Dale Webster, known as "The Daily Wavester", is a surfer who lives in Valley Ford, California

Valley Ford, California

Valley Ford is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in western Sonoma County, California, United States. It is located on State Route 1 in an area of rolling hills about 75 minutes north of San Francisco by automobile...

. He is best known for setting the official Guinness Book of World Records record for the "most consecutive days spent surfing" (10,407) and his appearance in Step into Liquid

Step Into Liquid

Step into Liquid is a documentary about surfing directed by Dana Brown, son of famed surfer and filmmaker Bruce Brown. The film includes surfing footage from the famous Pipeline, the beaches of Vietnam, and some of the world's largest waves, at Cortes Bank...

.

The record

For twenty-eight years, from September 2, 1975 to February 29, 2004, Dale caught at least three waves to shore at Bodega Bay

Bodega Bay

Bodega Bay is a shallow, rocky inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the coast of northern California in the United States. It is approximately across and is located approximately northwest of San Francisco and west of Santa Rosa...

 (in Northern California), though most days, he caught many more. He did this every day, despite the danger and inconvenience of hurricane-force winds, shark infestations, car breakdowns, and kidney stone complications, making him the record-setter for the "most consecutive days spent surfing", at twenty-eight years. He also set the world record for most waves caught; ten thousand, four hundred and seven confirmed waves. At ten thousand waves, he decided to stop, but the next morning woke up and decided against it, so he continued his daily routine for another four hundred and seven waves. More recently, he made it to over twelve thousand waves.

According to Dale, he did this for a number of reasons: his wetsuit was damaged and he wanted to surf for a full year to force the manufacturer into replacing it (incorrectly interpreting the warranty) and that he attempted to beat what he thought was the record for the most consecutive days surfed (five thousand, two hundred and eighty), but was actually the record (in feet) for the longest distance surfed to shore.

Personal

While setting this record, Dale married his current wife, Kaye; raised his daughter, now a college student; and held several jobs. He went through thirty boards and twenty-eight wet suits. His daughter, Margo set a record of her own by being the first student in her school district to attend elementary through high school with perfect attendance.

In the media

Webster was described in an article in Surfer magazine under the title "The Daily Wavester", as well as in various other newspaper stories. He was featured in a four-minute scene in Dana Brown

Dana Brown

Dana Brown is an American surfer, filmmaker, and oldest son of filmmaker Bruce Brown. His films include The Endless Summer Revisited which is made up of unused footage from The Endless Summer and The Endless Summer II , as well as some original interviews with the stars of those films...

's 2003 surf movie Step into Liquid

Step Into Liquid

Step into Liquid is a documentary about surfing directed by Dana Brown, son of famed surfer and filmmaker Bruce Brown. The film includes surfing footage from the famous Pipeline, the beaches of Vietnam, and some of the world's largest waves, at Cortes Bank...

; a character in the movie is seen using a roll of stickers imprinted with the slogan "DALE WOULD GO". His narrow escape from a Great White

Great White

Great White is an American hard rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1978. The band gained popularity during the 1980s and early 1990s. The band released several albums in the late 1980s and gained airplay on MTV with music videos for songs like "Once Bitten, Twice Shy"...

shark was described in an article in the local newspaper.