Pro Surfers Catching Amazon's Awesome Once-a-Year Wave - latimes. SAO DOMINGOS DO CAPIM, Brazil — Helio Noelio Sobrinho had been surfing for years off Brazil's northern seacoast when he discovered The Wave.
It was a surfer's dream--a wild, dangerous, seemingly endless ride unlike any he had ever known. It wasn't even in the ocean. It was the pororoca, a Tupi Indian word meaning "great noise. " It happens briefly around the full moon in February and March, when the ocean whips back on the heavily drained Amazon River and creates a giant swell that flows back upstream for hundreds of miles. Always preceded by a dark storm cloud and a short, brisk rain, the pororoca resembles a horizontal tornado as it thunders upriver through the rain forest. Amazon residents have ridden the pororoca for years in their canoes, and French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau once lost much of his equipment trying to film it. Pororoca. The pororoca (Portuguese pronunciation: [poɾoˈɾɔkɐ]) is a tidal bore, with waves up to 4 metres high that travel as much as 800 km inland upstream on the Amazon River and adjacent rivers.
Its name comes from the indigenous Tupi language, where it could translate into "great roar". It could be also a Portuguese version of the term poroc-poroc, which in the native indigenous' language was a way of expressing the act of destroying everything.[1] It could be also a portmanteau of the words poroc (to take out, to tear away) and oca (house).[1] It occurs at the mouth of the river where its waters meet the Atlantic Ocean.
The phenomenon is best seen in February and March. The wave has become popular with surfers. Since 1999, an annual championship has been held in São Domingos do Capim (on the adjacent Guamá River). Along the branches or "caños" in the Orinoco Delta, pororoca is known as macareo, which is also the name of one of these branches. Popular Culture[edit] See also[edit] Caño Manamo. Far From the Ocean, Surfers Ride Brazil’ - s Endless Wave. SÃO DOMINGOS DO CAPIM, Brazil, March 21 — The ocean is nearly 200 miles away, so this is hardly the kind of place where surfers would be expected to congregate.
Yet they flock here every March around the full moon and the equinox to chase a dangerous and elusive prey: the Amazon's endless wave, known as a pororoca. A monthly occurrence, a pororoca develops when the strengthened Atlantic Ocean tide advances into the river basin, creating a giant swell that flows upstream for several hundred miles at speeds of 20 miles an hour or more. The phenomenon is most pronounced in March and April because water levels are near their highest, and the waves, which appear every 12 hours for several days, are the most tricky. Responding to nature's challenge, surfers have been gathering here since 1999 for the Brazilian National Pororoca Surfing Championship.
Local Surfer rides Brazilian River Bore for 10.1 KM, enters Guinness Book of World Records, LONGEST WAVE EVER. LONGEST WAVE EVER Local Surfer rides Brazilian River Bore for 10.1 KM, enters Guinness Book of World Records On Friday, June 24th, Parana-born surfer Serginho Laus went to bed with very sore thighs.
The longtime Brazilian bore aficionado achieved an unbelievable record of surfing non-stop for 10.1 km (6.3 miles) down Brazil's famous river bore wave, called the Pororoca. Until now, the longest wave ridden record belonged to Englishman David Lawson, who rode a wave for 9.1 km on the Severn River in England. Once they got to the mouth of the Araguari River in late June, Laus and crew saw the bore reach a place they'd never seen. Surfing the World's Longest Wave - The Pororoca, Amazon, Brazil. Mar 29 2008 February may mean springtime, flat swell, and winds in the U.S., but in Brazil it’s the beginning of the dry season and the time of year surfers can ride the tidal bore the Amazon, the Pororocoa.
Measuring up to 12 ft, the Pororoca is easily the longest wave in the world; it only breaks twice a year in February and March. Since 1999, local surfers have held an annual championship in São Domingos do Capim. In 2003 Brazilian, Picuruta Salazar, won the event with a record ride of 12.5 kilometers and 37 minutes! It may also be one of the world’s most dangerous. The massive tidal bore is so powerful that it sweeps up everything in its path, including entire trees and massive debris, and carries it up river. The wave varies in shape and consistently at times barreling but more often offering a soft shoulder and a massive, grinding wall of white water. [youtube 7a_2g6uTDb0 Pororoca, Brazil]