Biggest Wave Ever Surfed

Brave or reckless? A group of thrill-seeking surfers plunged into raging waters during one of the biggest storms to hit Europe in recent times — one of them thinks he might have broken the record for riding the biggest wave, while another is recovering in hospital after taking “the hardest beating by man or woman anywhere in the ocean.”

Praia do Norte, at the Portuguese town of Nazare, is renowned for its huge swells — and Monday brought more with the weather that caused havoc across the continent, killing at least 13 people.

Carlos Burle caught one of these, estimated to be around 100 feet high, not long after helping to haul his fellow Brazilian Maya Gabeira out of the pummeling surf after she was knocked unconscious.

Gabeira, one of the world’s leading female big-wave surfers, was taken to hospital and escaped with just a broken ankle, while Burle is hoping to have his feat ratified as a Guinness World Record.