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Giant Surfboard on California Coast
- Pacific Ocean
A
Guinness Book world record for
number of riders on one board was
set in Huntington Beach, California.
A 40 foot Australian surfboard from
the shop of Nev Hyman weighs more
than 1200 pounds and was
successfully ridden on the Gold
Coast of Australia with over 40
surfers aboard in early 2005. The
Big Board or Monster Board is 10
feet wide and 12 inches thick and
requires 20 to 30 adults to handle
it due to its size. Comprised of
nearly a half ton of foam, 240 yards
of 10 ounce fiberglass and 80
gallons of resin it cost
approximately $35,000 to produce.
Shipped in an ocean freighter to the
USA, it was then loaded on a flat
bead truck and delivered to
Huntington Beach.
Hoisted onto the beach with a crane,
the board was towed out to sea and
then let loose of its tow rope as 47
surfers road the monster. The Big
Board began the formal launch for
Wave of Compassion Big Board World
Tour, a yearlong fundraising effort
for humanitarian organizations such
as SurfAid International, Inc. and
Feed the Children, Inc.
Surfing extremes are hard to come by
in California but there are a few.
Getting bit by a shark has happened
to several surfers and that's pretty
gnarly. But the extreme, calculated
dangers are the ones that surfers
intentionally head themselves into.
Mavericks Big Wave contest is one.
An invitation-only event, it is held
when the conditions are right and
the waves reach up to 50 feet
offshore of Half Moon Bay. Some
years the waves don't develop and
the event is canceled.
Another extreme in California
surfing occurs in events such as the
US Open of Surfing when a surfer
doesn't catch a single wave during
the WQS 6 star event. That happened
not long ago in Huntington Beach
Beach (shown above). The waves just
aren't normally that great for the
July/August competition, but the
culmination of extreme created
simply nothing.
Small or large, big or tall, surfing
in California is seldom extreme, but
there are those moments.
