Surfing the Silver Dragon Tidal Bore, Qiatang River, China 2011

[muschi2121]

why are all the best waves empty??

[benlorenzo1966]

the water looks pretty nasty....

[killerhook07]

Multiple waves? Do you ride for miles? Do Chinamen surf this?

[neilandfi]

@killerhook07 Nope. You can only surf this wave at pre-arranged areas and only if the chinese authorities give you permission to do so. It has a tendency to kill people. In fact hundreds of years ago it was used as a form of execution, and old paintings show that to give the victims a sporting chance they were given some crude form of paipo. Presumably that made it more of a spectator sport.

[TrixKoMAToSe]

@neilandfi how are the waves created?

[neilandfi]

@TrixKoMAToSe It has to do with the 3 dimensional shape of the estuary. This is a massive simplification, but it's a little like the same way a water pistol works. The tide comes in , and the shape of the estuary concentrates a lot of water into a very small area, creating an effect a lot like a tsunami. That's why tidal bores are a lot more powerful than other waves of similar size.

[TrixKoMAToSe]

@neilandfi thanks :D

[neilandfi]

@killerhook07 And yes, you can ride tidal bores for miles. A friend of mine hold the current world record of around 7.5 miles set in 2006 on the river Severn in the UK. I don't think that record will stand for much longer. It'll be beaten either on this wave or the Araguari Pororoca in the Amazon .

[gustavohenkel]

Wow... Fantastic...

[phsoftnet]

the fuck ?

[Amikam1]

beautiful !!!!