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Surfing - Catchin' the Highest Wave

Dec 27, 2006

The search for the world's highest wave is on. Where will it be found? Surfer's Paradise in Australia? Sunny California? Maui? Or in your bathtub? The Billabong Odyssey is hoping to find the answer with a three-year world wide search to find and ride the biggest waves on the planet.

The Odyssey will bring the world's best surfers together with jet-powered boats, tow vehicles and state of the art weather tracking equipment. The guys taking the challenge include six-time world champion Kelly Slater, Shane Dorian and Mike Parsons. So, we're talking about a pretty serious effort to find some pretty serious surf.

The hunt for the ultimate wave will start in July, 2001 in the Southern Hemisphere. Surfers will be scoping out the best waves in places like Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Then in October, the Odyssey will move to the North to take on the waves of California and Canada's Vancouver Island. Whoever finds the ultimate wave will not only get the ride of their lives - they'll also make some serious moola. The winner of the Billabong Odyssey will take home $1000 US for every foot of wave they find.

Surf's Up

  • The World Record for longest ride on a surfboard is the 4,500 feet traveled by Tom Blake while catching a wave in Hawaii way back in 1936.
  • Surfing was invented by Hawaiians hundreds of years ago. The first boards were 20 feet long and weighed around 150 pounds.
  • The biggest wave ever seen was in 1958 in Lituya Bay, Alaska. A tsunami (major, killer wave) reached a height of 1720 feet! Two fishermen saw the wave coming towards them for more than an hour. They were somehow able to ride the wave and eventually land safely on shore. Another boat was not so lucky... it was swallowed up by the wave and never seen again.

    In Puerto Rico there is a beach called Camuy beach. The waves there are pretty big. If they're not big enough you can use them for practice but warning the currents are very strong.

    Big Wave Feedback From:
    BigKurlK12:

    Where do you think the biggest waves in the world are? your big wave predictions to Kidzworld.

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