Thursday, June 22, 2017

International Surfing Day Scores Guinness World Record!



Surfers Stoked on Surf, Sun & Guinness Record!

Written by SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel

Surfers around the globe from Hawaii to California, Chile and Brazil, Spain, Portugal and France, South Africa, Australia and other surf spots turned out to celebrate International Surfing Day and the Summer Solstice (June 20).








Created by the nonprofit Surfrider Foundation and Surfing magazine in 2005, ISD honors the great sport of surfing with paddle-outs, beach cleanups, surfing lessons, environmental education activities, music and more. 

This year Huntington Beach, CA (Surf City USA) definitely went for more! A Guinness World Record! 


Already in the Guinness World Record Book for its Epic Big Board Ride (the world's largest surfboard with the most people riding it – 66) in 2015 and Making the Most S'mores (with 423 people making s'mores at HB's fire pits) in 2016, HB went for a three-peat.
The Surfing Circle of Honor – the world’s largest paddle-out on record.
Diana Dehm, Executive Director of the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum, who came up with the idea for the paddle-out, told SurfWriter Girls Sunny Magdaug and Patti Kishel, "The Surfing Circle of Honor is a way for us to honor the surfing culture and heritage and celebrate that surfing is going to be included in the 2020 Olympic Summer Games." 

A paddle-out ceremony – when surfers paddle out into the ocean together and form a ring with their surfboards to honor another surfer – is the highest accolade that can be given. So, this was the perfect way to celebrate ISD and Huntington Beach's support for the Olympics.


When the moment came to connect all the surfboards in one giant ring, 511 surfers reached out and grabbed each other’s hand, holding on for one minute. They became one living being floating on the water….and earned the Guinness World Record.


It was a larger-than-life image to see – the size of two football fields – and a tribute to surfing that won't be forgotten.

Basking in the sunshine of the first day of summer, surfers around the world did more than soak up the rays at this year’s ISD. They came together to give back to the ocean and to preserve its beauty.


During the last decade over 1 million participants in more than 30 countries have held over 200 ISD events and cleared over 20 tons of trash from the beach.
SurfWriter Girls can't think of a better way to share the stoke!




To see more about ISD, click on: ISD Surfrider

 
SurfWriter Girls

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