Tom Wright's Web Log :: Web Explorations and Voyages of Discovery

Tidal Bore Surfing on Batang Lupar Benak

developer[at]tomwright[dot]me[dot]uk (Tom Wright) — 2009-10-28T15:59:27+00:00

Check out the full set of photos from Antony's historic surf on the Batang Lupar Benak in Sarawak earlier this month. The slideshow paints a wonderful picture of the welcoming and warm hearted town of Sri Aman along with the festivities surrounding the arrival of the Lupar Benak - the largest tidal bore in Sarawak.

A summary of the trip and a few photos of the waves and the town are available here.

Video footage of Yep's historic Benak surf

developer[at]tomwright[dot]me[dot]uk (Tom Wright) — 2009-10-17T15:22:41+00:00

Here is the video footage of Yep's historic first surf on the Batang Lupar Benak on 16th October 2009.

It surprises me how long it has taken for someone to finally pioneer the largest tidal bore of Sarawak province on Borneo. The Benak was high up on our (being Wizard King and myself) agenda when we mapped out a tour to surf all the great tidal bores of the world back in 2000. At the time sponsorship and interest wasn't forthcoming and as the years rolled by plans changed, people moved and we settled on the Mearim river as our culmination of global bore surfing in 2005. At least for the time being! That in itself a trip we shared with Yep, his brother Fabrice and the stylish silver surfer of the French Mascaret, Bruno Boue.

It was a shame none of us could find the freedom to share Antony's current expedition due to family and work commitments. But I am stoked to learn it is one of the global bore surfing pioneers that has taken the initiative before the Batang Lupar is swept up by the Surf Industry as nearly befell the Silver Dragon.

Yep Surfs the Batang Lupar Benak

developer[at]tomwright[dot]me[dot]uk (Tom Wright) — 2009-10-17T12:51:36+00:00

Another of our bore riding compadres, Antony Yep Colas, has grabbed a bit of tidal bore surfing history by becoming the first person to surf the Batang Lupar Tidal Bore (locally known as the Benak) on a surfboard. He surfed the bore in the crocodile infested Sarawak river yesterday after much planning and reconnaissance.

Read the full story of Antony's Tidal Bore adventure on the Benak Lupar.

Surfing China 2009 Video Shorts

developer[at]tomwright[dot]me[dot]uk (Tom Wright) — 2009-10-11T18:49:29+00:00

Here is a sequence of video shorts from the Surfing China 2009 Expo and the inaugural Silver Dragon Surf Championship on the Qiantang in Hangzhou, China. While the focus is on the American big wave duo of Jamie Sterling and Rusty Long, check out some quality styling from the Pororoca pros Serginho Laus and Marcos Sifu.

Surfing China 2009 Silver Dragon Championship News

developer[at]tomwright[dot]me[dot]uk (Tom Wright) — 2009-10-11T09:29:14+00:00

The Inaugural Surf China 2009 Silver Dragon Championship took place earlier this week as part of the Surf China Expo running from 5th to 7th October. The event gave Pororoca pioneer and distance surfing world record holder Serginho Laus a chance to exhibit the incredible skills he has honed surfing the majestic tidal bore of the Araguari river deep in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

News of the event is yet to filter out but reports in from Serginho give the considerably windswept wave as reaching 7 feet in height with a couple of perfect offshore overhead sections. The event has been the culmination of a movement by the surf industry into China to capitalise on the potential of the Qiantang Tidal Bore - the largest recorded bore in history. But the lack of experience of the American team showed when they had to call on the expertise of Serginho and his fellow Brazilian compatriot, Marcos Sifu, to guide them in the treacherous waters. The Brazilians then went on to dominate an exhibition competitive event on the wave out-maneouvering and out-styling the American professionals (Jamie Sterling and Rusty Long) with their bag of tidal bore surfing tricks, much to the adulation of the throng of spectators.

Serginho has been an exemplary emissary for tidal bore devotees around the globe for the past decade promoting the majesty and beauty of these great natural river waves while respecting the spiritual importance each places on their local community. It is a relief to see the corporate surfing industry reigned in a little by the experience and knowledge of a professional tidal bore surfer.

Speaking to the largest local Sports magazine in Hangzhou after the event Serginho outlined his goal to establish a global gathering of tidal bore surfers in China from the international Bore Riders Club community spanning England, France, Alaska and Brazil. A seed we first planted back when we met at the inaugural Bore Riders expedition on the Mearim river in Brazil in 2005.

Check out a few photos of the Silver Dragon Surfing Championship here. Guess who are doing the big manouveres! Also some video footage from team America surfing the Qiantang dragon with some great clips of Sifu using up his bag of tricks towards the end.

Invalid DHCP Lease on Leopard 10.5.7

developer[at]tomwright[dot]me[dot]uk (Tom Wright) — 2009-06-16T13:47:58+00:00

Quite frustrating having finally converted a client to Mac computers to then suddenly see their wireless network broken after upgrading the MacBook Pros to Leopard 10.5.7.

In short the MBP fails to connect with the hub (in this instance a BT Home Hub and BT Office Hub) when renewing the DHCP lease and thus reverts to using the internal value - 169.254.x.x. I have seen this problem before on my own networks and occasionally connecting an iPod Touch via WiFi. The solution would normally be to assign a static IP address on the local network for the network interface. But this time a static address did not work.

The solution is instead to change the security settings of the hub for the wireless network. I experienced this issue with the BT Home Hub and Windows Vista once so it is hardly unique to Mac OS X. But it is frustrating that these different platforms cannot standardise their protocols. For a brief moment my client feared they would have to roll back their OS with a clean install thanks to the inability of the BT Hub to communicate with OS X Leopard 10.5.7. I cannot recommend which wireless security to use, but the chances are setting a custom key (which should of course be changed regularly anyway) and choosing a different standard is as good a place as any to start in diagnosing your wireless connection issues.

Imagine Surfing a Tidal Bore for 20km

developer[at]tomwright[dot]me[dot]uk (Tom Wright) — 2009-06-11T19:24:50+00:00

Imagine surfing a tidal bore for 20km!

That is 12.5 miles for all us metric folk. And for all those west bank Severn surfers past and present that is like jumping into your car at Newnham, driving the A48 all the way to Over bridge and not stopping until you reach the curry houses on Bristol road…! That is a long way. Some pundits believe on the perfect tide the Severn horseshoe bend could be connected producing a ride in excess of 10 miles on the River Severn. But anything further than this really becomes the stuff of legends.

On the Araguari Pororoca it is a very different story… In fact this Spring, Sergio Laus, Pororoca pioneer and tidal bore emissary, has already breached the 10 mile mark. Unofficially. It has been an exceptional season for tidal bore surfers in Brazil with the wave reaching 15 feet in the wet months (February and March) and consistently reaching 8 feet through the drier months. Ideal conditions for distance surfing and Sergio clocked up a ride of approximately 16.5 km (10.3 miles) surfing for over 40 minutes. Just this Monday, Sergio put in a claim for a new distance surfing world record of 11.8km, exceeding his previous mark by 1.7km.

The dream mark is 20km - about 50 minutes constant surfing on the wave. That is 50 minutes on a wave travelling at around 15mph with the full power of the Atlantic tide behind. No mean feat! Sergio believes it is possible and 2010 might be the year…

An average day in Amapa state surfing the Pororoca!

Sergio Laus - the master of the Pororoca tidal bore

Tidal Bore Surfing - New World Record!

developer[at]tomwright[dot]me[dot]uk (Tom Wright) — 2009-06-11T08:25:16+00:00

My good friend Sergio Laus has once again broken the world record for distance surfing on the Araguari Pororoca in Amapa state Brazil. On Monday morning Sergio surfed the tidal bore a distance of 11.8km (7.4 miles) for 36 minutes. As with his previous world surfing record the ride was recorded with GPS and currently Sergio waits for official verification from the Guinness Book of Records.

This spring produced some of the largest Pororoca tidal bore's experienced in the last 15 years and in May Sergio clocked up his 50th ride on some of the largest tidal bores in the world.

And if you think surfing a wave for 36 minutes sounds like hard word, in February he surfed the Araguari Pororoca continuously for 45 minutes without official adjudication. An incredible distance on a very sizeable wave which probably pushes the world record beyond the reaches of what is attainable surfing on the River Severn tidal bore. That must take a lot of leg work!

Keep up to date with Sergio's adventures on his Pororoca surfing blog.

Auera Auara!

Say Hello to the Tehidy Squirrels

developer[at]tomwright[dot]me[dot]uk (Tom Wright) — 2009-04-16T23:41:17+00:00

Here are a few photos of the rather tame grey squirrels that inhabit Tehidy woods. One might think these little critters were actually posing for the camera they were so casual!

200mm 1/200s @ f/2.8, ISO 100

200mm 1/1250s @ f/3.5, ISO 400

200mm 1/1000s @ f/3.5, ISO 400

Big Swell Season at Godrevy

developer[at]tomwright[dot]me[dot]uk (Tom Wright) — 2009-04-16T23:34:54+00:00

A solid groundswell was running earlier this week. Tuesday morning it was peaking around 12 feet with a 12 seconds wave period and a light south easterly breeze. We briefly made it down to the Red River to see a few big sets close out the bay. A couple of surfers attempted the paddle out back. The first gave up while the second after much peak chasing got maxed out and lost his board on a rogue wave. So alas no surfing pics this time!

200mm 1/6400s @ f/2.8, ISO 100

200mm 1/5000s @ f/2.8, ISO 100

200mm 1/4000s @ f/2.8, ISO 100

200mm 1/1600s @ f/5.6, ISO 100