Laura Enever held a steady spot on the women’s Championship Tour for eight years until injuries slowed her down in 2017. She had been one of the tour’s more recognizable athletes before making a transition to focus in the big wave realm. She’d competed in the 2016 Pe’ahi Challenge but Enever’s life away from a full-time CT schedule has allowed her to become a world record holder, securing the title of biggest wave ever paddled by a woman in 2023.
“I knew it was the wave of my life, the whole way it all came together and the way I committed, backed myself, told myself to go, and trusted I could do it,” she said when her world record became official. “The ride was such a breakthrough for me and a moment that will be really special and monumental in my surf career.”
The 2023 wave measured at 42.3 feet but even at half that size, Cloudbreak elicited a “Holy sh*t” from the Australian when she pulled up to lineup earlier this month. Enever says she was the “only girl in the lineup” for the XL swell that turned into an instant classic, with anybody there praising it as one of the best ever.
“That might be the best day of waves I’ve seen in my whole life,” Conner Coffin said.
Everything outdid all expectations. And in surfing, strike missions — traveling around the world chasing that — it’s few and far between how many days you get like this in a lifetime,” said Billy Kemper.
