One Wave Challenge, 1/23/2016

Saturday morning we went to La Jolla Shores for the One Wave Challenge Event, a fundraising event for the Boys to Men Mentoring organization. The challenge was to capture the Guinness World Record for the number of surfers riding a single wave for 5 seconds (or more). About 150s surfer participated in the Challenge, contributing $50 each to the non-profit organization. The World Record is 110 surfers riding a wave (for 5 seconds) in 2009 in South Africa. 

Here are some shots of one of the 18 surfing attempts.

And then the surfers would go back out for the next attempt.

The San Diego Rescue team was on hand as were several news stations.

Here is the final (18th) attempt. The surf was very rough due to high tides and strong currents. 

This was our first visit to La Jolla (we'll be back when the weather is nicer), but the cove here is beautiful. I always enjoy the shore birds!

The event was well attended and the One Wave Challenge will be an annual event going forward. A local beach-rock band, Sandollars, performed after the surfing challenge. John enjoyed the surfing; Sadie liked the people (and dog) watching. 

After all of the videos were reviewed late in the day Saturday, it was determined that the best attempt at breaking the record was the 13th wave. Alas, there were only 97 surfers that rode the wave for 5 seconds. Therefore, the record set in 2009 by 110 surfers in South Africa remains the world record. 

No one was too disappointed. It was a great fundraising event that was a lot of fun and generated great camaraderie among surfers and spectators of all ages. The next try will be in January, 2017. We won't be here, but maybe you can catch it.