22 Jul Fraser Thomas Supports World’s Longest Ice Cream Record Attempt
UPDATE: Ice Cream effort verified by Guinness World Records.
March 2015
A world record attempt took surveying to new lengths at a family event where the community joined forces to topple a world record by creating a 600 metre ice cream sundae. The Manurewa Local Board called on the surveying expertise of Fraser Thomas to measure and verify that the world’s largest ice cream sundae was long enough to beat the Guinness World Record.
Not an everyday job for Survey Director Gary Blyth and Technician Ula Aso, who work in the Papatoetoe branch, but they happily volunteered their services for the task. Before the eager crowd could set to work, Gary and Ula had to get an alignment on the spouting to ensure it was long enough to beat the world record of 540.16 metres, set in Florida, USA on November 9, 2014. “It’s great being part of a family event and it’s a bit of fun helping verify the official length of the world’s longest ice cream sundae,” says Gary.
Event organisers used a surveyor’s wheel to measure the length of the spouting when it was set up, but to meet the official rules, a surveyor was required to verify the distance. The Fraser Thomas team used a GPS – Trimble R6 receiver base and rover using an RTK solution, with tension mounting when the data was downloaded and it was discovered that the spouting was slightly short of the anticipated distance and was in fact only 596.50 metres. The Fraser Thomas team took their responsibilities seriously and re-measured the spouting once more before the ice cream scoopers went into action. The organisers were happy the spouting was long enough to break the record and then the families went into overdrive filling their length of spouting with the quintessential summer dessert.
Ula and Gary measured the completed sundae, checking for gaps and the attention to detail was also scrutinised by a lawyer. It was the last day of summer and the heat took its toll on sections of the 600-metre sundae, especially on the home stretch but when the sun was nearly setting, it was jubilantly announced the effort was successful. Then hundreds of kids, mums, dads and two hungry surveyors tucked into a tasty dessert to celebrate their successful effort.
