A bid for the record books

More than 260 members of Helensburgh-Stanwell Park Surf Life Saving Club gathered on Stanwell Park Beach on Sunday to set the world’s first world record for number of surf lifesavers on patrol at one time.

Club officials will send required information to the publishers of Guinness World Records in a bid to have Sunday’s gathering recognised as a new world record.

There is currently no category for ‘world’s largest surf patrol’ but it is hoped Sunday’s gathering will be recognised for publication in the next edition of Guinness World Records.

However, there are no guarantees the surf club’s gathering will be enshrined; organisers failed to submit the application before the November 20 deadline.

Despite the confusion, organisers went ahead with the attempt, as the photo would provide the centrepiece for a book on the surf club’s centenary due for release next year.

“Even if we cannot be acknowledged in World Records, the event and photographs will feature prominently in the Club’s Centenary History Book to be released next year,” president Mark Thompson said.

Centenary organising committee chairman Paul Potter said all 110 patrol members and 150 nippers who posed for the photo were informed the attempt was not a lock for recognition as a world record.

“In all honesty our members aren’t really hung up on the world record; it was a great moment in our club’s history.”

The photo recording the gathering was taken by members of the Bendigo Bank Aerial Patrol Service – another volunteer organisation celebrating a milestone, having completed 50 years in the Illawarra.