Description: It was Hamilton's death-defying drop into Tahiti's Teahupo'o break on the morning of August 17, 2000 which became the benchmark in his career and his life, and cemented his reputation as the greatest big wave surfer of all time. A wipeout in Teahupo'o, a particularly hazardous shallow-water reefbreak in southeast Tahiti, means almost certain death. At Teahupo'o, Hamilton dropped into what is widely considered to be the most dangerous wave ever ridden. His ride there is known by surfers worldwide simply as 'The Wave', and a shot of him riding The Wave made the cover of Surfer magazine, accompanied by the caption: "oh my god...". Afterwards even Hamilton admitted that even he was pushing himself to the "max, max, max, max". Hamilton is now widely regarded as the best of the best at big wave surfing, regularly surfing swells of 35 feet (11 m) tall, and moving at speeds in excess of 30 miles (48 km) an hour (50 km/h) and successfully riding other waves of up to 70 feet (21 m) high (22 m), at up to 50 mph (80 km/h). He has often been credited for being able to conquer such enormous 'big wave' surf because of his exceptional physical conditioning and stature. At 6'3" (1.90m) and 220 pounds (102kg) he is able to take on larger waves which many smaller surfers could not physically handle.