Shawano Ski Sharks President Dave Passehl presents Shawano Mayor Jeanne Cronce with the Guinness World Record plaque
The city of Shawano now officially has a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. This comes after the Shawano Ski Sharks partnered with an organization called “Big Pull” to help break the world record of largest barefoot ski line last June.
Ski Sharks President Dave Passehl was in attendance during the Shawano Common Council meeting Wednesday night to present the city with the award. He said everyone involved was grateful of the accommodations from the city and other municipalities to make the world record possible.
“There were challenges for municipalities and being able to close waterways and have appropriate protections on site,” acknowledged Passehl. “Everybody that touched the water had to get the approval to shut the waterways down. Basically wanted to just acknowledge the city for the tremendous amount of support because in the other areas where they’ve done these pulls, they don’t get what Shawano gave them.”
The Ski Sharks broke the then current world record of 27 with 30 barefoot skiers, a record that has slowly gotten larger annually.
“World records are meant to be hard to break. The goal here was for 30,” Passehl explained of their attempt to break the previous world record of 27. “It took us eight tries and it was the final try of the closed waterway at 9 a.m. To take it to the absolute last pull was pretty exhilarating.”
Passehl also believes that their current world record mark of 30 is likely to stay in tact for a while.
“To set 30 is only going to be broken by lighter barefooters or bigger boats, which nobody has in the water ski world, so I think Shawano has something to be proud of,” Passel added.
Video of the Ski Sharks world record accomplishment can be found below and more videos and pictures of the Shawano Ski Sharks can be found on their Facebook page.