Chasing the Severn Bore ~ 1st Feb 2006

[Stuart Robinson]

As an antidote to SDS I thought I would chase a Tidal wave!

The Severn Bore is a tidal wave that forms in the mouth of the River Severn in England. The river Severn actually separates England and Wales. During the Vernal Equinox: February-March-April and again during the Vernal Autumnal Equinox: August-September-October. And when the moon is just right, the Bore forms and can reach up to 3 meters in height but really anything over 1 meter is good.

http://www.severn-bore.co.uk

I was able to “chaseâ€￾ this years first Severn Bore event which begin at Awre at 08:30am before taking almost two hours to reach the weir at Maisemore Bridge. The Bore moved forward at only 13mph so it was possible to set up , film the bore as it moved past before relocating upstream in order to catch it again. Overall I was able to catch the Bore at 5 different locations. This was a two star event but even so in places the wave was quite impressive. I am hoping to catch the four star event at the beginning of March.

My video is here:-
http://www.bylink.com/chase/20060201/feb06bore.wmv (10mb)

 

[Dan Robinson]

Very cool Stuart! Definately something I'd like to see one day.

 

[B Ozanne]

That is awesome. I was going to ask about surfers, and I see that you manged to film a few. I bet they get some amazing rides. How far up river does the bore reach?

Does anybody know where this occurs in the US? I know a few places in Alaska. Anyplace else? My guess is in Maine and into New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

 

[Stuart Robinson]

It seems that there is a club of Surfers who surf this wave - It looks quite dangerous to me as the flow of water up stream behind the wave is very fast.

http://www.boreriders.com/

I think that 5.7 miles is the longest surf on this wave!!! is this a world record ??

 

[skipper bennett]

Interesting video. I remember a reference to what must have been a tidal bore in a book by Forrester, one from the Hornblower series. It described Horatio Hornblower, a British naval officer, at the helm of a launch or other small craft travelling at a very good rate upstream . As a child I glossed over it and kept reading into the story. Thanks for showing it.

Skipper Bennett

 

[Khristian Snyder]

wow...how cool!!

I think it would be fun to surf it!!

 

[Simon Brewer]

Incredible video; can't wait to see how good it gets later in the winter closer to March. That's really awesome.

Simon

 

[Dave Gallaher]

Wow---I really enjoyed that, Stuart. Makes me wonder if there are differences in temperature of downstream vs. upstream flow---might there be some underwater convection going on there??

Dave Gallaher
Huntsville, AL

 

[Bob Hartig]

Does anybody know where this occurs in the US? I know a few places in Alaska. Anyplace else? My guess is in Maine and into New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

The Bay of Fundy is famous for its tidal bore and it is also home to Old Sow, one of the world's five largest permanent whirlpools. The four others are Corryvreckan in Scotland, the Maelstrom and Moeskentraum in Norway, and a section of the Naruto Straits in Japan. If that piques your interest, here are a couple links, one to an Old Sow website and the other to an excellent Smithsonian magazine article on whirlpools. Fascinating, great pics, and some hair-raising reading.
http://www.oldsowwhirlpool.com/
http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/journey...de_gallery.html

 

[Paul Knightley]

Hi,

Just signed up to the forum (although I used to be a member at some point!).

I was chasing this bore with Stuart, and it was a pretty good one, although not the best I've seen (having been "bore watching/chasing" since about 1986!!).

When I get home, I'll upload a pic of a bore in April 2005...it was a pretty impressive sight!

cheers,

Paul.

 

[Paul Knightley]

Here is the April 2005 wave, at a place called Strand.

 

[mark humpage]

Another bore chaser dropping in :wink:

There is a major bore due on March 2 at the same location. Stu and I will be capturing the entire event from a RIB which should make for some great footage

Mark

 

[Stuart Robinson]

An update to this thread - it seems that Steve (who surfed along me and Mark, while we filmed on the March 2nd Event) has just broken the world record longest distance surf on the Severn Bore. I was away watching the Eclispe in Turkey - but Mark was there to see Steve complete the record.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/glouces...ire/4899262.stm

 

[mark humpage]

An update to this thread - it seems that Steve (who surfed along me and Mark, while we filmed on the March 2nd Event) has just broken the world record longest distance surf on the Severn Bore. I was away watching the Eclispe in Turkey - but Mark was there to see Steve complete the record.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/glouces...ire/4899262.stm
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...and here is the record breaker in action.

Mark

 

[mark humpage]

For those with an interest in tidal bores I have recently setup a new forum.
http://mhweather.co.uk/phpBB//

Feel free to pop in at any time for discussion, photos or just coffee ;-)

Mark