The first weekend of summer brings a lot of great things this year -- Father's Day, Summer Solstice, International Surfing Day, to name a few -- but it is also the kickoff for doggie surf lessons at Del Mar, lessons that will eventually lead to the famous Surf Dog Surf-a-Thon in September.
And while the "hang twenty" jokes shall fly, where the four-footed surfing Fidos are concerned, there is a surfboard in Huntington Beach which will see, in spirit, people hanging 600, rather than the traditional 10.
We'll wait while you do the math: Hanging 600, as in 600 toes off the board, means 60 people will be on the same surfboard, all at once.
Gnarly? Gnarly.
If you're guessing it is a World Record Attempt, you'd be correct, and if you're thinking it should be near the pier in Surf City, USA, you'd be right again: The Epic Big Board Ride will put at least 60 riders on the 42-foot, 1,400-pound board on the morning of Saturday, June 20, in attempt to coast past the former Guinness World Record for "most people riding a surfboard at once."
But hold up! There's another record in the works, and that's "world's largest surfboard." So the June 20 ride will have not one but two Guinness attempts on the line.
Make that TWO, rather. It's a bold, go-for-it adventure, and bold, go-for-it adventures deserve to be commemorated in all-caps. If we had an echo machine we'd play "two, two, two" over and over, to make the attempt all the more rock 'n roll.
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The story of the Big Board, which started at a custom fiberglass house in Rhode Island and traveled across the country in two huge pieces to a Santa Ana boat builder, is one of dedication, derring-do and a dream team. Innovators, engineers, and surf pros got involved -- Bob Hurley of Hurley International and surf legend Peter "PT" Townend were two of the many makers behind the build -- and a 42-foot-long surfboard is the stunning result.
Kudos, big thinkers/wild dreamers. We're giving you the "hang loose" sign, in respect.
There are things to know about the attempt, like how long the riders have to stay on to be counted (10 seconds). The full requirements are listed here, if you happen to be on the pier with your stopwatch at the ready.
Nine o'clock in the morning is the start time for the morning-long event, and some International Surfing Day festivities will be afoot in the area as well.
Supporters will be out in full, board short-wearing force, for sure. After all, it has been a full decade, plus three or so months, since the last "most people riding a surfboard at once" record was broken. (That was 47 people in March of 2005, which is, in surfer parlance, majorly rad.)
And, nope, the 60-plus riders expected on the Big Board won't all be actually "hanging ten," which means, of course, to hang toes off the board, physically. Even a grommet knows that's probably not the way to keep dozens of surfers on the same surfboard at the same time.
How they'll all stay on, and upright, will be quite the sight to behold. Big vibes to the Big Board and all of the riders going for glory in, where else? Surf City USA.
