This supreme tidal bore surfing feat occurred last month on the Araguari Pororoca in Amapa state. Consistently the largest and most powerful of all tidal bores - despite some surf brands claims to differ. Riding a 5'6" four fin fish, Sergio surfed the wave for 70 minutes clocking up 23km. He described the monumental milestone as hard with a very bumpy wave peaking at roughly 2 metres. As well as breaking the 10 miles mark and the 20km mark Sergio has proved that distance surfing really is no longer the sole realm of the longboarder. Reckon his legs were aching a bit at the end of that!

This time the ride was unofficial but Sergio intends on returning next month to replicate the feat with official Guinness adjudicators.

The spring delivered some massive tidal bore waves. Check out reports and photos from the prophetic 2011 super moon, where Sergio was joined by Steve at Aventuras do Laus.

And wow… What a discovery they made! From the few reports of the Bono and a couple of photos riding the crest of the wave from 2005 I had never quite known what to expect from this tidal bore in Sumatra. The regional tidal range is just meso-tidal as with the bore's south China sea compatriots on the other side of the shelf in Sarawak, but 2011 has been a year of very large tide ranges with equilibrium tides at a high point. Throw into the mix the confluence of the west Australia and east India amphidromic systems funnelled down the Strait of Malacca and there was always possibility of something special in the Kampar river. It looks like the French led team caught a beauty.

I can't deny a small level or resentment at Yep's ongoing achievements in the world of tidal bore surfing, the Kampar Bono being one of a select few rivers on my world tour wish list - the seed for which I first planted when we converged on the Mascaret river back in 2001. In fact, along with a handful of other rivers, I had hoped the Kampar Bono would remain secret for a little while longer but in reality with the accessibility the internet brings to world geography that was unlikely to happen. And the cat was really out the bag in 2008 with the Kampar Bono Tidal Bore anyway! Still, I am especially stoked to see Fabrice join his brother this time and can only imagine the grin on his face assimilating this experience.

Wonder what surprises Yep will pull out next year. There are a few exciting discoveries still be made…

So BT kindly send me a letter today stating that because of the technical problem with my online billing they are reverting me to paper billing. They then go on to say:

Because of the switch back to paper bills, you will temporarily lose your paper free discount

Great so I get charged for their technical issues. But, we forget how kind BT are…

But to offset it, and to say sorry for the trouble, we'll give you back £5 on your next bill

Well how nice! Let's hope they sort out my technical issue before the month is out…

They have rolled out their new all singing/all dancing accounts software, informed me of the 50p price hike per month to benefit from all these swanky new features, fired off my latest BT bill notification and it DOESN' T WORK. Just keep getting error messages across the board and BT's customer response to this predicament is one of disinterest as always.

Invariably my bill will be wrong as it has been for the past two years. Full of complicated extras and misnomers that lead the buyer into confused meltdown and leave only the most hardy chasing up on those hidden erroneous charges. But by the time the system actually works and allows me to view the bill my money will probably already be steaming its way into BT's back pocket. Someone sort out this tyrannical free reign of oligarchic super powers that form the telecommunications industry… PLEASE!

One not to miss!

Once the home of exploration and the location of the inaugural meeting of the international bore riders community it is nice to see Arari become part of the national circuit and I hope the people of an otherwise impoverished village have benefited well from the presence of the surfers and media. Nice to see a few of the old regular faces in these photos from the Mearim event.

Meanwhile, Sergio has been holed up in the Amazon jungle capturing the Pororoca for film and reel. Watch out for a slew of videos to be released later in the year from an extraordinary season on the Araguari Pororoca.

And what's with the data carrier charges in Britain? No unlimited plans, bar O2's daily plan (which isn't enough for an SD movie download anyway), kind of cancels out the iPad as a medium for streaming movies from the iTunes store.

Might have to wait on until the furor subsides and the age old version 2 Apple price drop!

A summary of the trip and a few photos of the waves and the town are available here.

It surprises me how long it has taken for someone to finally pioneer the largest tidal bore of Sarawak province on Borneo. The Benak was high up on our (being Wizard King and myself) agenda when we mapped out a tour to surf all the great tidal bores of the world back in 2000. At the time sponsorship and interest wasn't forthcoming and as the years rolled by plans changed, people moved and we settled on the Mearim river as our culmination of global bore surfing in 2005. At least for the time being! That in itself a trip we shared with Yep, his brother Fabrice and the stylish silver surfer of the French Mascaret, Bruno Boue.

It was a shame none of us could find the freedom to share Antony's current expedition due to family and work commitments. But I am stoked to learn it is one of the global bore surfing pioneers that has taken the initiative before the Batang Lupar is swept up by the Surf Industry as nearly befell the Silver Dragon.

Read the full story of Antony's Tidal Bore adventure on the Benak Lupar.