Rodrigo Koxa set a new record for the biggest wave ever surfed when he charged down the face of an 80-foot wave — a feat for which he was officially honored over the weekend at the World Surf League’s Big Wave Awards, Newsweek noted.
It takes heaps of courage and determination to storm the line of a wave almost 16 times the height of the average American, or about as high as a seven to eight floor building, but Koxa was fearless when he surfed the towering wave in Portugal last November.
This achievement meant the surfer officially broke the previous record belonging to Garrett McNamara, whose wave was marked at 78 feet in 2011, and earned him a Guinness World Record for the biggest wave surfed.
Being acknowledged for his accomplishment at the WSL Big Wave Awards is something that carries significant meaning for Koxa, who has had to overcome massive physical and mental setbacks to surf the powerful wave at Nazaré.
"I try to surf big waves all my life and I had a huge experience in 2014 where I almost died at Nazaré," Koxa said in a statement.
"Four months later, I had bad dreams, I didn't travel, I got scared, and my wife helped me psychologically. Now, I'm just so happy and this is the best day of my life. Thank you to WSL, it's a dream come true."
Koxa describes the waves at Nazaré as "really, really raw and powerful and super dangerous," the surfer said his record-breaking wave was a life changer.
"I got a present from God," he said, according to The Inertia. "It was the best present I’ve ever had."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.