"It was something that I had never seen before out there," Alo Slebir, a veteran of large swells, tells PEOPLE Johnny Dodd is a senior writer at PEOPLE, who focuses on human interest, crime and ...

Every time a massive swell is forecast, Santa Cruz’s hard-charging, big wave surfer Alessandro “Alo” Slebir can hardly contain himself.

At about 3:15 p.m. on Dec. 23, as a powerful winter swell raged on the California coast and left the Santa Cruz Wharf snapped and floating in the ocean, Alessandro “Alo” Slebir pointed his ...

and safety personnel watch from the channel as Santa Cruz’s Alessandro “Alo” Slebir rides a wave at Mavericks, located off the coast of Half Moon Bay, that was estimated to be 108 feet on ...

They concluded that Slebir’s ride was potentially 108 feet tall, meaning that he had just ridden a wave taller than any other surfer in history. The current record, 86 feet, was set in 2020 by ...

Surfer Alo Slebir, 24, rode a gargantuan wave estimated to be 108 feet high “It’s the fastest I’ve ever traveled on a surfboard,” Slebir tells PEOPLE. “I’ve never experienced a sensation like that ...

Alo Slebir during a recent surf trip to Ireland (left) and while riding a potentially historic wave in December off the coast of California. Surfer Alo Slebir, 24, rode a gargantuan wave estimated ...