A German surfer broke the Guinness World Record for riding the largest wave -- an 86-foot monster off the coast of Portugal.

Guinness World Records announced Tuesday that Sebastian Steudtner, 36, broke the world record when he rode the 86-foot wave off the coast of Praia do Norte, Nazare, in October 2020.

"It feels amazing," Steudtner told Guinness at the Tuesday ceremony announcing his record. "I have achieved everything there is in my sport. It has been a crazy journey to get here and the record is much more than just a number."

The wave earned Steudtner the World Surf League Biggest Wave Award in 2021 -- the third time he has received the award.

Guinness World Records said measuring the wave was a long and difficult process that involved taking frames from a video of Steudtner's ride and using other objects in frame -- including the surfer's own body -- as points of reference to determine the height of the water.

Steudtner took the record from Brazilian surfer Rodrigo Koxa, who set the record in 2017 at the same location that Steudtner would later visit for his own record-breaking.