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A stationary or "standing" river wave suitable for surfing can form given the right water flow and a suitable bottom configuration—usually a ledge or a submerged group of boulders. River surfing is sometimes grouped with tidal bore surfing since both take place in a river, but the tidal bore is a single wave or set of waves that moves upstream during a tidal surge, while a river wave is a type of rapid.

Arthur Pauli, a teenager from the Bavarian town of Trostberg, in southern Germany, made himself a hollow plywood surfboard in 1965, tied a rope to a tree branch overhanging the River Alz, and while holding the rope began to "surf" against the downflowing river current. In years to come, Pauli found and rode other stationery waves in Germany, and others joined in; in 1972, Pauli was among the first to ride the Flosslände wave, in Munich, and three years later the debut Bavarian Riversurfing Championships were held at Flosslände and the Alz.

Meanwhile, in America, kayakers had been riding river waves since the 1970s, and surfers jumped in during the mid-1980s. The first well-documented river surfing trip took place in 1985, as a group of pros from Southern California rode the Lunch Counter rapid in Wyoming's Snake River. "The weirdest thing," 

 magazine photographer Robert Beck noted, "is that the ride never ends. Guys were able to stay up for four minutes before getting tired."

A ridable river wave depends on the cubic feet per second (CFPS) flow rate. Too low, and the wave won't offer enough resistance to hold the surfer in place; too high and the wave floods out. Each river wave has its own ideal flow rate; Lunch Counter, for example, is best at about 11,000 CFPS. Random fluctuation in downriver flow means that a river wave will constantly pulse or surge. River waves are rarely bigger than three feet, but as a rule they are far more powerful than like-sized ocean waves. A wipeout or a kickout both result in the surfer getting pulled downstream, and river surfers often wear helmets as protection against boulder-lined rapids.

Some river waves are caught by simply wading off the bank and jumping directly onto the rapid; more often, the river surfer launches upstream from the wave, floats backward into the rapid, catches the wave, and pushes to his feet. As with ocean surfing, the ride generally takes place on the wave's shoulder (just to one side of the whitewater), but the river surfer's basic line of attack is perpendicular to the wave, rather than angled. The advanced rider will do a series of bottom- and top-turns; cutbacks and even aerials are possible. At Rapid Number 11 on the Zambezi River in Zambia, surfed for the first time in early 2005, riders were able to tuck inside the tube. Footstraps, longboards, and SUPS have been introduced to river surfing as well. River surfers generally take turns riding, but sometimes have to share a wave with bodyboarders and kayakers.

Oregon's Elijah Mack, a heavily tattooed surfer raised in San Diego County who refers to himself as "the undeniable leader of this undeniably underground sport," has surfed more than 80 standing waves throughout the American Northwest; in 2003 he founded the ambitiously titled World River Surfing Association which, by early 2005, had 52 members.

By far the most popular river-surfing break is the Eisbach on the River Isar in Munich, Germany, which breaks directly in front of a pedestrian bridge. From 2000-2009, the Munich Surf Open, a semi-serious surf contest was staged at the Flösslande, five miles up the Isar from the Eisbach. Other charted river waves include the Chinese Dog Leg section of the Kawarau River in New Zealand, and the fearsome Skookumchuck rapid in British Columbia.

, an instructional DVD, was released in 2004.

river surfing

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

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