Epic Big Board Ride

Celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Epic Big Board Ride and receive a limited-edition Big Board themed collectors pin! 🔥

 
Follow the rules below to receive a FREE pin and one entry for a $500 HSS, Jack’s Surfboards, or Rip Curl gift card 😉🤙
 
✨ RULES  ✨
📍 Visit the International Surfing Museum (Big Board is in the parking lot)
🤳 Snap a selfie in front of the big board and post it to your feed or story.
📲 Tag @surfcityusa and @internationalsurfingmuseum
🎁 Claim your free limited-edition pin (with a rare chance for a chase variant) at the Visitor’s Info Kiosk in Pier Plaza (Open 10AM - 6PM Daily)
🎟️ Provide your info and get entered to win a $500 gift card to HSS, Jack’s, or Rip Curl
⏰ Giveaway runs now until June 30th!

UPDATED JUNE 12, 2025

Surf City USA lived up to its name by breaking not one, but two Guinness World Records™ on June 20, 2015 at the Epic Big Board Ride. Over 60 professional surfers, former US Open of Surfing winners, Surfing Walk and Surfers’ Hall of Fame inductees, youth surf champions, celebrities, and local heroes piled onto a custom-built 42-foot long surfboard to ride one epic wave on the south side of the famed Huntington Beach Pier.

Huntington Beach’s record-breaking board is 42 feet ¼ inches long, 11 feet 1 inch wide and 16 inches thick. While the original record for "World's Largest Surfboard" is 39 feet and 4 inches. As per Guinness World Records requirements, the Big Board was built like any other surfboard, just on a (much) larger scale. This included the foam shaping, board assembly, lamination, and final details including glassing, logo placement, and fin attachments. Local Huntington Beach shapers assisted with the finishing process. 

The original record for "Most People Riding a Surfboard at Once" was set on March 5, 2005 with 47 people in Snapper Rocks, Queensland, Australia during the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast, and the first stop on the ASP World Tour. Huntington Beach broke Snapper Rock’s record during the US Open of Surfing festivities with 60 people in July of 2005 with the same surfboard; however, the event was not registered with Guinness World Records beforehand, making the record unofficial. Surfing the board at this attempt were surf legends Troy Brooks and Peter “PT” Townend.

Specific guidelines and official rules from Guinness World Records for "Most People Riding a Surfboard" include:

• The board used for the attempt must be a scaled up version of a traditional surfboard and be made of the same materials.
• All participants must be standing on the surfboard and riding a wave unassisted for a period of at least 10 seconds.
• The surfboard can be towed with all participants standing on it until it has gained enough momentum. The 10 seconds will start when the board is released and travelling unassisted.
• Only participants who stay standing on the surfboard throughout the required 10 seconds will be counted towards the final record.

Visit Huntington Beach, the official destination marketing organization for Surf City USA, took the lead on the event and board creation, in concert with the City of Huntington Beach and title sponsor Hurley. Truly an international effort, the design was based on Australian surfboard shaper Nev Hyman’s schematics, while Orange County boat builder Westerly Marine and Rhode Island’s mouldCAM, along with local surf industry shapers, collaborated to craft the massive board. Its design mimicked one of the famous short boards ridden by Brett Simpson, Hurley sponsored professional surfer and Huntington Beach native.

Since the event, the surfboard has been on display at the International Surfing Museum in Downtown Huntington Beach.