Caught On Tape: Daredevil Surfer Tackles Largest Wave Ever

Get ready for what seems to be the biggest wave ever surfed as high as 100 feet and the conquering hero is a 45 year old man in a young athlete's game. So how did he do it? ABC's Nick Watt. Yep, that tiny dot is Garrett McNamara, dwarfed by probably the biggest wave ever surfed by man. Wow. Hi Garrett, this is Nick. How are you doing? I just reached him in Portugal. Can you even begin to explain to the likes of us what it feels like in that moment on that wave? Oh, you're just going so fast and it's really, really similar to snowboarding down a giant mountain and you're just chattering and just flying down this bumpy, bumpy mountain. Your brain's getting rattled, your whole body's getting rattled. At the end of the ride, he was oh so nearly smashed onto the rocks. I can only say survival chances were very, very slim. And McNamara, a 45 year old Hawaiian, lucky to be living legend, might just have shattered his own world record. A little over 77 feet that was set in 2011, also right here off the rugged coast of Portugal. Surfing at nearly 60 miles per hour, the ride took less than 30 seconds. Potential record waves are measured using a surfer crouched on a board for scale. Was this a new record? Well, we won't know until the spring. That's when they announced the official measurements for the past year. And just for comparison, the surf here today in Ventura, California is only four or five feet high. So what do these guys, good solid surfers, what do they think of Garrett McNamara? Oh, you've got to be out of your mind. That wave's psycho. Psycho? Because off of Portugal, boiling brine barrels miles down a chasm the size of the Grand Canyon. Do you think you are actually insane? You know what? I've definitely got to be a little crazy, right? Yes, you do, Garrett. Oh, yes, you do. Nick Watt, ABC News, Ventura, California.