At 1am Thursday morning Blake Johnston will paddle out alone at the North Cronulla Alley in his quest to have the world's longest surf session.
He aims to stay out in the water for 40 hrs straight and he will be joined by others in one hour time slots.
Currently, the record for the world's longest surf is held by South African Josh Elsin who surfed for thirty hours, eleven minutes, catching 455 waves. Johnston's goal is to surf for 40 straight hours and catch 500 .
Johnston's extreme effort is his way to raise money for local youth mental health awareness and support by creating a new world record.
He is not doing it by himself though, he in partnership with the Chumpy Pullin Foundation, Surfing NSW, Ray White Sutherland Shire and the local surfing community are all excited to support Blake who is setting out to break the record for the longest surfing session.
Johnston was initially going to do a 1000 km run from Queensland to raise awareness for The Chumpy Pullin Foundation and youth mental health- but after a seven hour 100 wave session in the Melbourne wave pool, he searched 'the world record for longest surf session' seeing it was set by Enslin and that it was "only" 37 hours.
"I thought, I could do that, I can run for 40 hours, surely I can surf for 40 " he said.
I thought, I can run for 40 hrs, surely I can surf for 40
- Blake Johnston
"But, this way, I can surf with other people, bring in the community and make a difference for the future."
"It means so much to me and the surfing community to have the support of the local sponsors like Ray White to back me in my attempt"
Four days before D-day Johnstone had already raised $96,366 in donations so no matter what transpires he has been successful.
Blakey Johnston is a passionate advocate for mental health and an ambassador for the Chumpy Pullin Foundation.
The foundation advocates and supports young Australians in the mental health space, and creates opportunities through funding, education for Youth Development in sports and provides pathways and support to those who may not have the chances as freely as others to progress and afford to compete in sports.
There are plenty of ways to get behind this amazing human as he sets out to surf over 40 hours by coming down the beach and cheering him on, booking a time slot to surf with him or simply buying some raffle tickets or donating at www.worldlongestsurfsession.com
John Veage
Thirty five year photographer for Fairfax -former NSW Chief Photographer for FCN and now Photo Journalist for the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader in southern Sydney.Official photographer for Cycling Australia (20 years) Official photographer for Surf Life Saving Australia (30 years) Founding Life Member of Cronulla Boardriders Club and Life Member of Surfing Sutherland Shire among other things.
Thirty five year photographer for Fairfax -former NSW Chief Photographer for FCN and now Photo Journalist for the St George and Sutherland Shire Leader in southern Sydney.Official photographer for Cycling Australia (20 years) Official photographer for Surf Life Saving Australia (30 years) Founding Life Member of Cronulla Boardriders Club and Life Member of Surfing Sutherland Shire among other things.
