77 People Surf The Same French Wave, And It's A Huge Bore

They say there's a unique wave for every surfer, but this swell might be suitable for everybody.

In the video above, approximately 77 people surfed the same wave as it shot up the Dordogne River in southwestern France, according to a count by Surfer Mag.

Jean-Marc Chauvet posted the clip to his Vimeo account about five months ago with the caption, in French, "Some pictures of [a tidal bore] in Saint Pardon on the Dordogne."

The video went viral this week when the Surf Federation of Costa Rica posted the video to its Facebook page, describing it as the "best day in friendship" but mistakenly identifying the wave as the pororoca, a tidal bore on the Amazon River.

Tidal bores are seemingly endless waves that occur at the mouth of a river when a full or new moon brings the rising tide in so strongly that it flushes the river with water. This generates waves that travel upstream, temporarily reversing the river's course.

It is literally a tidal wave.



Tidal bores can be dangerous, as National Geographic explains:

A tidal bore can be quite violent. The bore often changes the color of the river from blue or green to brown as it whips up sediment. Tidal bores can tear vegetation like trees from their roots. This makes the recreation sports of river surfing and kayaking very dangerous. Surfers from China to Alaska have been pulled into the river, bay or ocean. Even watching a bore can be dangerous: Tidal waves have been known to sweep over lookout points and drag people to the churning river.

Dozens of people have been killed watching the impressive tidal bore in China's Qiantang River over the years, swept away or otherwise fatally injured when the river has surged over sea walls.

In some locations, crocodiles, piranhas, bears, eagles and other carnivores wade in the bore's aftermath to scavenge for fish and birds left dazed or dead on the river banks.

Dangers aside, tidal bores are attractive to surfers because they create 10-to-13-foot waves that travel as fast as 15 m.p.h. Surfers can ride them for 20 minutes or more.

Windsurfer Robby Naish rode the pororoca bore in the Amazon river 1,476 feet from bank to bank, setting the Guinness World Record for the widest ride of a river tidal bore.

Other famous bores include Alaska's Turnagain Arm, China's Qiantang, and others in France, where they're called mescarets.