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 News from Around the Americas | July 2005 
'Surf Gods' Smile On Record Attempt
 Reuters
Carlsbad, CA - Forty Southern California surfers on Wednesday set aside the sport's long-standing tradition of not sharing waves for what they claimed as a world record for the number of surfers riding a single wave.
The surfers, who ranged in age from 13 to 64, broke the previous record set by 38 Australians in 2002. The California group spent an hour and a half in the cool water off South Carlsbad State Beach, where dozens of onlookers cheered them on.
Three judges counted standing surfers along a stretch of coast. Others videotaped the winning wave to verify the group's success. All the surfers had to stand up and stay up for five seconds, simultaneously, organizers said.
Encinitas, California, artist and surfer John Moseley said he was a little surprised the surfers were able to accomplish the feat. "We had to find a wave that suits us and we had to find it at the same time," Moseley said. "I guess the surf gods were with us."
There are several surfing records in the Guinness Book, including one for 47 surfers on a single surfboard off Australia's Gold Coast in March. They, in turn, beat a record set earlier by a crew in Cornwall, England.
Guinness will not be able to verify that the attempt broke the individual surfers on a single wave record for four to six weeks, according to the company Web site. Guinness receives 65,000 such challenges every year.
The event was staged to raise funds for the Special Olympics, which provides fitness training and contests for about 1.7 million mentally disabled people each year. |
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