Surfing the Severn River Bore Wave
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timesonline - A once-in-a-decade tidal wave surged down the River Severn yesterday carrying a horde of surfers relishing the rare natural phenomenon.
The Environment Agency classified the wave as a top-rated five star event on the stretch of river that boasts the second highest tide in the world.
Joanne Hillman, of the British Surfing Association, said board enthusiasts had been competing to take the longest ride on the Severn Bore since the 1960s.
“It’s pretty dangerous with trees and debris in the water so only skilled surfers take on the Bore,” she told The Times.
“It must be one of the toughest surfing challenges in the world because they key is to ride the wave for miles. Most surfers would struggle to last the distance.”
Steve King, a father of three from Saul, near Gloucester, mastered the Bore in 2006 to regain the Guinness World Record for Britain by staying on his board in the Severn estuary for 7.6 miles.
He snatched back the title from Serginho Laus, a Brazilian, who had surfed for 6.3 miles along the Araguari river in northern Brazil.
Mr King’s feat was accomplished in an ordinary year on the Severn where only four-star tidal waves were recorded. A surge the size of today’s wave, around two metres high, was last recorded on Saturday March 30, 2002.
A spokeswoman for the Environment Agency said the most powerful waves were seen roughly once every ten years. The phenomenon is caused by the funnel shape of the estuary, which narrows as it moves inland from the Bristol Channel thereby forcing the water level to rise.
“Large spring tides come a couple of times a year but when Atlantic tidal levels combine with the right river conditions you have these more powerful Bores,” she said.
The Bay of Fundy, located between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in Canada is the only place in the world to have recorded a larger rise between low and high tide. On the Severn the difference in any one day can be more than 14.5 metres.
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posted by Lon at 10:42 AM
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