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Paddle boarding world records - could you do better?
Having a world record is cool whatever discipline you choose to complete it in, and as we all know they vary from the weird to the wonderful. It’ll come as no shock that we are most impressed by the paddle boarding related records so we’ve had a look through a certain World Record Manual and collated the paddle boarding ones for you to have a read.
Unfortunately there’s some pretty strict copyright laws around the pictures so use the links we’ve included, or your imagination - whichever you prefer!
Longest distance travelled on a paddle board in 24 hours: 193.8km
This world record was achieved by Bart De Zwart in Erlach, Switzerland. Bart undertook his mammoth mission on 30th May 2017 and travelled an impressive 193.8km (or 120.4 miles) in 24 hours. That's roughly the same distance as paddleboarding from London to Lincoln* AKA a very long way, however Bart De Zwart is known for his incredible endurance within the sport and has previously won the World’s Longest canoe and kayak race, twice.
Largest parade of stand up paddle boarders: 844
Previously a UK owned world record at 390, Russia completely smashed this record by over double reaching 844 paddle boarders in 2017 (this seems to be the year of SUP records). Amar Bay was chosen as the location and in order for the record to be counted, the group of 844 paddle boarders had to travel a distance of one mile together. Each participant was given a wristband upon entering the water and then handed them back upon exiting to be counted. It was a great show from the community with local schools, shops, brands and the general public all rallying together to secure the record.
See the paddle boarding parade
Largest stand up paddle board: 48ft 8inches
It wouldn’t be a world record collection without a giant paddle board thrown in. The Spanish company, Tropical, created the world’s largest paddle board which measured 48ft 8.65 inches long. The monstrous paddle board took voyage in Playa de Las Canteras, Gran Canaria and took over 20 people to paddle the board.
Longest distance travelled on a paddle board: 2641.3km
So we’ve just mentioned the furthest distance travelled in 24 hours on a SUP, well this is the longest journey without a time limit. In order to raise awareness of the importance of clean water, Shilpika Gautam travelled a whopping 2,641.3km (1,641.2 miles!) which is like paddle boarding from Manchester to Athens in Greece*. It took Shilpika Gautam just over 3 months to complete his journey on the Ganges River in India, starting on the 2nd October 2016 and finishing on the 11th January 2017.
Most people riding a single SUP: 73
Unfortunately, we’ve not actually been able to find a link to an image of this world record attempt so we are imagining the tallest human pyramid of all time, or layers and layers of human sardines stacked on top of each other, which either way is very impressive. Another theory we’ve come up with is that the paddle board used was exceptionally big - it could even be the paddle board mentioned in the previous record, which admittedly would make it slightly less impressive… Regardless, the record was broken by the Lakewood Sail & Paddle Club at Lee’s Summit in the USA in July 2019.
Most of these records have been around for a few years now so could it be time to break one?...or two? We’d love to hear if you have a record breaking attempt idea!
