Moncton tidal bore surfers ride wave of interest

Two of the surfers who ran the tidal bore along the Petitcodiac River in southeastern New Brunswick in July say there is growing international interest in catching the wave in the province.

Yassine Ouhilal of Halifax and Fred Hamilton of Sooke, B.C.,appeared before Monctoncity council on Monday and saidnews of their exploits on the PetitcodiacRiver is about to be splashed before an international audience.

One of thetop surfing magazines in the trade, The Surfer's Journal,is to run a feature article in January on their experience, featuring many of the photographs taken by Ouhilal, a professional surf photographer and filmmaker.

And two of the California surfers who were in Moncton are to be featured on ABC television's Nightline in January, they told council.

The cat's out of the hat and it's going to be really interesting to see the future developments that happen around this.- YassineOuhilal

"Now the word is about to come out," said Ouhilal.

"The cat's out of the hat and it's going to be really interesting to see the future developments that happen around this."

The tidal bore from Belliveau Villageto the causeway in Moncton was conquered by the professional surfers in July.

The 29-kilometre length of their ride established a North American record for the longest ride on a tidal bore, surpassing the markof eight kilometres that was established in Alaska in 2011.

Thousands of people linedthe shores of the river to watch the surfers. Coun. Brian Hicks was one of them.

"I'll admit I had not been down to see the bore in years, but I was down like so many Monctonians every day there surfers were there," he said.

Hicks would like to see an annual festival or international competition established around surfing the tidal bore.

Council invited Ouhilal and Hamilton to return next summer to surf the bore once again, but they didn't wait that long. They caught one last wave for 2013 on the Petitcodiac last evening after their appearance before city council.