From: actionarchives
Waimea Bay, on the North Shore of Oahu, provides the ultimate venue for surfing's most memorable big wave competitions. For those surfers who dare to take off at The Bay, there is an admission charge for entry.
Consider two representations of two very big waves, below. The first is a photograph of Mike Parsons at Cortes Bank. The second is a video of Garrett McNamara near Nazare, Portugal. Now take out some measuring tape and make the distance of one foot between your hands. That's the amount, according to the Billabong XXL committee, that McNamara's wave is bigger than Parsons's wave.