Windsurf · Foil era
2023
Sarah Hauser rides a 40-foot wave at Jaws
Sarah Hauser windsurfs a 12.19-metre wave at Peʻahi, the largest wave ever windsurfed by a woman according to Guinness World Records.
Peʻahi (Jaws), Maui · Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
Decades after windsurfers first rode Peʻahi, the break on the north shore of Maui was still the measure of big-wave windsurfing.
On 22 January 2023 Sarah Hauser rode a wave there estimated at 40 feet, about 12 metres. Guinness World Records lists it at 12.19 metres as the largest wave ever windsurfed by a woman. Hauser was born in New Caledonia and lives in Hawaii; Guinness lists her under France.
She was beating her own record. On 31 December 2019 she had ridden a 36-foot wave, which Guinness recognised in November 2020. The new ride added four feet to it. Both waves were ridden at the break that windsurfers had sailed since the 1980s, long before it became famous as a tow-in surf spot.