Ducky & Billy Payne Tackle Largest Tidal Bore

The rising tide coming in from Hangzhou Bay is funnelled by the shape of the Qiantang River into the world’s largest tidal bore, a long breaking wave known as the Silver Dragon which sometimes reaches 30 feet. The tidal bore happens during the spring tide with every full moon, but is strongest in the fall, when the Tide-Watching Festival is held on the 18th day of the 8th month in the Chinese calendar. The festival can attract up to 170,000 tide-watchers and has been celebrated for hundreds of years. The bore is first seen as a distant sliver of silver far out on the horizon. Then the rushing sound of water, as if a waterfall just got plugged into the aux cable. The body of moving water can reach speeds of up to 40 kmph. On occasion some years typhoon rains produce waves that crash against the river banks, sucking unsuspecting tourists off the sea walls in its wake. No wonder they call this beast the Silver Dragon.             View this post on Instagram                     Here in China to surf the river tidal bore wave called […]