Former Love Island contestant Laura Crane, from Devon, has ridden what she believes may be a world-record wave for a female surfer. The 30-year-old took on the massive swell in Portugal on Saturday, claiming it was larger than the 73.5ft wave surfed by current record holder Maya Gabeira in 2020.
Crane was competing at the Nazaré Big Wave Challenge when a technical fault halted the competition, but she decided to continue. “Most surfers packed up, but I couldn’t,” she told the BBC. “I had just hours of light left and the swell was dying. It was a race against time.” She was towed into the wave by teammate Antonio Laureano on a jetski at around 30mph.
After the ride, Crane broke down in tears. “When I came off the back, I cried straight away. The adrenaline is incomparable,” she said. She described the wave as “one of the most perfect big waves” and said she had “seen it in my dreams a million times over.”
The wave will now be assessed by Big Wave Challenge judges, who work alongside Guinness World Records, to determine if it sets a new record. Crane was also the first British woman to surf the notoriously large waves of Nazaré in 2024, due to a deep underwater canyon that creates huge swells.
Reflecting on her achievement, Crane told The Times: “I believe I have been training for this my whole life... It’s given me a thick skin and belief to keep fighting.” She added that the moment brought “incredible tears of happiness and joy.”
