Tiago Pires and 344 beginner surfers successfully broke the Guinness World Record for largest paddle out over the weekend. Photo: Facebook
Three hundred and forty-four surfers collectively broke the Guinness World Record for the largest surf lesson on Saturday at Fonte De Telha Beach in Portugal. The effort was led by former Championship Tour surfer Tiago Pires in an effort to raise funds for Operation Red Nose, a Portuguese non-profit that brings doctors dressed as clowns to sick kids in the hospital. Participants even wore red noses themselves during the lesson to show their support.
Participants on Saturday all wore red noses to show their support for Project Red Nose. Photo: Facebook
The previous world record was held by Red Balloon, a surf school based in Bondi Beach, Australia back in 2015. Pires said that in addition to raising awareness about social issues and the environment (the day also included a beach cleanup), the motivation was to show that while small Portugal has a motivated surf community capable of doing big things.
“I’ve always had that idea that we are a small country, but we like to get involved with the bigger ones,” Pires said in an interview with Red Bull before the event. “We like to set records, we like to do big things, big events, and we always try to pull the best events in the world to Portugal, and this is a bit of a reminder of that.
“The previous Guinness World Record was set in Australia, the country of surfing, perhaps number one in terms of surf power. But, Portugal turns out to be a name to take into account in everything that is surf.”
The record comes on the heels of a paddle out held in Israel last Friday that purportedly broke the Guinness World Record for largest paddle out previously held by the City of Huntington Beach.
