113 miles per hour ripped across Scotland back in 2015, they whipped up colossal waves that can be seen rising to the platforms full height!

Monster Waves In The North Sea

The Southern Ocean isn’t the only sea famous for its deadly conditions. Between the UK and Norway lies The North Sea, and thanks to its hellish weather and high number of shipping accidents, it’s considered one of the world’s most dangerous oceans.

Single waves in this region have been known to reach a monstrous 83 ft in height! But scientists believe they can get much bigger. If you don’t believe it, just take a look at the footage below taken from the bridge of a vessel in North Sea storm!

According to British publication The Express, that wave reached a colossal 100 ft in height! Had that ship been any smaller, the force of the water could easily have spelled disaster for them.

Huge Tanker VS Storm Nemo

Storm Nemo from 2013 was a huge blizzard that battered the northeast of America and Canada, forcing governments like those of Massachusetts and New York to declare a state of emergency. While most places were dealing with almost 3 ft of snow and winds of up to 105 miles per hour, those at sea had an even worse time! Not only were they battling all those elements, but they also had a series of 30 to 40 ft waves to deal with.

Usually, ships like this 748 ft tanker try to avoid high caliber storms. It prevents the likelihood of them being rolled over by powerful waves and becoming accidental submarines! But being caught short around 700 miles off the coast of Newfoundland in winds of almost 90 miles per hour clearly gave this captain no choice but to press on.

They bravely ploughed on through those horrifying looking waves, but that camera man must have been certifiably crazy to step out onto the deck!

If you were amazed at these huge waves you might want to read about unsettling water phenomena! Thanks for reading.