10 Jews Get On a Snowboard

Written by slanch

Friday, 27 March 2009 12:22

24-snowboard No, that's not the beginning of an awesome joke; on April 1, Eric Sweet, 47, wants to set a new world record with a special-built 10-person 36-foot snowboard, launching it at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Wyoming.

It's one thing to create a super long snowboard for no reason, but Sweet has thrown in an extra wrinkle into the whole process, all of the riders will be Jewish!

Sweet already has received a trademark hold from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office giving him rights to the name "Ten Jews, One Snowboard" and "The Minyan Board."

"It was more difficult to put 10 Jews together and agree on something [than actually making the board]," Sweet said. "That's part of what I think is funny: With 10 Jews, can we actually pull it off? I don't know. With 10 Jews on a snowboard, it's going to be hard for us to look athletic."

That's the most difficult part? I would think finding 10 Jews in WYOMING would be much harder...

This isn't the first time Sweet has come up with a unique snowboard idea; he made and rode a 3-person board last year, drawing local media attention. "Before you rode it, the feeling was unimaginable," Sweet said. "We fell three times. It's never been done since then."

Originally from New York (of course!) and currently residing in Maine, Sweet has been going to Jackson for winters since he was 13 years old.

His idea for the Minyan Board came after meeting Rabbi Zalman Mendelsohn in Jackson. "I came back to Jackson this winter and wanted to do something more," Sweet said. "I approached the rabbi, spoke to him about that idea, and he thought it was fun. He thought it would bring fun to Judaism. It was crazy enough to work."

Building the board last week, Sweet and crew cut off the tips and ends of old snowboards in order to connect them. Each board detaches from the larger piece so they can go up on the lifts, then reassembling, like Voltron, after getting off the lift.

"I think there's going to be a lot of logistics to get it to happen," Gal Bar-or, one of the expected riders said. "Assuming everyone gets there and we have all the bindings right, it should be good. Theoretically, it should go very smoothly. And it's going to be in the flats. We're just going to try to go straight. If we can keep it simple and balance for a couple hundred yards we should be OK."

If the team completes a run with five witnesses, Sweet expects the Guinness Book of World Records to recognize the Minyan Board as the longest snowboard ever used. Reportedly Fuel TV is also interested, as is a movie producer who wants to somehow turn it into a movie...

That will be a very short movie.

[Billings Gazette]