One lapse in concentration and into the drink he went, along with his chance to break a world record.
Allen Edwardson, the 31-year-old owner of North Shuswap Barge Adventures had hoped to break the Guinness world record for riding the longest wave on Aug. 9.
But three hours, 30 minutes and 10 seconds into the four-hour attempt he looked up and lost his concentration.
“I thought I had it in the bag,” he said, noting he would have been happier if he had fallen when he’d only been riding the wave for a couple of hours. “Just a stupid lapse of concentration and bang, there you go.”
Wake-riding has become a mainstream sport and Edwardson was hoping to break the record held by Gary Saavedra, who rode a 413-mile wave down the Panama Canal in 3:55:02 March 22.
With less that 25 minutes separating him from a Guinness world record, he is planning to make another attempt next summer.
Edwardson, who had been training hard before his Aug. 9 attempt, increasing cardio and weight training, says conditions were not the greatest on the lake, it was very windy and a little chilly.
“The boat set out at about 7:30 a.m… the first try lasted about seven minutes, due to the wake not being big enough, therefore we stopped and we started again at 8:17,” says Edwardson’s assistant Brandy Ketlo.
While he felt strong throughout his long wake ride that included many four-minute, one-kilomtre circles He says he could feel it a couple of days after the attempt.
“My legs felt great because I really trained hard,” he says, noting a surf judge and two people he didn’t know were in the boat to observe the attempt, while friends and neighbours cheered from the shore. “It was a fun event, we had a little party after.”