***sort of… if all you wear are shirts and 10 of them on the torso.

Guinness World Records announced this morning I was the winner of this week’s #GWRChallenge.

This one was different than most Guinness World Records I break because instead of having a previous time I know I need to beat, I had hundreds of people across the globe all going for the same record at the same time. I simply needed to do my very best.

My wrists got scraped up and rubbed off my the shirts rubbing against them but the most painful injury was to the bone on the inside of my right wrist because it kept knocking against my head.

I set a goal of under 15 seconds when I first set out to break this record which proved to me just a little bit too much of a challenge with under a week to prepare and execute. In the end I got a run of 15.61 seconds which was good enough to win. I think the next best time submitted out of everyone was somewhere north of 25 seconds which surprised me a little.

I couldn’t practice for this one like most records. Usually I get warmed up and go into deliberate practice mode while in the zone. And do it over and over timing myself, figuring out what works, what doesn’t and making adjustments. However, this is an exhausing record. I get out of breath shockingly fast and start sweating quickly. The sweating is esacerbated by the fact that I’m wearing 11 t-shirts at the end and it takes longer to get them off than. One after just a few practices I’m sweating profusly. And when I’m sweating, the shirts stick to my arms making it impossible to put them on quickly. So I had to take frequent breaks and have many short practice sessions.

I had plenty of help from my family as well who wanted to get in on the action.

If you want to be a Guinness World Record’s title holder, you can participate this week in the #GWRChallenge. This wee’s challenge is for the most leapfrogs in 30 seconds. Grab a friend and check out the link below for the rules.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/GWRTryThisAtHome

This record was way harder than it seemed. Jonathan and I have spent multiple sessions over several months trying to break it. Finally, during quarantine for COVID-19 and after analyzing the last 2 officially approved Guinness World Record attempts (and practicing like crazy since there’s nothing else to do), we broke it. And we broke it big.

The record was for the most table tennis balls caught in shaving foam on the head in 30 seconds (team of 2). The previous record was 22.

This record does have its controversy. The official Guinness rules state that no part of the body can cross the 2-meter line which is usually interpreted as touch the ground on the other side of the 2-meter line. I asked for clarification and they simply repeated the rule verbatim. I looked up the last 2 official record holders: Dude Perfect of YouTube fame (who got 21) and the latest who got 22.

Here are a couple images from their attempts:

Following the same interpretation of the rules Jonathan and I finally got 29 ITTF approved Table Tennis balls caught in shaving foam on the head in 30 seconds (this after I lost count how many attempts over the last several months… and the attempts are frankly messy).

After lots of practice and experimentation, we decided that gel shaving foam was no good and the $1 Barbasol was the way to go. The balls also don’t stick to the sides very well so we settled on a giant bowl to be the best strategy. The bowl had to have lips that lifted up at the edges so the balls didn’t roll off. Finally, the balls needed to settle in the foam to stay on so the bowl needed to have an inch of foam above the top of the head.

I’m so glad our wives go so much enjoyment out of this record attempt. The quarantine has taken its toll on all of us and as you can see in the video, our wives are no exception. This one was so much harder than I expected but that made it all the more satisfying when we broke it.

Here are the links to the 2 videos I referenced:

I retook the record for the fastest time to bounce 5 ping pong balls into 5 pint glasses. I first broke this record on December 31, 2018, while at dinner at the famous El Avion restaurant in Manual Antonio, Costa Rica with a time of 3.51 seconds. It was my final (and 51st) record of the year in 2018 (with a goal of 52, but I had 9 disqualified). It was since broken with a time of 2.81 seconds. I decided if I was going to take it back, I’d better do it in style.

There are several Guinness guidelines that call out the surface type, the restrictions on the cups, the spacing of the cups, the type of ITTF approved table tennis balls that can be approved, etcetera, that can quickly disqualify what would otherwise appear to be a valid attempt. Those were all taken care of ahead of time.

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The most important rules are that the hand must be flat on the surface before go and you have to call out stop and lift your hand once the 5th ball bounces into the 5th cup. Frame by frame analysis shows that go is said and the stopwatch is running before my hand left the surface of the counter. I then call out stop and the 5th ball is in the cup when the stopwatch still reads 1 second 90-something. Leaving early gives the biggest advantage evidenced by the fact that well over half a second elapses between go and the first ball getting into the cup.

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The weather was just warm enough in Boise to go outside for a one-sided water sponge fight. I can’t tell if I won or lost.

The Guinness World Record’s title is for the “Most wet sponges thrown in 30 seconds (team of two)”. They have to be dipped in water just before the throw and hit the other person fully on the face from over 3 meters away. The previous record was 36.

Fortunately, Jonathan is an excellent 2-handed thrower and he launched 54 in 30 seconds. After subtracting the misses and blows that only glanced off the face, we ended up with 43 hits that counted.

The neighbors again provided timing and witnessing from the middle of the street as there is no traffic and there was plenty of room to keep our distance.

We offered everyone to have a chance at the record if they were just willing to be on the receiving end of a wet sponge, and surprisingly enough, everyone declined!

The trickiest part is timing the blinks of the eye to close them before the sponge hits, open them after enough water is gone it doesn’t hit the eye, have time to see the oncoming sponge and move to make sure it hits the face, and then get the eyes closed again.

There is also no evidence that COVID-19 has ever been spread by a thrown wet sponge.

Stay safe.

Thanks to the Lindemood family!

Can’t go to the beach? Take the beachball to the hallway.

Jonathan Hannon and I continue the quarantine Guinness World Record attempts in the hallway series. This time for most beach ball passes in 30 seconds. We stood behind 2 lines carefully measured at 3 meters apart and used a lightweight, plastic, inflatable plastic ball with a 40+ cm diameter and passed it back and forth as many times as we could in 30 seconds.

The previous record was 68 passes in 30 seconds. It was surprisingly frustrating. A beach ball is so light that the slightest spin or an angled hit can send it shooting off any which direction. We’d be going along great and the pass would veer off and hit the ceiling, floor, or wall seemingly out of nowhere.

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My 1-year-old son also wanted to get in on the action. My wife would hold him sometimes since he always wanted the ball and one time it backfired. We were doing great and got 82 catches in one run a few days ago and thought we were done. I got home and loaded the footage on to my computer and at 29.5 seconds we noticed my son’s hand covered up the stopwatch invalidating the attempt under the COVID-19 rules requiring the stopwatch to be on camera with the other relaxed rules in place. On the last try, we finally got 84 passes to call this one good. Poor little Peter did get to hold the ball right before this attempt before passing it back to Jonathan. He then backed up and tripped over the tripod leg. This time, behind held by mom, he did not cover up the stopwatch.

After polishing off the tennis ball basket catch record we went for its sister: most tennis balls caught on a bucket on the head in one minute. The previous record was 79 and we crushed it with 98. Jonathan threw 123 tennis balls in one minute, one at a time, and between the accurate throws and my moving a little bit, we had 80% of them land in the bucket.

We started with smaller buckets and had issues with balls bouncing out to start, but between perfecting the carnival soft-touch throw with both hands and lifting the bucket off my head just ever so slightly so the bottom had some give, we were able to avoid the early balls bouncing out.

Since we haven’t seen anyone else in a few weeks and we have at least a couple more weeks of isolation, stay tuned since we’re likely to try a few more of these records before the quarantine is over.

The video says it all (and then some).

(This is the first time I’ve ever posted an unedited video like this. And no, I had no idea what he was going to say).

Fastest time to bounce 5 ping pong balls into five glasses (team of 2). Previous record: 3.16 seconds. Our effort: 2.31 seconds.

Is there any greater good to be done while in quarantine than to do absolutely nothing?* (*ok, so almost nothing, and please don’t judge us for also practicing before we started self-isolating).

Jonathan “Healthy” Hannon and I broke the Guinness World Records Title for “Most tennis balls caught in a basket on the back in one minute” while self-isolating. The previous record was 66 and we got 85. That’s with a 79% catch rate after 108 balls were thrown in 1 minute. I’m even more impressed because Jonathan was throwing with both his right and his left hands.

During the video intro, he unexpectedly lost his voice (I literally had no idea he wasn’t going to talk for the intro video until we started and he started holding up cards. I didn’t know what they said until I editing the video).

We had practiced this one a few months ago when his wife bought a basket that just so happened to meet all the Guinness specifications. This, after making fun of us for even trying the record. I have a hard time trying to believe the backpack laundry basket she wanted to buy happened to meet all the Guinness specifications so perfectly by coincidence.

At any rate, he threw 108 balls, I was allowed to move side to side and up and down and duck, so long as I only faced toward him, didn’t kneel, and my feet never crossed the 3-meter line. I’d say 60% of the credit goes to him and his super-accurate throws, 30% of the credit goes to me for moving into position to catch just-off throws in the backpack even though I couldn’t see it, and 5%+ goes to each of our wives for putting up with this (or is it 50%+?).

Stay safe everyone!

(Also, during the COVID-19 Quarantine, Guinness has made rule modifications to allow for record verification with less witnesses provided more video evidence is provided and the stopwatches are captured on camera. With so much less to do, I may have to try a few more of these).

In the news:

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/04/08/Idaho-friends-break-Guinness-record-for-tennis-ball-catches-in-a-basket/1681586372352

I finally decided how to get outside, keep people a proper distance away, AND break a Guinness World Records Title during the shutdown.

I took my fire sword!

I went for the Guinness World Record’s Title for most catches in 30 seconds with a fire sword. The previous record was 28 (my attempt over last summer for 1 minute was approved but for reasons that may never be understood, the 30-second version with 31 catches was disqualified).

I went out to the cul-de-sac across the street, the neighbors came out of their houses and lines the cul-de-sac maintaining proper distance. And then I started flipping the 20-inch wick lit with liquid charcoal lighter fluid making complete 360 degree turns nearly twice a second.

I don’t have much hair left on the back of my right hand, but my skin is still intact other than where the hand-washing has left it so dry the skin has split.

I’m pretty sure this won’t be the last record attempt during the lockdown.

Thanks to the neighbors who came out Dee, Charles, Kari and Jonathan!

Picked up by national news aggregation site as well:

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2020/04/03/Idaho-man-flips-flaming-sword-57-times-in-30-seconds/7211585929477