Biggest Wave Ever Surfed

Mike Parsons (born March 3, 1965) is a surfer sponsored by the Billabong company who famously successfully surfed a 66-foot (22 meters) wave at Cortez Bank, CA in 2001, for which he was awarded $66,000, the highest prize ever awarded in the history of professional surfing. This money was awarded by the Billabong XXL competition which has run since 2001 paying tribute to the biggest waves ridden each year. This feat at Cortez Bank was popularised by the film Billabong Odyssey. Parsons is famous for a video clip of him riding a wave about 65 tall at Jaws, shot from a helicopter, that many believed was the biggest wave ever surfed. Parsons recently broke his record on January 5, 2008, at Cortez Bank, when he was photographed surfing a wave that the Billabong XXL judged to be 70+ feet, which should put him in the Guinness Book of World Records, officially, for biggest wave ever surfed. Unofficially the biggest wave ever surfed remains Ken Bradshaw’s wave at Log Cabins, Oahu on January 28, 1998, at over 80 feet.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Parsons (23 Sep 2008)