| Top professional big wave surfers head to the Qiantang River in Hangzhou, China to surf the world's largest tidal bore--known as the "Silver Dragon." Greg Long, Rusty Long, and Mark Healey wow the masses at the annual Tidal Bore Wave Watching Festival in Hangzhou and make surfing history! Gerard Sports Marketing (GSM) has teamed up with Chinese partner, Wabsono International--and the Chinese government--to bring the sport of surfing to the Chinese people. Everyday--twice a day--in the City of Hangzhou (pronounced "han-joe"), a tidal bore wave rolls upstream on the Qiantang (pronounced "kwin-tang") River. And each year, in September, the wave is at its largest. To witness this awesome sight, hundreds of thousands of Chinese people come to the annual Wave Watching Festival in Hangzhou. And this year, they're here to see surfing for the very first time. For this trip, we brought the Long brothers, and Mark Healey. The purpose of this trip was to demonstrate to the Chinese government that surfing on the river was feasible... and that the idea of broadening the annual festival to include surfing is a good one. This year's surfing event was a huge success. In fact, the day of the festival, it was a top story on the Chinese national news channel (CCTV)--and was viewed by approximately 1/2 the entire Chinese population! GSM and Wabsono have signed a long term exclusive rights deal with the City of Hangzhou to develop the surfing festival concept. The plan is to include industry ... |
