Countless factors have to come together to make a good surf spot.
There has to be access to swell, the beach has to face the right direction to receive said swell, the bottom has to be contoured appropriately, the wind has to be the right direction, et cetera. The list goes on. In fact, considering some of the high-quality waves of the surfing world, it’s somewhat mindboggling that these spots even exist.
Better not to question it. That’s a whole different discussion. Instead, feast your eyes on the world’s longest waves, from Snapper Rocks to Skeleton Bay.
The video comes from YouTuber Dan Harmon, and it’s a well-curated list of some of the longest, most thigh-burning pointbreak waves in the world. But the question is: Which wave is the longest? Well, Harmon breaks it down; here’s a few highlights:
Pavones, Costa Rica (600+ meters)
“Not crazy in terms of length, but it breaks for around 600 to 700 meters. On the right swells, it can have sections for tubes. On a normal day, it’s a really long, playful point for turns.”
Related: Vanished Surf Spots: The Best Waves No Longer in Existence (Video)
Jeffreys Bay, South Africa (1 kilometer)
“Although J-Bay is kind of like Uluwatu in that all the parts of it don’t necessarily join up, on the biggest and best swells they kind of do connect. When it does, you’ve got this flawless, really, really long pointbreak. All those takeoff spots link up on these big swells.”
The Superbank, Australia (1.5 kilometers)
“If you can get one [amidst the notorious crowd], you can a stupidly long ride here. You can take off from behind the rock at Snapper, and if you pick the right one, and the sand is good, and everything lines up, you can ride it from there all the way through the Little Marley section, through Rainbow Bay, on through Greenmount, and almost down to Kirra. That’s a really, really long wave.”
Related: Video: The World’s Most Crowded Surf Spots
Skeleton Bay, Namibia (2+ kilometers)
“This took the title as the ‘world’s longest left’ from Chicama, [Peru]. Or at least, the ‘world’s best left’ because of the nature of how it breaks. It’s a seemingly endless freight train barrel. We’ve all seen the clips…it’s, like, wave of your life territory.”
Hit the link above to see the full list.
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