Thorpe Park - London, England
Special thanks to Thorpe Park, and H2O Clothing for supporting this record.
Pics of the event HERE taken by George Haydon
Facebook videos by George Here
The day was March 25, 2008. The occasion: set a new world record for
the most flips in an hour on the Air Chair. It started out as an
attempt to do some kind of world record as a promotion for the Park. We
talked about doing the height record again, but I turned that down
because in order to clear 23 feet plus, you will need a large boat to
create a big enough wake to get you that high. Plus, with cold water,
you don't get as much air. We then talked about the flip record. I
originally was going to attempt to reset my old record of 1416 flips in
one run. The park wanted something that would take less time, and in
retrospect, I am glad they did. Foiling for 1 hour in such terrible
conditions was bad enough. I don't think I would have been able to
withstand 3 or 4 hours.
I performed 4 shows a day from Friday to Sunday, and every day kept
getting colder and nastier. We kept thinking, awe, it can't get any
worse than this! Then it did. When it came down to the actual day to
set the record, It was snowing on and off. As you can see in the
pictures, it was miserable. Even the people in the boats were freezing.
But after all, there was a record to be set, and I wasn't going to let
sleet, hail, snow, wind, cold, a bridge in the middle of the run, or
any other thing stop me from doing what I had set out to do.
After all was said and done, I managed to flip 529 times in one hour,
which for the number junkies out there, is 8.82 flips a minute, or one
flip every 6.8 seconds. Granted, I know I could have done more if I
didn't have to stop for the bridge, the short course turns, and the
need to pour hot water on my hands and feet brought by a jet ski, but
if you look at the record I set in 4.5 hours 12 years ago, it is still
a faster pace. That ended up being one flip every 11.44 seconds.
I have a massive cold right now, but after that clears up, I will feel
pretty good about the whole thing. We had all the requirements for
Guinness to certify the record. Finally, an official hydrofoil record!
For those interested, here is a list of the other records I have been involved with:
-9 men over one regulation water ski jump (set in summer 1986 in NY on the Hudson river) certified
-38 people behind a single engine boat (set in summer of 1988 in NY on the Mohawk river) certified
-Most flips in one Air Chair ride 1416 in 4.5 hours (Colorado River, Summer of 1996) non-cert.
-7 man front flip over one regulation ski jump (set at Show Ski nationals summer of 2000) non-cert. |
