Author Topic: November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing  (Read 8532 times)

Myanmar Sup

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November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing
« on: January 04, 2020, 12:51:39 AM »
Last november I had a few more sessions on the Sittaung (Sittang) river to surf this incredible Myanmar tidal bore. I found out that the bore pattern, the locations where it is ridable have completely changed compared to what I had experienced in March. I even was in situation to ride two different waves coming in opposite directions!

https://youtu.be/sCsOqjpPyrs

Night Wing

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Re: November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2020, 06:12:20 AM »
I really enjoy the drone shots in this video. Loved the panoramic views it gave.

It  was cool watching you surf the tidal bore and then meet up with a smaller wave coming towards you.

Thanks for sharing your video.
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Wetstuff

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Re: November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing
« Reply #2 on: January 04, 2020, 10:12:46 AM »
Me too, MS, good one.  I was thinking about the bacterial/chemical load, what little thingys would swim up your nose...  And what if you muff'd the takeoff?  Is that a once/twice-a-day event?  ...and that 'backwash' - we get a little of that in our local shorebreak occasionally - not with quite that much juice. ' Hope that was near the end of your ride. As NW noted, the drone really added to the video.

I gather Muslim surfers are shot if caught in the lineup?


Jim
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Myanmar Sup

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Re: November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing
« Reply #3 on: January 05, 2020, 07:08:37 PM »
I really enjoy the drone shots in this video. Loved the panoramic views it gave.

It  was cool watching you surf the tidal bore and then meet up with a smaller wave coming towards you.

Thanks for sharing your video.

Thank you. It's not always easy out there on the river, but I try to capture drone shots when I have a chance. It's good to have various angles for the camera and it helps me to plan routes for my trips as well.

Myanmar Sup

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Re: November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing
« Reply #4 on: January 05, 2020, 07:28:33 PM »
Me too, MS, good one.  I was thinking about the bacterial/chemical load, what little thingys would swim up your nose...  And what if you muff'd the takeoff?  Is that a once/twice-a-day event?  ...and that 'backwash' - we get a little of that in our local shorebreak occasionally - not with quite that much juice. ' Hope that was near the end of your ride. As NW noted, the drone really added to the video.

I gather Muslim surfers are shot if caught in the lineup?


Jim

Thanks for watching and for your comments. The water is muddy because it carries a lot of natural sediments which make the soil very fertile in this area. So that farmers don't need any chemicals, then there is no risk with bacterial and chemical stuff as opposed to some western countries beaches, lakes or rivers where it happened to me to have my skin itching after SUP sessions. Never happened on this river.
In case I mess up with take off, which I have experienced already a couple of times, I can come back to base at a pace of 4 km/h with the tide stream more or less. So I plan my sessions according to tide table carefully to have enough margin to be able to return to home before dark in any case.
The backwash took place about half way of the ride I was planning to complete that day. Then I had another 1 hour of paddling to return to base after that.
There is no risk for anyone to be shot out there, there are only fishermen and farmers around and I'm anyway the only crazy guy on the lineup  :)

Wetstuff

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Re: November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing
« Reply #5 on: January 06, 2020, 06:51:10 AM »
"So that farmers don't need any chemicals, then there is no risk with bacterial and chemical stuff as opposed to some western countries beaches, lakes or rivers where it happened to me to have my skin itching after SUP sessions. Never happened on this river." 

...that's interesting to hear.  Where I live we have had rivers come on fire .. I worked construction on a steel plant on Lk Michigan that released Hydrochloric acid into the lake .. another dumped slag .. pig farmers have massive waste pits that leak .. so you come to think; "If this happens here, I can just imagine what goes on in a 'less developed' county."

MS, it looks like fun.  Buy another board, let someone join you ...soon it would look like this.




Jim
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CaptainKook

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Re: November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing
« Reply #6 on: January 30, 2020, 06:29:13 AM »
Coolest video I have seen in 2020!  You’re the man, what an experience.

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Re: November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing
« Reply #7 on: January 30, 2020, 07:43:49 AM »
Nice work Myanmar, fun video and I always love seeing the countryside and groundwork at the launch site.

I appreciate all the time and effort to get the drone and surf footage.... very time consuming.

When you wiped out into the opposing wave, how do you get to the pick-up spot..... or do you have to paddle back to the launch site?

Myanmar Sup

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Re: November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing
« Reply #8 on: February 04, 2020, 02:19:39 AM »
Coolest video I have seen in 2020!  You’re the man, what an experience.

Thank you! I'm glad that you like it  :)
It's for sure an unbelievable experience, and I really enjoy doing it!

Myanmar Sup

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Re: November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing
« Reply #9 on: February 04, 2020, 02:33:56 AM »
Nice work Myanmar, fun video and I always love seeing the countryside and groundwork at the launch site.

I appreciate all the time and effort to get the drone and surf footage.... very time consuming.

When you wiped out into the opposing wave, how do you get to the pick-up spot..... or do you have to paddle back to the launch site?

Thank you Rick. I guess it's nice to show not only the ride, but the effort and preparation to get to the launch spot and to get ready.
I confirm that it is very time consuming  ;) and I shoot short sequence after short sequence over several days. I carry the drone in my bag all the way and fly it in uncomfortable conditions...
After I wiped out I had to paddle about 1h to the pick up site, but that was in the same direction as the tide stream, so I did not have to struggle too much.
I am going back in a few days time and I hope to be able to combine this November section, even extended further down the river, with the March section I surfed earlier into one single ride that could really be worth it  :D

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Re: November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing
« Reply #10 on: February 28, 2020, 11:20:24 AM »
That's crazy you surf that all alone. Nice work! I would be apprehensive to do it by myself. But I have absolutely zero experience on a river bore wave.
Looked like it was all white water riding. Does the wave ever offer any open face?
One could go into a mall in Kansas and ask a teenager "What is a surfer looking for?, and the answer will always be, "The perfect wave"
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Myanmar Sup

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Re: November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing
« Reply #11 on: March 02, 2020, 07:39:43 AM »
That's crazy you surf that all alone. Nice work! I would be apprehensive to do it by myself.

I've done it a couple of times with a friend, but yes most of the time I am all alone out there. For sure I take extra care because nobody can help in case anything goes wrong, but it gives extra shot of adrenaline as well...And I like it! I am kind of adventurous by nature. My last session was last week and I paddled 16 km to the launch spot which was within wider section of the river mouth (10 km wide) about 1 km off the river banks that you can see in the video, it was like open sea. Quite thrilling...

But I have absolutely zero experience on a river bore wave.

I had no experience either before giving it a try on this river first time two years ago. Big difference with ocean wave riding is that you MUST have a successful take off at any cost, you don't care if it does not look good or if you are not stylish...If you fail you just go home and come back one month later to try again! I must say it happened to me a few times while getting to know the wave and trying to figure out the best spots for launching. It is quite frustrating, but you always learn something about the bore, and you have one month to think about it and how to do better the next time. I always capture videos under various angles as it helps me to see details I have no time to pick up in live, you have so many parameters to look after when the wave comes onto you, it is constantly changing and you have to adjust in real time, another big difference with ocean surfing where the peak is more or less always at the same spot. But that's the beauty of tidal bore riding, it's different every time!

Looked like it was all white water riding. Does the wave ever offer any open face?

Yes the wave opens up and closes at different locations of the river depending on the water depth. I have surfed it last year some open wave, you can check the video that I posted here maybe April / May 2019. But I am trying now to put together a 10 km ride, and for that I need to follow a very precise route to avoid all obstacles on the way, like fishermen's gear that stays on the water surface, shallow waters that would block my fin, side rivers mouth where wave opens up but where the push is decreased . In order to do that I have to ride mainly white water to keep a constant push. I know where to ride open wave, I'll do it again once I 've managed to ride the distance I have in mind.

surfercook

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Re: November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing
« Reply #12 on: March 02, 2020, 07:52:19 AM »
Thanx for that detailed reply, MyanmarSup. Very cool! Go get that open face!
One could go into a mall in Kansas and ask a teenager "What is a surfer looking for?, and the answer will always be, "The perfect wave"
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Myanmar Sup

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Re: November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing
« Reply #13 on: April 12, 2020, 03:11:06 AM »
Follow up after February and March sessions. I have pretty much reached the limits (16-17 km from village base) of what I can do on a solo one day trip given the constraints of the tide tables. Rideable tidal bore has been observed another 25 km further down the river, so there is still a lot to see, but with different logistics obviously. So far I have not been able to surf in a single ride the 15 km section I have surveyed, although I managed to stay within short distance of the wave frontline over about 10 km. I had to pull out of the front wave in shallow water sections but was able to re-enter the wave a couple of times getting into deeper waters.

Here is a video compilation of March sessions. (I'll have to skip my planned trips for April and May due to the pandemic)
Comments are in subtitles.

https://youtu.be/YWZ38bAQ9mE

Night Wing

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Re: November tidal bore on the Sittaung river is amazing
« Reply #14 on: April 12, 2020, 03:44:45 AM »
Here is a video compilation of March sessions. (I'll have to skip my planned trips for April and May due to the pandemic)
Comments are in subtitles.

Your compilation video of your March sessions was really nice to watch. Nice to see a sup video during this "stay at home" pandemic.

BTW, you've got a nice looking NSP sup. I'm just curious. If you don't me my asking, what is the model of your NSP and what is it's length and width?
Blue Planet Duke: 10'5" x 32" x 4.5" @ 190 Liters (2 Dukes)
Sup Sports Hammer: 8'11" x 31" x 4" @ 140 Liters
SUP Sports One World: 11'1" x 30" x 4.5" @ 173 Liters
CJ Nelson Parallax: 9'3" x 23 1/2" x 3 3/16" @ 78.8 Liters (prone surfing longboard; Thunderbolt Technologies build in Red construction)

 


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