There’s a chance that a sauna builder in Santa Cruz County could have a world record to his name this fall. Wilem Banks is a soft-spoken woodworker from Santa Cruz who, in December, paddled into the biggest wave of his life, and potentially the biggest ever, in his fourth session at Jaws.
Is it bigger than Aaron Gold’s 63-footer from Peahi? Or Shawn Dollar’s 61-62 ft bomb at Cortes Bank? On the face of it, maybe. We’ll let the 2025 Big Wave Challenge crew decide that in September when the awards are announced in Newport Beach. For now, let’s admire the guts and skill it took for Wilem to dodge the horrific shorebreak breaking on slippery boulders, maneuver around 60-foot peaks, then put his head down on a rising swell during one of the largest Jaws days in recent memory.
Listen here for an in-depth breakdown of the experience with Wilem and podcaster/writer Kyle Thiermann. Here’s a quote from Wilem that gives a sliver of insight into what it was like that historic day.
“Jaws comes from such deep water, you don’t really realize the position you are on the reef until the wave is pretty close to you,” he told Kyle. “Especially for me because I’m new there and not that comfortable with it yet. As that thing was approaching, I was like, am I inside or am I too far out? In my mind, I was probably not going to go as I paddled over (the first wave) but as it approached, I realized I was in a pretty prime spot.”
Related: How A Santa Cruz Charger Paddled into the Biggest Jaws Wave of the Winter On His First Trip
Prime indeed. The positioning, the drop, the balance and the technique to hold through the white choppy foam on the bottom is masterfully done. It’s one helluva wave, regardless of a record or not.