TW Blog :: Entries for Surf and Travel
The supreme paradox of all thought is the attempt to discover something that thought cannot thinkSoren Kierkegaard
Into The Danger Zone
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Ha! I find it amusing that our spring excursion to surf the Mearim Pororoca south of the Amazon basin has found its way into the latest issue of Carve surfing magazine in the cover article - Into The Danger Zone. It sits hemmed between Puerto Escondido and Teahoopu, two of the meatiest and certainly gnarliest waves on the planet. I suppose despite the polarity of wave size and power, the location is worthy of its place. The dangers do not come from the wave energy, the reef or the hold down, but instead from the wide array of predators that haunt the waters, and of course that nasty little critter - the candiru.
For me the Pororoca adventure is now a distant memory. I have been very much back at home in recent months what with the 50 year celebrations of Churchill's first Severn bore surf held in September and an excellent, and very quiet, set of tides last week on which I clocked a 6km bore surf in the dark for the second time. Of course anticipation is also rife for the forthcoming release of Longwave before Christmas, and beyond that some excellent looking prospects for next spring with the largest tides since 1998 forecast. Also have some plans in the pipeline to make Alaska the fourth tidal bore location we have visited next year…
Posted on Oct 23, 2005 at 18:33:57.
50 Years of Bore Surfing
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Yes, today is the day we celebrate 50 years since Colonel Jack first surfed the Severn Bore at Stonebench. Being blessed with the coincidence of medium term lunar cycles, I joined Toby this morning down at Newnham for the maiden voyage of my new Atlantic Surfboards river board and to acknowledege Mad Jacks achievement. Also listen out for Wizard (who alone will be celebrating his 25th year of bore surfing next year!), The Owl and Bore Riders club co-founder Donny chatting on BBC Radio Gloucester around 2pm today.
Bore surfing has seen a very progressive evolution from the sport of a few local Severn men to a dedicated international community stretching from England and France to the Amazon and Alaska - as the pages of the Bore Riders website recount. And for a brief history of the sport in England hop over to Longwave where the 50 year anniversary DVD is close to completion.
On September 17th a celebration of 50 years will be held on the banks of the river at the White Hart Inn, Broadoak. It will be a chance for bore surfers old and new to get together and share their stories over some hot food, local ale and live music. Surfers past and present are all welcome and for any bore riders from the past we have not reached, it would be great if you would be interested in popping along. Overnight parking has been arranged for campers and vans, and on the Sunday morning the first of the biggest tides of the year will roll in. So if you want to hear the truth behind the myth of Big Wednesday, or perhaps discover the true location of the Boneyard, or maybe even meet the man who surfed the mighty Dragon, proceedings will kick off from around 6pm at the White Hart. See you there…
Posted on Jul 21, 2005 at 08:24:08.
Mighty River Board Arrives!
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My 10'9" River Board courtesy of Mike at Atlantic Surfboards has finally arrived. With a colourful representation of the lunar phases on the deck - also serving as a passage to the nose(!) - it should not be too hard to spot me in the river. Also, arrival could not have been better timing with this Thursday heralding the 50th anniversary of the first attempt at Bore Surfing by Colonel Jack Churchill which coincidentally ties in with the first of a six day run of spring tides. No photos of the board yet, but hopefully the ever present cameraman will be out to capture some footage as the fourth 10 niner joins the local foray.
Wiz: hope you are on for some synchronized head-standing - assuming I can actually move in the beaver top ;)
Posted on Jul 19, 2005 at 01:42:18.
New Distance Surfing World Record
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Huge congratulations to our bore surfing buddy Sergio Laus who broke the official Guiness world record for distance surfing on Friday with a ride of 10.1km on the Araguari Pororoca in Amapa state. Sergio announced his goal to set a new record when we visited him in Brazil back in March and it has taken considerable cost and organisation to arrange a trip to the remote Araguari with an official adjudicator. So I am stoked Sergio succeeded on a falling Solstice tide. It is also the first time the record has been torn away from the Severn since its official inauguration back in the 1970s and Sergio extended Dave Lawson's nine year old record by another kilometre.
With some big tides building for this autumn and next spring there should be plenty of opportunity to challenge Sergio's distance in both the upper and lower reaches of the Severn. It is great to have a new inter-atlantic rivalry in distance surfing.
Posted on Jun 28, 2005 at 13:25:37. [Comments for New Distance Surfing World Record- 0]
Cat-man-do
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First it was the agile board walking Twinkle Toes, then, following some lone explorations into the darker voids of the Severn reaches it became Lone Wolf. More recently, following infamous hoarding antics in France, it became The Squirrel, and now for reasons I am yet to discover, my bore surfing nomenclature has become Cat-man-do.
In fact the day in question could not have been better - a lone morning surf on the Severn followed by an excursion to Southerndown for a glassy clean 2-3' ocean swell (on the second hottest day of the year) washed down with an evening beer at the White Hart Inn and another river ride with the rest Wizard, Owl and the rest of the local crew - the first time the river (and air) have actually been warm enough to wear boardshorts.
Posted on Jun 28, 2005 at 13:10:21. [Comments for Cat-man-do- 0]
