Most surfers spend a fair amount of time hoping for fewer people on their wave...
This Saturday in Newquay, the aim is exactly the opposite.
On 19 September 2026, Earthwave comes to Great Western Beach with one brilliantly simple challenge: can more than 110 surfers ride the same wave at the same time?
It sounds slightly ridiculous....Which is probably part of the appeal.
The 110 figure comes from an Earthwave record set in South Africa in 2009, when 110 surfers were recorded riding the same wave simultaneously.
This weekend, Newquay gets its chance to go one better.
More than a record attempt....Earthwave describes the event around three simple ideas:
One Ocean. One Community. One Wave.
And looking at what’s planned, that feels pretty accurate.
Alongside the record attempt, Great Western Beach is due to host live music, food, beach activities, local businesses, community organisations, families and plenty of people who have absolutely no intention of paddling into a wave with another hundred surfers.
You can take part or you can watch from the sand.
Or you can simply head down and see what happens when a sizeable chunk of the Cornish surf community decides to try something together.
That last part is what makes this interesting to us. Surfing is individual. Surf culture isn’t.
There’s a contradiction at the heart of surfing.
You paddle for your own waves. You make your own decisions. You spend plenty of time sitting quietly, staring towards the horizon.
But so many of the best parts happen with other people.
The drive down, the terrible coffee afterwards, the person who talks you into paddling out when you weren’t sure.
Standing in a car park arguing about whether it’s actually any good. Friends, families and strangers sharing the same stretch of coastline.
Kosin means Good Friend, and that relationship between people, the ocean and shared experience has been part of the brand from the beginning.
So the idea of deliberately getting more than 110 people onto one wave feels wonderfully backwards, and somehow completely right.
Of course, there’s one fairly significant participant nobody controls.....The Atlantic.
Saturday is the planned event day, with Sunday 20th September reserved as a contingency day if the surf, weather or water-safety conditions aren’t suitable.
Anyone taking part needs to follow Earthwave’s official participation and safety requirements.
Which means that however much organisation goes into it, the final decision still belongs to the sea. We rather like that.
Want to be part of it?
Earthwave takes place at Great Western Beach, Newquay, on Saturday 19 September 2026, with Sunday held as the backup day.
Whether 111 people make the same wave remains to be seen.
But getting a beach full of people together around the ocean already feels like a decent place to start.
Check it out at Earthwave
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