These are three excellent videos of stand up paddle surfing (SUP) of the tidal bore known locally as 'benak'. The surfing took place along the Batang Lupar river, Sri Aman in the Malaysian state of Sarawak.
Produced by CéGar, the scenes were shot during the 2013 Pesta (festival) Benak that took place from October 18th-20th. CéGar also captured amazing aerial shots of the tidal bores from his paramotor. We believe this is a first!
We have sequenced the videos firstly, on how the tidal bore looked like from the sky, followed by the SUP surfers in action and waxing lyrical about their experiences and then finally zeroing in on international SUP surfer, Kyron Rahthbone as he described about the noise of his experience. And Kyron had set a 'Benak' record with a 28-minutes ride on 'Cadbury Rights' - a playful reference to the colour of the water - chocolatey brown. We offer our congratulations!
Enjoy the videos!
Tidal bore occurs twice daily, the height of the waves depend on the tide conditions. It is also known that the drier season of the year (April - Oct) tend to generate bigger waves. There is a view point for visitors to watch the spectacle of the surging waves as they travel up this second longest river in Sarawak.
Besides the surfing spectacle, the festival has plenty of side-events such as speedboat and longboat race, exhibitions, stage shows and of course food! The festival attracts thousands each year and so it is advisable to book your rooms early. It is recommended to stay overnight as the tidal bore occurs early morning and late afternoon.
The town of Sri Aman is a two and a half hour drive from the Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak. To get there, catch a bus from Kuching Sentral
Malaysian Airlines, Air Asia and Malindo Air flies daily to Kuching from Kuala Lumpur. Air Asia and Silkair (also code share with Malaysian Airlines) flies daily from Singapore. Do check their website for latest.
Please click here for the 2014 edition
Sarawak Malaysia Borneo... where adventure lives
