Sebastian Steudtner grew up as the son of a German father and an Austrian mother in Nuremberg. He discovered his passion for water early on. He was first introduced to surfing in France at the age of 9 on a boogie board. In 2001, the then 16-year-old emigrated to the Hawaiian island of Maui. There he began his career as a windsurfer.
In order to finance his surfing, Steudtner worked in the following years, e.g. as a construction worker. During this time he learned about the Hawaiian family of Nelson Armitage Sr. through a friend know who took him in as a family member. Through contact with the Armitage family, Steudtner learned how to surf big waves.
On December 15, 2004, Sebastian surfed the world's largest wave known as Peahi/Jaws off Maui's North Shore. The waves were 20 meters high that day. Then in 2005 came Teahupoo , the most dangerous wave in the world on Tahiti.
Since then, Steudtner has been pursuing his passion for big waves and water on a professional level. These include SUP surfing (stand-up paddle), windsurfing, among others and hydrofoil surfing. In addition to his sporting achievements, Steudtner is also socially committed. He is a Laureus Sport for Good ambassador and in June 2017 founded the non-profit association wirmachenwelle founded. This implements surf therapy for young people from difficult backgrounds in Germany.
In December 2018, Steudtner saved a Brazilian surfer from drowning after a wipe out at big wave surf spot Nazare. On Tuesday, German surfer Sebastian Steudtner broke the Guinness World Record for surfing the biggest wave in the world. While the achievement had taken place on October 29, 2020, it took almost 18 months for the official Guinness World Record verification to happen.
Steudtner, three-time winner of the World Surf League’s Big Wave Award, broke the record by surfing a 26.2 meter (85.9 feet) high wave at the Praia do Norte beach in Nazaré in Portugal. With this, he broke the previous record held by Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa, who surfed a 24.4 meters (80 feet) high wave on November 8, 2017.
While celebrating his achievement, Steudtner shared the footage of him surfing the massive wave on Instagram and wrote, “We define the possible 💪 This wave has officially been named a WORLD RECORD! I’m really proud of this achievement and of my whole team’s performance. It was my dream since I was a kid to become a surfer and I’ve always stayed true to that.. ⚡I hope my journey and this world record will inspire lots of others to chase their dreams as well! @guinnessworldrecords @wsl #stayready #readyfornazare #bigwavesurfing #worldrecord”.
"Congratulations to Sebastian for this incredible achievement," said Jessi Miley-Dyer, Head of Competition at World Surf League and First World Surf League World Junior Champ. "We are so proud to celebrate him as the new men’s Guinness World Records title holder for the largest wave surfed."
It is interesting to note that the Praia do Norte beach where Steudtner broke the record is known for producing high waves due to its special geographic location. The beach is the site of “Nazaré Canyon”, which is a 170 km long and 5 km deep fault in the sea bed that creates unusually massive waves.
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