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Key Figures · Rider

Garrett McNamara

Reported by 60 Minutes riding a Jet Ski to tow a surfer into a wave at Nazare in November 2017, and by The Watercraft Journal, quoting The Inertia, as having lost a jet ski there in December 2014.

At a glance

Role
Rider
On the record
2 years, from 2014 to 2017
Titles on the record
none read off a held results document yet
  1. The early years, in print, 1981 to 1993
  2. The makers and their machines, 1985 to 2005
  3. Noise, safety and federal rules, 1996 to 2002
  4. The rule book years, 2002 to 2018 (this page's records)
  5. Three rule books, 2021 to 2026

The eras this page's records fall in are drawn solid; the others are hollow.

How we know: Each bar runs the years printed on that era's panel, and which eras a page falls in is the archive's grouping of its records, not the length of anyone's career.

Years 2014 to 2017, one box each A single row of boxes, solid for a year printed above a fact and hollow for a year printed above none. 2014 2017
  • a year printed above a fact on this page
  • a year printed above no fact

Printed above the facts, 2014 and 2017. Printed above none, 2015 and 2016. 2 facts have no year printed above them and mark no box.

Every year from the first to the last year printed above a fact on this page, one box a year.

How we know: the year printed above each fact below.

  • Confirmed 0

  • Likely 4

  • Contested 0

The grade word on each fact on this page, counted. It grades how firmly the documents tie each fact to this person, not the person.

How we know: the word printed above each fact below, counted on this page only.

Riding outside a race

2017 · Likely

Anderson Cooper's report for CBS News's 60 Minutes, published on 1 September 2019, says that in November 2017 Garrett McNamara was riding a Jet Ski at Nazare, towing the British surfer Andrew Cotton into a wave.

Sources: 60 Minutes 1 September 2019 Nazare

Likely

The same report says the programme's crew rigged McNamara's Jet Ski with three small cameras and went out from the harbour at Nazare with two Jet Skis. It does not date the filming day or say in its own words who drove.

Sources: 60 Minutes 1 September 2019 Nazare

Likely

The Inertia's staff post of 25 November 2018 says of a crash filmed on 7 November, with no year printed, that Garrett McNamara towed Andrew Cotton into a wave and then spun around and picked him out of the sea. The post does not name the craft, so it is not counted among this record's watercraft facts. The archive reads the day as 7 November 2018 from the post's date, and reads the man as the one in the 60 Minutes report from the name and the towing of the same surfer at Nazare; both are inferences.

Sources: The Inertia 25 November 2018 Nazare tow

2014 · Likely

The Watercraft Journal's post of 24 December 2014, on a swell at Nazare earlier that month, quotes a report first published by The Inertia saying McNamara lost a jet ski in 20 feet of whitewater. It does not say who was driving the ski when it was lost. Taking him for the man of the 60 Minutes report rests on the name and the place, which is the archive's reading.

Sources: WCJ 24 December 2014 Nazare swell

Elsewhere in the archive

What the archive has not read (2)

  • His surfing, including record waves on his own or others' estimates, is not a watercraft fact and none of it is given here. No result sheet or race entry names him (searched the archive's mirror and research cache, 2026-10-18).
  • A feature in Personal Watercraft Illustrated on towing at glacier waves in Alaska, which he co-wrote, and two Watercraft Journal posts of 2019 relaying Yamaha's own videos of him with its WaveRunners at Nazare are his own account and a maker's material, so none is used.

Documents cited on this page

  • 60 Minutes 1 September 2019 Nazare (cbsnews.com): Riding the waves of Nazare with Garrett McNamara, by Anderson Cooper (60 Minutes, CBS News, 1 September 2019), CBS News (60 Minutes), 2019-09-01; editorial, medium. A television news magazine's report from Nazare: in the reporter's words, in November 2017 Garrett McNamara was riding a Jet Ski towing Andrew Cotton into a wave, and for the programme the crew rigged his Jet Ski with cameras and went out from the harbour with two Jet Skis. Medium for the reporter's sentences; the held text is an extract from the report.
  • The Inertia 25 November 2018 Nazare tow (theinertia.com): Andrew Cotton's Massive Nazare Wipeout (The Inertia staff, 25 November 2018), The Inertia, 2018-11-25; editorial, medium. A surf site's staff post on a video of a Nazare crash on 7 November, with no year printed: Garrett McNamara towed Andrew Cotton into the wave and turned round to pick him up. It does not name the craft. Medium; only part of the post is held.
  • WCJ 24 December 2014 Nazare swell (watercraftjournal.com): Video: Massive Nazare Swell Smashes Jet Skis and Surfers (The Watercraft Journal, 24 December 2014), The Watercraft Journal, 2014-12-24; enthusiast media, medium. A watercraft magazine's post on a big swell at Nazare earlier in December 2014, quoting a report first published by The Inertia that Garrett McNamara lost a jet ski in whitewater during the session. Medium; the post relays another publisher's words, and the held copy gives its opening paragraphs.
Cite this page

“Garrett McNamara”, BaddJet archive, https://baddjetarchive.com/key-figures/garrett-mcnamara/

Add the date you read it.

0 titles on the record · 4 sourced facts · 3 documents

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