Thursday, April 12, 2007

surfing stuff >> tidal bore waves >> amazon

here in cornwall we have been blessed two weeks of beautiful sunshine weather but no surf of any real quality, so it has made me think of other places and ways to surf.

I have always had a fascination with tidal river bores waves. ever since I saw michael barrett on nationwide in the early 70's introduce I think it was bob wellings reporting from the river severn as the bore wave was coming past. it had people in canoes (a swear word to some surfers), people in boats and a fair number of surfers on long boards. in over 30 years of surfing I never even watched a bore wave, never mind surfed one.

the severn bore (bristol channel) is well known across the uk and the world. for a long time rodney stumpter of perranpoth, cornwall held the world record for the 'longest distance travelled by surfing a wave' that was on the severn bore. I am not sure if he still holds it but I think so.

this one is less well known to people in the uk and europe, as it is in the amazon but just take a look if you can spare a moment. it is in fresh water so less buoyant than sea water. it certainly looks as though it is a bigger wave height wise that in the severn bore but I not sure if it is surfable for its full course.
the bore waves are created by a combination of magnetic (lunar) pull and the action of the atlantic tide moving upstream.
I think it amazing considering the surfers not only will have to watch out for trees and other natural debris's, poisonous fish, water snakes, and considered less of a problem piranha fish!



have a look at the blog Fogonazos for a lot more about the wave and the area. it is a cool site worth looking at if you are even only a little bit interested.

I am not quite booking a flight to surf it but I am fascinated none the less.

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