Record for longest surf ride has been broken

It was not the most dangerous, biggest or beautiful wave but it made an englishman join the remarkable Guinness Book of Records. Surfer Steve King accomplished the feat of surfing the same wave for over 12 miles in River Kampar in Sumatra (Indonesia). The watercourse has gained worldwide recognition due to a a strange natural phenomenon called Bono. A rather strange tide leads to waves that can be over 19 feet high and last for 30 miles.

46 year old King managed to ride the same wave for 1 hour and 4 minutes. Over the last years the river Kampar has been the center place for a whole community of surfers that keep on meeting every year to ride together what has become one of the main tourist attractions of the island of Sumatra. Not even the numerous crocodiles that live in the river have detracted the joy of those fearless thrill seekers. Below you can see a video of Steve riding another famous river wave, the brazillian Pororoca and a second video of Steve´s  surfing action in Sumatra.

 

Almost Cut My Hair by Ryan Lovelace

        What makes our digital era so amazing? For me it is the possibility for an experienced filmaker to shoot some amazing footage with almost no budget at all. Got some cool idea? Grab a cam, film good surfers in action, mix it with a nice soundtrack and voilá: a serious case of a great surf movie has just been born. As a perfect example check Almost Cut My Hair by surfer and shaper Ryan Lovelace.

Best footage of Garrett McNamara´s world record

The title says it all, enjoy the epic sessions that made Garrett McNamara world famous.

More on Nazaré´s waves: Praia do Norte

People have been asking about the waves Garrett McNamara has recently given worldwide recognition. Nazaré is a small town about 1.5 hours north of Lisbon, Portugal´s capital city. Actually, it is not far away from the country´s other two surf meccas: Ericeira and Peniche (where the ASP tour takes place). Those three world class waves are not more than 200 km apart from each other.
 For locals Nazaré has had a cult like following for years but it was with the arrival of Garrett that the mainstream surf community got amazed by the massive quality of its waves. The almost extraterrestrial size has an explanation: a 16.000 feet deep and 140 miles long undersea canyon is the responsable for these high breaking waves. Finally I leave you a video that took place on Nazaré´s top of the crown beach: Praia do Norte. It shows a bunch of world class surfers just enjoying an out of competition surf session.

Garrett McNamara breaks his own record, once again

100 feet. Yeah that´s right, you read that. Big wave rider Garrett McNamara broke his own record one more time by surfing a gigantic wave with an astonishing height of 100 feet. In contrast to other well known big wave riders, the Hawaiian chose Nazaré, a surfing location in Portugal to look for big waves and in the end it paid back. His last world record was from November 2011, when the 45 year old surfed a wave with 78 feet. Is there a limit in sight for this amazing rider?

Joel Parkinson, surf instructor

This blog has always had a pedagogic nature. Teaching kids (and older dudes) the noble art of surfing is one of the most important aspects in keeping this culture alive. Since I have never posted nothing about the new ASP champion, Joel Parkinson, I find it relevant to leave here one video about Joel performing as a teacher. Its nice to see such a great surfer showing some kids what true surfing is all about.