World Record was Successful!. 49 surfers!!

Newsflash: The record is still ours. Undefeated!

Between 200 and 300 surfers showed up on 18th of Aug 2007 to take part and about 1000 people watched from the shore as the knee high waves allowed us to smash the record! Yi Ha, Lahinch's party wave twelve months on is still a world record. It's official, the attempts in Australia and S.Africa were defunkt! So our 2007 record has now been up'ed to 49 just beating the record we set in 2006 of 44.

Conditions were pretty tough as the surf was way over head. In the first attempt 250 surfers entered the water at low tide and attempted to beat the record without success. Organisers decided to give up and wait for the higher tide where the rollers were coming in up the beach in one straight line. Despite the crew being worn out we tried again and on the second wave we got over 100 surfers standing but only 49 were deemed to stand for the necessary 5 seconds. Well done to Aaaron and Ooisin for organising and getting the sponsorship together.. Yihoo. Great day out and nice to have the world record..

READ - Sunday Tribune Article from 2006
at the very end of this page, to see how it happened.

The record is now 4 people standing on one wave. More photos to come meanwhile, check out Paudi's pictures:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/boardy/

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Lahinch Stricken by Surfing World Record Madness

The build up>>

The organizing committee are convinced we can absolutely annihilate the existing record set in Rio de Janeiro last year.
Sure what would brazilians know about surfin anyway.

All surfers are invited. The 'Party Wave' Party happens outside O'Looney's Bar on the Prom from 6pm, the weather and surf look like being perfect for the attempt n Party.

Many thanks to the sponsors of the event: O'LOONEY'S BAR, Flanagans Bar, Shane Logue Hairdressers, Clare People, The Atlantic Hotel, Joe's Italian Cafe, Mrs O'Brien's Cafe, Erdinger Beer and LahinchSurfSchool.com Thanks also to TG4's superstar Hector (TG4) who is taking a day out from the horses to MC with the surfers in Lahinch. TV3 and TG4 along with about 25 newspapers are showing up so make sure you get on the sun beds early in the week and wear your coolest shades!!

Shakka Brah, John McCarthy

Lahinch Surf School is based in Lahinch on the west coast of Ireland and provides a safe, relaxed and affordable introduction to the exhilarating sport of surfing.

The two-mile long beach in Lahinch with its variety of breaks caters for novice, intermediate and experienced surfers. 5 miles further south you will find Spanish Point, another perfect surfing beach. Both are some of the best places in Europe to learn surfing with the advantage of the slower rolling Atlantic waves. John McCarthy, current Irish Senior champion and member of the Irish Surf Team, invites you and your friends to come and experience the thrill and excitement of surfing.

Get ready for the ride of your life!
Lahinch's ISA & County Council Approved Surf School

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Sunday Tribune Article, May 14th 2006

Tribune Archive

Lahinch surfers ride their wave to a new world record

RECORDS are there to be broken, and neither the wind nor the moon was going to stand in the way of Lahinch's big moment yesterday.The tide was out, the waves were small, but the surfers of Ireland had united to put the Co Clare resort at the centre of the international surfing movement in a bid to break the world record for having the most surfers on a single wave.

The town had been buzzing all week after word came back from London that its application to attempt to enter the record books had been formally recognised by the authorities in Guinness World Records. Old men in pubs discussed their chances, pinning their hopes on a new generation to carry Lahinch's name to glory.

The crowd began to gather at midday. Usually they would head straight for the surf but yesterday afternoon, there were two problems. Firstly, there wasn't much in the way of surf out past land's end, and secondly they were waiting for the official kick-off at 3pm, when they would bid to etch their name into the immortal pages of the Guinness Book of Records.

Among the eager surfers who travelled to Clare for the event was Peter Conroy, a Dublin fireman who spends most of his week trying to catch waves. "We work a shift system in the fire brigade so there's a lot of time to spend surfing, " he explained. "That's the reason I went for the job in the first place."

At 2pm, the Tiger Beer Blues Band struck up, beginning their set with that immortal rock 'n' roll line, "hello Lahinch". As the band played, men wearing wetsuits and carrying buckets mingled with the crowd, collecting money for the Lahinch Playground Appeal. Surfers may have attitude but they also have a caring side, dude. "Feel free to dance, " urged the singer. "Don't mind the traffic, it's only a minor hazard."

Back on the beach, the judge had arrived. Pamela Schoenhofer of Guinness World Records had flown in to see whether Lahinch had what it takes to become a global surfing landmark.

If watching 170 people surf a wave simultaneously sounds like a strange way to make a living, it is a normal day at the office for German-born Schoenhofer. Her last job was in Rotterdam, where she witnessed an attempt to have the most people dressed as mobile phones. Were they successful? "Yes." How many people were involved? "I can't remember, " she says. "But it was a lot."

Guinness World Records receives 1,000 applications a week and only a tiny percentage are accepted. Just 3,500 records are featured in the Guinness Book of Records.

"We read about the current record, which was set in Rio last year when 42 people surfed a wave, and we thought 'sure that's a piece of cake', " said organiser John McCarthy.

"We'd have 20 people surfing the same wave down here most weekends, so 42 isn't that big a deal."

At 3pm it began. One hundred and seventy surfers took to the water like ducks dressed in black, all trying to stay on the same wave for the required five seconds. They all seemed confident, as was television presenter Hector O hEochagain, who was MC-ing the event.

"Someone get some pints of Guinness for the woman from Guinness, " Hector told the crowd. "We'll get her tipsy and she'll be seeing double. She'll think there were 690 people riding the same wave for four years. On one surfboard."

And so they went up, and then they came down. Every 15 minutes, another attempt at the record was made. It was all filmed by the judge, who will analyse the footage at a later date to see whether the required number of people stayed up on the wave for the required amount of time.

When it was all over, the lads were still confident. "Definitely did it, " said McCarthy.

"The record is ours."

While the tapes made their way back to London, the surfers made their way to the pub, where the party continued all night, everyone in the town toasting the new-found global fame of Lahinch.

Dried off and at the bar, the surfers happily swapped one liquid for another. Water, water everywhere, and quite a lot to drink.