Ken Bradshaw is generally accepted as riding the biggest wave ever surfed 1-28-98 at Outside Log Cabins, Oahu, with a face of about 80'. There is no photo of it that can be analyzed, however some grainy video was shot from a mile away and the view was partly blocked by a wave in front of it.
Mike Parsons surfed a wave at Cortez Bank on 1-5-08 that photographic evidence suggested was over 70 feet. Both of these waves were towed into using a jet ski.
As for waves caught by paddling in, Shane Dorian paddled into an official world record at Jaws Maui on 3-15-11 on a wave officially judged to be 57 feet high in which he was totally barrelled, briefly, before getting slammed. He wore a new survival device, which Shane designed himself, that inflated helping him reach the surface quickly after his wipeout.
