For decades, big-wave surfers have searched the globe for the next behemoth.

But what if the biggest wave on Earth hasn't been discovered yet?

That's the intriguing question posed by big-wave surfer Ridge Lenny in a recent video. And the more you think about it, the harder it is to dismiss. "Is it possible that the world's best and biggest waves have yet to be discovered?" Lenny asks. "I think it's pretty darn likely."

His reasoning is surprisingly simple.

Many of today's most iconic big-wave breaks weren't uncovered in some remote corner of the planet. They're relatively close to population centers and have been hiding in plain sight for years. Yet even those waves took decades to enter surfing's consciousness.

Take Nazaré, Portugal. While local fishermen and residents had long witnessed the canyon-fueled monster, it wasn't until 2011 that surfers truly began riding the wave on its biggest days. Today, it's widely regarded as the home of the largest waves ever surfed.

The same could be said for Maverick’s in Northern California and Jaws on Maui, both of which remained largely unknown to the broader surf world until modern big-wave surfing evolved.

And then there's Cortes Bank.

Located roughly 100 miles offshore from Southern California, the underwater seamount produces some of the most terrifying waves on the planet. Despite being relatively close to one of the world's largest surfing populations, Cortes wasn't seriously surfed until 2001. Even today, only a handful of swell events see surfers willing to make the long and dangerous journey offshore – like, maybe, once every decade or so.

If a wave of that caliber could remain virtually untouched until the 21st century, what else might be out there?

Advances in satellite imagery, ocean forecasting, and mapping technology have made exploration easier than ever. But vast stretches of ocean remain largely un-surfed, especially in remote regions where access is difficult and conditions are unpredictable.

"I think there could be hundreds of world-class big waves still yet to be surfed," Lenny says.

It's a bold claim.

Then again, so was Nazaré.