Santa Cruz surfer speaks on riding potential record 108-foot wave

By Felix Cortez

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    HALF MOON BAY, California (KSBW) — Santa Cruz surfer Alessandro “Alo” Slebir surfed a wave just two days before Christmas that could get him the best gift a surfer could ask for: a world record for surfing the world’s largest wave.

Slebir surfed that monster wave at Mavericks near Half Moon Bay that could propel him into the record books.

“It wasn’t like a decision of maybe we should go or not, like myself and my two partners, Luca Padua from Half Moon Bay, we knew right away we wanted it, said grab the rope and he towed me, and the rest is now we’re here,” said Slebir.

The 23-year-old surfer has now been thrown into the media spotlight after some say he surfed a wave estimated to be 108 feet tall.

If confirmed it would shatter the current world record by more than 20 feet. Slebir describes barreling down the enormous wave.

“You’re going so fast on those surfboards, you’re probably going 30, 40, 50 miles an hour and that wave was so tall that it was sucking so much water coming back at you that it was a weird feeling, feeling the friction of the water underneath the surfboard, I’ve never felt that on really any other wave that I’ve ever caught,” Slebir said.

That’s because by all accounts Mavericks saw some of the largest waves on December 23rd, something surfers had never seen before. John Mel was in the water that day with surfing buddy Slebir.

“Like my dad’s been out there for 30 years or whatever, and he says that’s the biggest and craziest he’s ever seen it, so that’s saying a lot so I might not ever even get it again in my lifetime who knows,” said Mel.

Slebir says he rode more than 20 waves that day but it’s the one wave halfway through that changed everything for Alo who’s possibly now headed to the record books for surfing the largest wave in the world.

“Yeah, pretty rad it’s super cool to see the people from Santa Cruz getting that publicity and super stoked for Alo he works really, really hard trains super hard,” said Mel.

But Slebir is as humble as they come, he’s not concerned about a world record but rather getting into the water every day.

“A lot of people reaching out and the chaos and the social media around it but like I’ve stated a lot to many people is like I rode the biggest wave of my life and that’s all that really matters to me, and I’m going to keep pursuing that for me personally,” said Slebir.

It’s too early to say if Slebir has made the record books. That decision will be made by Guinness World Records and the World Surf League, and that process could take months.

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