Surfer Garrett McNamara has been recognised by Guinness World Records for riding the largest ever wave.

McNamara caught the towering 78-foot wall of water off the coast in Portugal in November 2011.

The feat was verified by Guinness after an independent panel of big wave and photography experts painstakingly measured still and video images of the colossal wave.

The epic ride eclipsed the previous record, set in 2008 by big-wave surfing great Mike Parsons at Cortes Bank in California, by more than a foot.