47 surfers ride World’s Longest Surfboard!

With 47 stoked surfers on its deck the world’s longest surfboard surfed it’s way into the history books

Photo ASP / Tostee

A gusty north-easterly wind change prompted organisers of the Quiksilver Pro Foster’s Men’s World Championship Tour event to call a lay day.

But the tricky onshore conditions proved no obstacle for Kerr (Coolangatta, Qld, Aus) and four of the other world’s best surfing ’flyboys’ who prefer to spend more time soaring above the waves than on them.

Aerial surfing is a spectacular hybrid of traditional surfing and skateboarding, in which competitors ’boost’ or ’punt’ themselves as high as possible and perform futuristic, gravity-defying maneuvers with names like ’Superman’, Alley-oop’, ’Passion pop’ and ’Stalefish’.

Competitors are judged on their best three waves, with their highest-scoring ride earning double points.

Grand finalists Kerr, Asher Pacey (Kingscliff, NSW, Aus), Dion Agius (Currumbin, Qld, Aus), James Catto (Gracetown, WA, Aus) and Ry Craike (Kalbarri, WA, Aus) used the windblown waves as ramps to launch some mind-boggling moves, thrilling the packed beach.

But it was Kerr, a former world aerial champion, who emerged top of the pack with a stunning display of aerial antics in front of a cheering home crowd.

After a slow start, Kerr, 21, reached into his impressive bag of tricks to pull out a high-flying Alley-oop which earned him a near-perfect 9.8 points from the judges.

His other rides - an 8.5-pointer and a 7.85-pointer - were almost as spectacular.

He defeated in-form Australian junior series performer Pacey, Agius, Catto and Craike respectively to claim the title and the AU$12,500 first prize. The other place getters shared the rest of the AU$25,000 prize booty.

“I’m so stoked - it was really hard (conditions) out there,” said a beaming Kerr.

“I had a shocker of a start and got lucky in the end. I was really surprised to land that Alley-oop. I didn’t know how much I’d scored because I couldn’t hear the commentary over the wind.”

Kerr said he planned to use his winnings to help pay off his mortgage and “have a big drink tonight”. (Final scores at end)

A Guinness World Record was also unofficially broken today with 47 surfers riding a Snapper Rocks wave on the longest surfboard ever built. Crafted by renowned Gold Coast shaper Nev Hyman, the monstrous 40-foot long craft is a super-sized replica of World Championship Tour (WCT) surfer Dan Wills’ (Byron Bay, NSW, Aus) standard 5’11 competition board.

Thousands of spectators and media gathered to watch more than 30 people carry the craft to the water’s edge before it was towed into the lineup with the aid of a 1200cc jet-ski.

Wills and fellow WCT competitors Troy Brooks (Aus), Chris Ward (USA), Victor Ribas (Brz), Neco Padaratz (Brz) and Hyman were joined by 41 others, including Hyman’s factory staff, all of whom climbed aboard to try and surf their way into the record books.

With a news helicopter hovering above and vision of the feat being beamed into hundreds of thousands of homes worldwide via the quiksilver.com live webcast, a huge roar erupted from beachgoers as the board was pulled into position and onto a small wave.

The world’s best surfers clung to each other for balance and jockeyed for position on the deck of the massive craft which slowly tracked shoreward, before its over-sized fins eventually dug into Snapper’s famous ’Superbank’ sandbar bringing the monstrosity and its passengers to a grinding halt.

Most riders were thrown laughing from the board into waist deep water and two of the fins were also ripped from its underside, yet the incredible ride is considered a successful entry for the Guinness record books.

“I almost didn’t believe he was making it when he told me,” said Wills of his shaper’s early intentions. “I was freaking out thinking about what might happen if we nose-dived? Or got caught by a massive wave? Or even how we’d manage to catch a wave! But it actually handled really, really well.”

Wills, a former world number two, believes even more people could’ve fitted on the deck, yet was cautious to stick “near the outside” in case of any unforeseen wipeouts despite his illustrious company.

“I was opting for the rail,” laughed Wills. “I wanted to be able to bail out if I needed to! But I reckon we could’ve had another 10 guys, easy!”

Hyman laboured for over a month to complete the giant shape which also required more than 300 litres of resin, ? ton of foam, 220 metres of fibre glass and cost more than $50,000.

“I’m just beside myself,” gasped Hyman. “All 47 surfers, we were in hysterics as we were getting pushed along. It only lasted a short time, I would love to get straight back out there and catch more waves, but we busted two fins out. But this has been a mission for me for a long time, and it’s turned out fantastically.”

The previous record for the most people riding a single surfboard was set in Cornwall, England with 14 surfers riding a narrow shaped paddle-board. The record for the longest surfboard has been held by surfers who constructed an oversized board in New Zealand, but today said Hyman confidently, “We smashed ’em all!”

The board is now destined for the USA and will be the symbol of what is expected to be the largest ever fundraising effort ever undertaken. More than US$100 million is hoped to be raised via the ’Tsunami Run’, a massive nationwide fundraising tour patronised by President Bush promoting such famous run races as the Boston Marathon.

The board will tour mainland USA on the back of a giant semi-trailer and will be made accessible to fans and media for countless promotional opportunities and publicity stunts. Hyman also hopes similar feats to today’s world record attempt will be repeated at major US surfing competitions such as the Boost Mobile Pro presented by Quiksilver and the annual US Open of Surfing event at Huntington Beach, California.

Competition is expected to resume in the Quiksilver Pro presented by Boost Mobile tomorrow with remaining round two heats. Organisers will be making a decision based on conditions prior to 8am local time.

Gold Coast local and round one standout Bede Durbidge currently holds the lead in co-sponsor Evian’s specialty award, the “Evian Longest Tuberide” for negotiating an awesome six-second tube ride during his opening heat. Durbidge eclipsed rides by Bruce Irons (Brazil) and Munro who had both logged five-second tubes and is now the frontrunner for the AU$5,000 bonus prize.

Quiksilver Airshow World Series Grand Final official results:
 1st Josh Kerr (Aus) 36.10 pts $12,500
 2nd Asher Pacey (Aus) 29.00 pts $6,000
 3rd Dion Agius (Aus) 26.10 pts $3,000
 4th James Catto (Aus) 11.20 pts $2,000
 5th Ry Craike (Aus) 4.80 pts $1,500

Quiksilver Pro Presented by Boost Mobile Round 2 results:
 (1st>round three; 2nd>33rd place/225 points/US$3,600)

 H1: Nathan Hedge (AUS) 13.34 def Dane Reynolds (USA) 11.57
 H2: Damien Hobgood (USA) 15.33 def Shaun Gossman (ZAF) 13.33
 H3: Luke Munro (AUS) 14.17 def Peterson Rosa (BRZ) 12.33
 H4: Victor Ribas (BRZ) 14.16 def Jake Paterson (AUS) 10.00
 H5: Mark Occhilupo (AUS) 11.50 def Renan Rocha (BRZ) 8.73
 H6: Michael Lowe (AUS) 13.93 def Kirk Flintoff (AUS) 12.50
 H7: Travis Logie (ZAF) 14.04 def Cory Lopez 12.70
 H8: Chris Ward (USA) 19.50 def Kalani Robb (HAW) 12.50
 H9: Daniel Wills (AUS) 15.67 def Tim Reyes (USA) 9.57
 H10: Phil Macdonald (AUS) 15.10 def Luke Stedman (AUS) 10.84
 H11: Dean Morrison (AUS) 14.16 def Shea Lopez (USA) 6.50
 H12: Greg Emslie (ZAF) 13.50 def Paulo Moura (BRZ) 10.97
 H13: Tom Whitaker (AUS) 15.17 def Toby Martin (AUS) 12.67