LOVE Island star Laura Crane may have just surfed the biggest wave ever by a woman as she tackled a huge swell in Portugal.
The former reality star, 30, was competing in the Nazaré Big Wave Challenge at the weekend when she caught a monster wave.
The effort is currently being assessed by the Guinness World Records and, if successful, will see her surpass Brazilian Maya Gabeira’s 73.5ft effort in 2020.
Laura, who competed in the ITV dating show in 2018, told The Times: “It’s just insane, it’s a total out of body experience which I don’t have words for.
“You are moving so quickly and you don’t have much control of what is going to happen and it’s just having to trust yourself, your training, your body and mind and trust the ocean that everything is going to work out OK.
“As I looked back over my shoulder and saw this thing, your first feeling is fear, which is the body’s response to danger, and the next step is having to really control that and make sure you are as present in that moment and trust that you can do it.”
Renowned for its huge waves, Nazaré isn’t for the faint hearted.
One error can have catastrophic consequences. Veteran surfer Márcio Freire died in the same waters in 2023 after being towed in to catch a wave.
The small coastal town north of Lisbon remains a mecca for surfing enthusiasts and daredevils keen to test their skills against some of the world’s biggest waves.
Laura, who broke her ankle in Nazaré earlier this year, was pulled along by a jet-ski for her huge wave, reaching a speed of 30mph.
She now faces a lengthy wait to find out if she’s made the record books as it can take experts years to finalise a result.
However, she’s confident it won’t be too difficult given the similarities between her and reigning holder Gabeira’s entry points.
Laura told The Times that she burst into tears after riding the wave having tried her best not to “freak out” while actually surfing it.
The Devon lass has surfed since the age of eight and quickly scooped up titles before turning 13.
But through her teens she experienced a darker side to being a female surfer as she was encouraged to sexualise herself with bikini shots on social media and battled an eating disorder for two years.
Laura previously told Stab: “When I was 16 I developed my eating disorder. I think when Instagram and social media became huge, it was hard not to look at myself and compare it to how other girls were looking and what they were posting.
“You look at these girls on Instagram or whatever and it’s easy to get a perception of how a girl should look. I have big shoulders because I surf and I wouldn’t be able to do what I love doing without bigger shoulders and stronger thighs.
“I had such a negative view on my body for so long and it made me sick mentally.”
She also had to overcome sepsis after leaving the Love Island villa in 2018.
At first she thought she was having severe period pains, but it quickly became apparent her condition was much more serious.
Her sepsis was caused by a cyst on her ovary that had become infected and needed to be drained.
Despite spending just 10 days in the villa as a bombshell, she impressed viewers who called her “confident, badass and accomplished”.
She dated Jack Fowler and the pair finished fifth, being eliminated days before the final.
After that she spent nine months with Made In Chelsea‘s Tristan Phipps before the romance fizzled out.
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