Tomorrow some 170 of the world’s top surfers and thousands of spectators will gather on the beach at Newquay in Cornwall for the start of the Rip Curl Boardmasters championship.

This is the highlight of the British surfing calendar in a resort once renowned for its caravan parks, donkey rides and tea shops. An estimated half a million Brits now regularly ride the waves – 10 times more than in 1992, according to the British Surfing Association – and that figure is growing by about 10% a year.

Steve England, editor of Carve, a surf magazine based in Newquay, says that by the time the decent waves arrive in September, the resort is more Blue Crush than blue rinse. “A lot of Britain’s top surfers are staying at home to surf the Atlantic,” he said. “There are an awful lot of extremely big waves off British shores that haven’t been surfed and there’s a lot of exploration going on.”

The most famous British big wave is the Cribber, a 30ft freak that breaks occasionally over a reef half a mile off Newquay. A similar sized monster lurks off the southwest coast of Ireland, going by the deceptively gentle name of Aileen’s. But for surfers in search of the ultimate rush there remains the quest for that elusive 100ft wave to end all waves.

Only since 1992 when Laird Hamilton, a Hawaiian surfer, pioneered so-called tow-in surfing – using jet skis to gain the necessary momentum to catch previously inaccessible waves – could the quest for the 100ft wave truly begin.

Oceanographers estimate 80% of waves are less than 12ft high. Of these, 45% are lower than 4ft. They are all formed the same way – by the friction of storm winds blowing across the surface of the sea.

Three factors determine wave size: the force of the wind, its duration and the distance over which it blows, known as the fetch. Waves of 35ft or higher require a fetch of 600-900 miles of unobstructed ocean, which is why Hawaii, 2,500 miles from anywhere, receives more than its fair share.

Other notable places where big waves come to die include Mavericks in San Francisco, Teahupoo (pronounced Chupoo) in Tahiti, and Dungeons off Cape Town.

Places such as these are the stumbling blocks for waves that have travelled untrammelled across hundreds of miles of ocean. As they approach a reef or a shore incline, these rolling masses of wind-born energy – moving at speeds of up to 60mph (hence the jet skis) – are tripped over. The bottom of the wave catches on the ocean floor and energy is thrust upwards. This causes the wave to become taller and steeper, but since the crest is moving faster than its bottom-dragging base, it breaks.

Big-wave surfing requires little apart from a specialist board called a gun and a third testicle. Riding these sea monsters is not without risk. “Imagine leaping from a five-storey office building that then explodes,” says Alec Cooke, aka Ace Cool, a dedicated big-wave surfer.

Wiping out can be lethal. In 2001 Briece Taerea, a pro surfer, was slammed into the reef at Teahupoo. He broke his neck and back in three places and died two days later.

But the thirst for salt water’s Everest remains unquenched. The big-wave world record is held by Pete Cabrinha, a 46-year-old Hawaiian, who caught a 70ft behemoth at Maui’s infamous Jaws break in 2004. Ken Bradshaw from Texas holds an unofficial record for riding an 85-footer at Oahu, Hawaii.

Bradshaw has heard of a spot in the Sea of Cortez off Mexico where the waves reach 100ft. “The 100ft wave is what the sound barrier was to Chuck Yeager, or the four-minute mile to Roger Bannister,” he says. “If the waves are out there, we’ll surf them.”

Top surfer movies

The Endless Summer (1966) The original surfer film: two friends chase the perfect wave

Big Wednesday (1978) Paean to Sixties surfer culture against a Vietnam backdrop

Point Break (1991) FBI agent v surfer bank robbers

Blue Crush (2002) Three surfer chicks in Hawaii

Billabong Odyssey (2003) Documentary following top surfers in 18-month hunt for monster waves

Thicker Than Water (2000) Awe-inspiring clips put together by Jack Johnson, Hawaiian singer and surfer

Cornish board talk

Clean Good conditions, good waves

Fat Slow waves

Gnarley Intense, powerful waves

Great white Basking shark

Grommet A young surfer

Kook An inexperienced surfer/wannabe

Rip To surf hard or energetically, or just really well

Sick move A good/cool move

Stoked Totally happy/enthusiastic

Wipeout/dumped Falling spectacularly off the board

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