An instagram story showing a pair of blistered feet caught our attention. It looked like your garden-variety whinge about the difficulties of winter surfing in Australia. Then we dug a little deeper and noticed a post showing mental health advocate Blake Johnston thick into a wave pool world record. He is by all interpretations a human who is definitely not on the whinge.
For the past 29 days Blake has:
- Surfed 3,552 waves
- Completed 221 hours of surfing
- Spent nearly a full working month on a board
Editor’s Note: Final surf tally for Blake is 4,097 waves over 256 surf sessions.
Over this winter Blake Johnston has completed hundreds of sessions and ridden thousands of waves at URBNSURF Sydney. According to performance tracking platform Flowstate, only after 10 days he had already completed 1,892 snaps, 51 spins, 251 barrels, 3,742 bottom turns, 837 top turns, and 751 carves—totaling more than 8,000 manoeuvres. And these numbers, however impressive, will fall by the wayside as Blake barrels on.
So why is this lovely human putting his might into chasing waves and not a part on the Game of Thrones spin off “House of the Dragon?”
Blake regularly puts himself up to challenges. He’s already logged the longest ocean surf—40 hours and 7 minutes riding 707 waves—and the largest paddleout–1,027 people. His current wave pool foray has just broken the previous record of 159 sessions and 1,963 waves, set by legendary URBNSURF Melbourne local Brett.
You have questions, as do we. Most notably, isn’t that expensive? And shouldn’t his filmer get some kind of award too?
Blake is using URBNSURF’s Winter Warrior Pass which provides unlimited surf sessions for one month. Available from late May at both the Sydney and Melbourne parks, the $1,500 (and up depending on surf level) pass helps keep the wave pool filled during surf sessions more suitable for the Starks of Winterfell, than for vintage 1970s Bronzed Aussies. His filmer is Flowstate, the automated AI video system installed at wave tanks around the world, and it’s recording every maneuver, wave and session.
For other questions, we turned it over directly to Blake.
Can you give me a little history and background yourself?
I am a surfer, husband, father, surf coach, endurance athlete, mental health advocate, and dual record holder for the world’s longest surf and world’s biggest paddleout.
How is it going?
Initially, I was asked to be the Winter Warrior ambassador for URBNSURF, and they hinted at me attempting a world record. After shuffling life around and learning that the goal was to beat an URBN customer with 156 sessions in a month, I’ve gone all in. Within the first week, I set a world record—1,073 waves ridden across 65 sessions with over 3,000 turns. It’s important to me that I surf at my level, so it’s just as much about having integrity as a surfer as it is being an endurance athlete.
Can you explain how this works technically—bathroom breaks, food intake, etc.?
My wife, along with Dr. Graham who helped with safety on the world’s longest surf, broke it down into 3-hour blocks with consideration to my fitness level and what I’d be able to maintain as the month went on. Each hour, I have a 5-minute break to check body temp and heart rate as per safety protocol, swap boards, eat some of my mum’s homemade Anzac biscuits, give a few hugs, speak to Micro when he is there to set a theme or focus for the session, and get back out there. In the 3-hour block—which I extended to 4, sometimes 5 hours—I had initially planned to change wetsuits to keep warm, but it wasted too much time and energy, especially as fatigue set in. So now it’s one wetsuit for 14 hours a day. The feet are soggy, cooked, and painful from blisters in the booties. I go to the toilets during the big breaks and strategically have my coffees at the right time to save me from soiling myself mid-session.
You did 40 hours in the ocean? How did that one work technically?
The world’s longest surf was an ultramarathon session that consisted of 40 hours and 7 minutes of continuous surfing, riding 707 waves—that’s a wave every 3:25 seconds. We had giant spotlights adorning the shore, strict safety support at night with professional water safety hired, and local lifeguards during the day. It was at Cronulla, with the first day in 4–6ft waves, making me earn every little bit. We raised $500k for youth mental health and it inspired a community. This year, me and my wife set another record by organizing the world’s biggest paddleout. Two years exactly after the world’s longest surf, we brought our community out, and 1,027 of us held hands in the ocean to show the positive impact human connection and community have on mental health. We raised $54k for youth mental health workshops in primary and high schools.
What is Flowstate telling us about his sessions? One post said 65 sessions and 3,500 manoeuvres.
I have partnered with the legends at Flowstate because I’m interested in the stats and learning outcomes we can get—both for me as a surfer and for my job as a coach. Time to feet, time on wave, type of turn—a full personal progression report for each day. I’ve hired my long-time mate and fellow surf coach Glenn “Micro” Hall, and we are implementing technique adjustments and themes to each session to see where I can improve. But we’re also considering the huge physical strain and fatigue this world record will have on my body. My health and fitness are being tracked by my WHOOP. We are focusing a lot on surfboards and how they are vital tools to explore and enhance specific parts of our surfing. It’s all so interesting and fun.
Apart from the physical demands for the surfer, how is this for the family? – Dad’s away, sessions are expensive, etc.
I was only asked to attempt the world record three weeks before I started, and my roles as husband and father are the most important in my life. My wife is the absolute GOAT MILF. Things wouldn’t get done without the support I have. I come up with the crazy challenges and she pulls it all together, ensuring they’re executed to perfection. One of my two boys, Bobby, froths on surfing, so part of the deal with URBNSURF was to include him. So Bobby got a Winter Warrior pass for July and is challenging himself to be the Junior Winter Warrior. He is coming out every second day and has been doing lots of 6- and 7-hour days in the pool with me. It’s a cool experience to share with him. It’s been a great bonding experience—seeing him push himself and dramatically improve his surfing in such a short time. I own a surf school, it’s winter, and my staff have the lessons covered, so work is sorted. They are big days—leaving Cronulla at 5am and not home till 10pm—so it’s a lot on my family, but they understand why I do this. A big part of my drive is to show them the value and importance of integrity—and that we can achieve anything we set our mind to.
How does this feat fit into Swellbeing and inspiring personal growth?
This challenge aligns with Swellbeing as the biggest lesson I’ve learned, and encourage people to do, to create self-awareness and self-discovery is by deliberately exposing myself to big challenges. Life is hard for all of us, and we all have ups and downs, triumphs and tragedies. They help shape us. But it’s when I’ve deliberately exposed myself to big, hard things that seemed impossible or even scary when I first thought of them that I’ve had my most growth and self-discovery. This takes courage, and we all have it. I just choose to be vulnerable, share my journey, and be an example to prove that if I can do it, you sure as hell can too.
You can track Blake’s progress on Flowstate at this link and follow Blake on Instagram here.
