17 July 2014
Originally written in my role as Community Manager for Mercedes-Benz Vito Sport, July 2014.
It’s almost ten PM, and we’re in the Sport-X dashing down country roads in pursuit. We’re in the middle of a convoy of vans. We’re all in this together. Phil is leading us through the Gloucestershire countryside and we’re trusting his every turn and every road. We don’t know where we’re going. We don’t know how long it will take to get there – but we know what we’re hunting. We’re hunting a wave.
Whaaat?
The Severn Bore is an inland tidal wave that happens twice a day on average on the River Severn in the South West of England. In front of us in his black Vito Sport is Alan Stokes, along with Swiss pro surfer Celine Gehret and long boarder Zak Lawton. Zak’s board is in our long wheel base Sport-X and despite the fear, it never once budges from its spot wedged in the back of the van. There’s so little time from one location to the next when chasing the Bore that Alan and Celine chuck their boards in the back of the Sport, but Zak managed to slip his longboard in its 9 foot 6 inch Animal travel bag and fitting it in the Sport-X no problem before setting off.
This has been the routine for the last two days. We met Alan, Celine, and Zak by the river on Sunday afternoon and not long after, Phil Williams, our guide, arrived. Phil has surfed the bore 100 times – Alan and co have never attempted it.
At the first attempt just outside Gloucester, the bore didn’t materialise. Everyone laughed uneasily – what if it doesn’t happen the entire time we’re here? Alan said, “It was just one of those classic moments I’ll never forget – so much prep leading up to it and a massive amount of nervous energy running through us all. Then we got our first glimpse of the tidal surge and it was barely an inch high, well we just all fell about laughing!” Phil remained confident, and led us through the back roads, five and a half miles down the road. At a beautiful bend in the river, we waited. The surfers trudged down a slippery mud bank to the river and paddled far out. The river before the wave was so low that they could stand up. It was an unusual sight to see – a 6’2″ long boarder standing in a river awaiting a white water wave that was barreling towards him. The bore arrived fast, fierce, and incredibly impressive to the majority of us who had never witnessed it before. The river went from dead calm, to roaring, fast waves. It sounded like a train being led by a wall of horses coming around the bend. It was unusual, it was inspiring, and it was time to surf.
Celine shares her excitement: “The wave was about 10 minutes late than forecasted, so we were starting to wonder whether it will happen at all. Suddenly it got really loud and we could see the wave approaching in the distance and it was getting bigger as it came closer to us. But it was hard to see how big it actually is. My heart suddenly started to race a bit, there was definitely a lot of anticipation and excitement from all of us. As the wave came closer it changes its shape a bit and it is more powerful on some places along the river, so you have to move to the side or middle quickly to be in the right place. I started to paddle as hard as I could so I don’t miss it! Once you get pushed along by the wave it’s just so much fun, you can definitely get the longest ride ever!! My legs started to burn after a while! It was so much fun sharing the same wave with all of us, we were all hooting along the whole time, and had the biggest smiles!”
They rode the wave to the next bend, then climbed up the bank and ran back to the convoy. Phil was pumped and was cheering everyone on. “Let’s go! Let’s go!” He didn’t want to miss the next opportunity to catch it.
A further ten minutes down the road, Phil stopped along the edge of a country road and we all parked up. Still in their wetsuits, the surfers ran. “Anyone not with a board, catch us up!” Phil yelled with a huge grin on his face. He was ready and the rest were hooked. Through a green belt and a few kissing gates we scrambled, gently but quickly passing surfboards over field gates. By the time the wave arrived, it almost broke up onto the bank where we were all watching through the ever-increasing darkness. At this last location, the bore seemed far more powerful than the previous. This section of the river was more narrow than in Epney, and the trees blocking the view of its approach further added to its mystery. The surfers took this section further and we waited excitedly on the bank for them to return and share the experience with us.
Alan said, “Wow the night surf was something else! So surreal – it was a full moon so we could see a little and when the wave came roaring around the corner it was a little intimidating. We all managed to catch it but Celine the only girl riding the wave put us all to shame we had all long fallen and she rode the wave off into the night. She later told us that around a few more bends the wave turned into a lovely green faced wave and the gliding sensation in the dark of night was incredible.”
Celine and Phil went even further down the river than Alan. Celine said, “This part of the river was my favourite, it got much more narrow with lots of trees on the sides, and the wave was reforming with some ‘green’ clean parts of the wave – (or more ‘brown’ parts really haha) and it was running as a nice right hander for a bit which was super fun, as you can do some proper turns on it. The last bit just Phil and me were left and managed to stay on, we couldn’t stop smiling as we were surfing the unbroken wave, it was so awesome! I was really happy that Phil was still on the wave with me too, I couldn’t really see very much and not knowing how the river bends or what comes next in the dark was quite a bit scary! Then the walk back over the fields was quite long with the heavy longboard, through gates and then past a sign that said ‘beware of the bulls’ haha! Luckily it was a clear night, the moon looked amazing and bright so we found our way back to the Vito without too much trouble!”
It was incredible to experience it first hand. The Severn bore has legendary status.
Alan sums up the experience: “It’s just brilliant really. Surfing opens up so many cool experiences like this; it’s a great sport. We met some of the local crew who were all classic characters and super friendly and welcoming its a great little inland community of surfers there. I have to say a massive thank you to local legend Phil Williams and the muddy brother crew for showing us the ropes and for the great laughs along the way.”
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