66 Surfers Climb On Giant Surfboard To Break World Record

Sixty-six surfers took to the waves on a giant surfboard last week in Huntington Beach, Calif.,  and entered the record books.

66 Surfers Set A World Record On Giant Surfboard

The California surfers came together on International Surf Day, held annually on the summer solstice, to beat the record of 47 people riding a board in Australia in 2005. 

A 1,300-pound board was pulled into position on the beach by a village of California residents and the help of a crane, before the waves carried it and its 66 inhabitants through the wild ocean currents. The surfers managed to stand upright for 12 seconds, according to an unofficial count posted on the City of Huntington Beach’s Facebook page.

“It was an awesome feeling,” one of the surfers, Kelly Kenney, told CNN affiliate KTLA. “It went by really fast, actually, but everyone was cooperating, and it was a good time. Nobody fell off.”

The event drew big crowds of around 5,000 people who watched from shore and from the city’s pier, which spreads hundreds of feet into the ocean.

The group of surfers appears to have set at least one, and possibly two Guinness World Records. The custom-built board used Saturday was 42-feet tall and 11-feet wide, according to the Los Angeles Times, beating out the 39-foot board used by the Australian surfer group.

Huntington Beach Mayor Jill Hardy said the event helped kick off summer and was meant to remind “everybody that we’re about surf culture whether you surf, swim or hang out at the beach.” The group of surfers were seen celebrating their victory and applauding their efforts through shouts of “Surftown USA!”

Guinness World Records adjudicator Michael Empric was present at Saturday’s event and is expected to make the records official.

Take a look at a video of how the team of surfers pulled together to break a record: