Surfers honored wetsuit pioneer Jack O’Neill with a paddleout Sunday at Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz. – Photo: Sheila Rad / SFGATE
By Amy Larson, KSBW – SFGATE
Thousands of surfers paddled out for wetsuit pioneer Jack O’Neill at Pleasure Point in Santa Cruz Sunday. Their purpose was to honor and remember the surfing icon, not set a new record.
But the official Guinness World Record for paddleouts is 511, set in Huntington Beach in June of 2017.
When you view this KSBW video footage, and this drone video shot by Larson Aerial Media, it is apparent that number was smashed.
The number of people who paddled out Sunday was estimated to be more than 3,000, said Mark Massara of O’Neill Wetsuits.
The crowd that stretched along East Cliff Drive to watch surfers form an enormous circle in the ocean was estimated at 5,000-6,000, Massara said.
“There’s no doubt this was the largest paddleout, of any kind, ever,” he said.