Photo: Guinness World Records
Think of the longest wave you’ve ever ridden. Now throw that memory in the trash, because it is absolutely meaningless compared to the absolutely mental eight-hour ride Austrian Maximilian Neuböck went on last month. In the process, he smashed a Guinness World Record.
The stunt, which sponsored by Red Bull Austria (of course Red Bull would be involved) took place in Ebenesee, Austria at the RiverWave, a facility that bills itself as Europe’s biggest artificial river wave. Neuböck rode for 8 hours, 5 minutes, and 44 seconds. For his efforts, he was awarded the Guinness World Record for “longest time spent surfing a wave (male),” far surpassing the previous record set by Gary Saavedra of Panama, who rode a wave in the Panama Canal for 3 hours, 55 minutes, and 2 seconds.
The entire record-breaking run can be seen in a video from RiverWave. The effort starts with Neuböck taking off on his shortboard in the pre-dawn darkness. From there, it’s a fairly static affair, with Neuböck appearing to fend off boredom by alternating between standing straight-legged and pacing back and forth on the wave. Other times, he would stretch or use a massage gun to alleviate his sore legs. Later on, he can can be seen drifting towards the sidelines to accept food and drink from spectators. At one point he actually ate a bowl of soup with a spoon.
In the end, though, he stood his way into the record books. There, he joins Lori Keeton, an American surfer who set the women’s record with an eight-hour wake surfing ride in 2021.
