VIDEO: Brazilian Surfer Breaks World Record for Largest Wave Ever Surfed | Monstrous 80-Foot Swell at Nazare, Portugal

A Brazilian surfer has been credited with riding the largest wave ever surfed.

Rodrigo Koxa was honored at the World Surf League’s Big Wave Awards in Santa Monica, California, for navigating a monstrous 80-foot swell at Nazare in Portugal last year. The governing body of the World Surf League recognized the feat by awarding him the Quiksilver XXL Biggest Wave Award.

“The award goes to the surfer who, by any means available, catches the biggest wave of the year,” the World Surf League said in a press release. “Seeing a tiny person taking on a gigantic and potentially lethal wall of water, and escaping safely, captures the attention of the mainstream public like no other aspect of the surfing sport or lifestyle.”

The ruling by the WSL’s judges broke the previous Guinness World Record set by Garrett McNamara of 78 feet in 2011 at the Portuguese break known as Big Mama.