Every time a massive swell is forecast, Santa Cruz’s hard-charging, big wave surfer Alessandro “Alo” Slebir can hardly contain himself.

SANTA CRUZ – Every time a massive swell is forecast, Santa Cruz’s hard-charging, big wave surfer Alessandro “Alo” Slebir can hardly contain himself. Several times each winter, Slebir ...

Santa Cruz big wave surfer Alessandro “Alo” Slebir, right, holds hands while praying with tow-in partner Luca Padua before they head out to surf during a historic swell at Mavericks, located ...

"It was something that I had never seen before out there," Alo Slebir, a veteran of large swells, tells PEOPLE Johnny Dodd is a senior writer at PEOPLE, who focuses on human interest, crime and ...

Alo Slebir during a recent surf trip to Ireland (left) and while riding a potentially historic wave in December off the coast of California. Surfer Alo Slebir, 24, rode a gargantuan wave estimated ...

“It’s the fastest I’ve ever traveled on a surfboard,” Slebir tells PEOPLE. “I’ve never experienced a sensation like that before” The wave — which thundered into Northern California ...

Surfer Alo Slebir, 24, rode a gargantuan wave estimated to be 108 feet high “It’s the fastest I’ve ever traveled on a surfboard,” Slebir tells PEOPLE. “I’ve never experienced a sensation like that ...

Alo Slebir during a recent surf trip to Ireland (left) and while riding a potentially historic wave in December off the coast of California. Surfer Alo Slebir, 24, rode a gargantuan wave estimated to ...