After the last speaker left the podium, the Summit organizers summarized and wrapped it up and there was a bolt to the door and the parking lot because Ryan’s tablet was plugged back into the main screen and it still showed decent surf breaking at the Bend Wave. That Surfer Optimism paid off!

Real time video from the Wave camera later showed us that those who bolted were ripping good surf on the big screen at the front of the room while we had music playing through the Riverbend Room’s pretty dang good sound system as a large delivery of extremely tasty and varied small pizzas came in the door with somebody. A number of the local Bend surfers and friends that had been invited to meet the people from out-of-town and out-of-country wandered through the lobby to find us. The gathering got bigger.

A tribe. One that shares the chores.

This is a tight crowd, more like family. Those than ran off earlier to surf came back grinning and wet and extremely hungry right about dark as more Bend brewery refreshments came in the door (there are a lot of breweries in Bend I was told). The rest of the evening was spent talking out and digesting the entire day’s list of information that was trying to assimilate into everyone’s brain. Chris from Spokane, a N/E Washington kyacker/surfer, and I talked a lot about the possibilities we had been presented with. Maybe we should start small, maybe an ‘Eisenbach’ style wave in the canals that are in Riverside Park? We agreed that more exploring of alternatives is needed. He knew of other potential sites and the waves that are produced depending on river flows in the Spokane area. That info will go into my article for OutThere.

By 9pm when the room was to close we had all pitched in folding and stacking the chairs, rolling the tables into the storeroom, emptying trashcans and wiping down counters and when we were done all that was needed was for the night crew to come vacuum the rug. Yep, a tribe. One that shares the chores.

We did have trouble with the big screen. It didn’t want to roll back up.

The Saturday Night Bar Scene Gathering

Again we really didn’t have enough room for everybody to fit into the cars, trucks, and SUVs that were in the parking lot but we managed to squish everyone in before we headed off to the big Cascade West Grub and Ale House that the local boys said (after quick checks of cell phone messages) was hopping. The Canadian board shaper guy ended up laying down between my congas and amp in the back of my truck to keep the local Bend traffic cops from pulling me over. Besides there not being enough seatbelts, there weren’t enough seats for all of us. A repeat of Friday night’s drive around Bend. Again, all I could do was follow where the lead cars were going. I was completely lost in the one-way streets and curvy roads.

The smell of good food, warm air, loud conversation, and music spilled through the doors as we all piled into the bar. Pool tables in the back two sections of the bar drew a couple Canadian guys and gals, a few others waved at the server immediately because they needed refreshments (really, just HOW many breweries does Bend have?), and the rest of us started looking for empty tables. There were all sorts of games and other machines lining walls, and the middle room had an actual NASCAR body cut in half and the driver’s side mounted to the far wall. Conversations buzzed in my ears from all directions as the riversurfers mingled with the crowd of local Bend folks that were already there.

Riversurfers mingled with the crowd of local Bend folks.

I’m used to bars, been playing music in them for four decades, but I don’t go to bars to socialize much if I’m not playing music. And that 30 years older thing was the same in that place, too, along with there being so many locals that all knew one another. I kind of kept in the background and listened and watched.

Interesting to be a spectator in another city in another state in a completely different social environment than what I am used to living as I have the last 13 years on mountain property in the Selkirk Range of Northern Washington State. In some ways bars are all the same but in others there are very noticeable differences in the social mores that are adapted from place to place.

Road Trip Rule #37: Never set your beer on the edge of a pool table. One of the Canadians spilled on the felt and got a lecture from the server. Oops.

The Punching Bag Machine

This is for the participants of the Punching Bag machine contest. You know who you are.

I found myself sitting at a table by the wall watching the pool game between the Canadian guys and gals (before the beer spilled) that was 12 feet away from this dollar bill-eating machine. I had never seen one before but maybe I had never paid attention in any of the bars I play music in and just didn’t notice. Being as … excitable as these river surfers all were, once they started the contest it quickly became too hilarious for words. If you know any of the Summit people who were there, ask THEM about it. I’m not going to name names.

Except Jacob. Who talked me the little old guy into trying three different strikes on the bag. He even put in the dollar bills. Jacob of Surf Anywhere is truly the guilty party here as he wheedled me into it. And no, I did NOT win the contest. That was one of the Canadian guys!

We started a jam session that lasted long into the night instead.

Next was a tweet that came in talking about a huge pre-Halloween costume party that was starting to rage at some friend’s house. This was somewhere between 11:30pm and midnight after far more excellent food and tasty brews had been consumed. Ryan had a few doubts about going to a local party where 20 male riversurfers and a couple of ladies would flood in through the door with him. Might be a wee bit of a pisser to the local guys that were already there. But it’s a party and we should go!

The Jam Session

There weren’t enough women at the party for all the unattached males to dance with. How sad. So we started a jam session that lasted long into the night instead. The Boise Wave Shaper pulled out a lead electric guitar, Ryan alternated with the mandolin and the banjo, another of the Summit guys had his acoustic guitar, the hand percussion from my bag came out, and everybody was singing-some rather badly, but it wasn’t half bad and making music is always enjoyable.

We all promised ourselves that we were going to get up and surf it early, that was the plan. I had my doubts because by the time we were again laying down our heads at Ryan’s it was well after 3am.

The Sunday Morning Surf Session

Yeah guys, right, we’re going to Dawn Patrol it. I opened my eyes a couple of times to crazy early bird types rummaging around for wetsuits and assorted gear but once that front door shut and they were gone I closed the eyelids for another few winks. I managed to do that a few times before it was obvious that it was time to get up because the rest of the surfers in the house were trying to get organized. I noticed they were moving even slower than the previous morning.

The trouble was that it was the only board that I knew I could surf on a river wave.

It was time to empty the air bed and pack up the truck for the trip home after the surf session. Instruments loaded first, and all the other gear was packed in around them. I was taking my Lunch Counter twinfin out the door when I was stopped and explicitly told that I would NOT be surfing on that board today. I was informed by the boyz that this old board was a piece of riversurfing history and didn’t deserve to get busted up. I never thought about it that way. It’s just always been my Magic Twinnie. The trouble was that it was the only board that I knew I could surf on a river wave. Ryan said there would be a board waiting for me from one of his friends that was already surfing this morning.

We didn’t arrive at the Bend Wave until 10:30am. Or later. Coffee, breakfasts, packing vehicles, this all took awhile in spite of the good intentions. I followed Ryan and company to the park and found a parking spot on the street, then walked over to the Parks & Rec building where Ryan has his office. He was on his cell phone trying to find out where the board I was to borrow had gone and came to find out the friend had already left for work with the board and couldn’t come back to drop it off. I didn’t have a board to ride until Ryan pulled out a 4′ 3” semi pig-shape Glide twinfin that was leaning against a wall in the back. A tiny little board about the same size as my wake board. Will this thing even float me? The guys said they’d meet me at the Wave and ran out the door.

In the line-up at Bend

Went back to the truck and started pulling on my mid-1990s Rip Curl Zipless Ultimate 3-4mm wetsuit that I hadn’t surfed in since the last surf camping trip on the Olympic Peninsula in Spring 2012. Oops. Gained a little weight as I’ve aged but it still fit well enough though the neoprene is getting a little stiff feeling to it from hanging on a closet dowel. Walked across the park and through the fence to the edge of the Deshutes River where you had to walk through the flow to get to the middle where the wave is. The water was REALLY cold compared to the lake, even being in a full-length wetsuit. I looked across at Ryan with no booties, no hood, no gloves and wondered to myself how he could surf so well without the added warmth factor.

How in the world do they flip their boards into the wave and jump on it?

There was a crowd of locals and Summit people waiting their turn on the Wave. I saw kids with belly boards, women in pink tennis shoes, a variety of helmets ranging from bike to climbing to kayak brands. Hoods and no hoods, gloves and no gloves, kyack life vests and rafter float vests, waterski and wake board safety vests with a scattering of the new high-tech PST inflatables down to just a guy in a wetsuit with a board under his arm. Jacob and I chatted as the line moved forward and everyone took a turn at slashing turns. I didn’t know the get-out downstream, what to watch for. Hell, I didn’t even know if I was going to be able to stand up on this tiny little board on a wave that looked far different than the Lunch Counter. How in the world do they flip their boards into the wave and jump on it?

Starting from a sitting down position, Jacob held my nose up as I tried to stand and find my balance in the little bit of flat water that exists along the edge of the concrete wall. As I stood up he let go and suddenly I found myself standing facing upriver riding the wave but unfortunately pointing straight ahead. I couldn’t get the board to turn which slowed me down as I slid into the pit before it sucked me under and backwards through the whitewater behind. But I did stand up for a few seconds. A minor triumph!

As I paddled myself out of the current below the wave and into the eddy flow that runs up the side back towards the wave I kept asking myself how do I turn this little fat board? I watched others who did the sit-down take-off and realized that as they stood up their boards were already starting to point in towards the middle of the wave. There’s the trick! My turn again and another surfer held the nose up for me as I stood up. This time I managed to wobble sideways and into the wave to surf it for a few seconds longer before it pulled the board up too high and sucked me over. Down the river I went again and back into line for the next attempt.

Paddling back up

There was one wave that I really found the balance on, near the last I caught that day. Alex Copp from Canada was taking the pictures and vid of me with my old camera. Alex couldn’t believe the camera actually had a viewfinder that you had to look through, but somehow he managed to catch my best and longest wave on video. And it was the one where I tried to throw a tiny cutback off the lip right in front of Ryan the Bend Wave Shaper. I made the move but didn’t make the wave as I found myself getting sucked into the top of the wave before it pulled me down and spit me out again.

Flashes of the old days. Body remembered how to do this. How cool is that?

The last wave was the worst. I didn’t even make it to standing up before the nose went underwater and I did an over-the-nose fall and completely separated from the board. I still had the leg leash attached to my bicep but it tangled me up for a few long seconds before I could get the board under me, and then the old wakesurfing vest rolled me off the deck before I could start paddling. I couldn’t get the board pulled back quickly enough to get out of the river’s flow so I ended up being dragged too far downstream before I was able to get myself in motion.

Too late. As I was trying for the corner and what I hoped was a little backwater the woman kayaker standing there looked down at me with the ‘Uh-Oh’ look clearly visible on her face. I was close enough to hear her say “You’re going over” just as I looked to the right and saw the edge of the drop-off that the current was inexorably dragging me to. There was no fighting it as the edge of the rock she was on passed by on my left, so I rolled off the board, let go, crossed my arms as I laid on my back, and pointed feet downstream. I went over the drop.

Jacob and me at the wave

Not too bad. Could have been worse. Two dunkings in 30 seconds certainly does pull a lot of heat out you wearing a mid-90s wetsuit, though. Yanked the leash and shoved the dinky little board beneath me and started paddling for the rocks. Found my footing close in and climbed out of the water. I was cold! I smiled at the young woman as I walked by, she smiled back before remarking that I had broken a fin off. I looked and she was correct, the fin was gone. Eaten by that second drop I’d imagine. Must have smacked a rock in there somewhere.

My heartfelt thanks to all that welcomed me into the Tribe.

My Summit surf-a-river day was over. The first one in 26 years. The Summit was done, I had plenty of notes to ponder and organize before sending the summary to Derrick at OutThere Magazine by Spring. And I had an 8-hour drive north facing my tired cold self for the rest of the day.

Jacob saw me walking back up the bank and came across to see what had happened. Showed him the board, said my good-byes, waved at the other surfers in the middle of the river that were looking with the tail of the board missing the fin up in the air which got a few knowing nods and smiles, and headed back to my truck to change and warm up and start the long drive home. It had been a very good weekend. My heartfelt thanks to all that welcomed me into the Tribe.

Part I: A Gathering of the Tribe: North America’s 1st River Surfing Summit

The post A Gathering of the Tribe: North America’s 1^st River Surfing Summit (Part II of II) appeared first on Riverbreak.

DP said I absolutely had to go. This would be a historic moment! I started laughing but agreed that to participate in something like this, especially being held so close to home, would be well worth the one-day drive.

I might even get the chance to jump into Bend’s Whitewater Park Wave. The article mentioned a Summit Sunday surf the day after the conference.

The chance of actually standing up and surfing the river wave after 26 years were probably rather low odds but I still have the twinfin I used to surf Lunch Counter hanging on the kitchen wall. I shaped and glassed that board … 31 years ago but surely the old stick has another couple of river waves left in it!

I might even get the chance to jump into Bend’s Whitewater Park Wave.

Derrick, owner and publisher of the Washington State Inter-mountain sports publicationOutThere Outdoors Magazine, had been trying to promote a public meeting in Spokane to be held sometime in the late Spring or early Summer of 2017. His idea was to bring the prospect of putting a water and wave park back into the public’s eye after the discouraging end to the earlier attempt a few years ago that had the bottom kicked out from under all those that gave their time and money to having our very own Spokane Kayak & Rafting Whitewater Park project.

Unfortunately this project did not include a surfing segment to the proposed project. A short-sighted view in my opinion!

The $1.2 million garnered in grants along with the funds raised by the public did not go to a Whitewater Park. One grant was actually given back, and other monies went to ‘riparian restoration’ projects. So it is no surprise that the entire river runner community is hesitant to become involved in a similar project again.

Derrick and I had a number of conversations in the Spring about how to possibly re-invigorate people’s imagination and become willing to participate once again when they know they will find themselves repeating the entire exhausting bureaucratic process.

We talked about broadening the vision and plan for a surfing wave like the City of Boise Idaho has (currently going into Stage 3), and that Bend also now has. Missoula has a natural river wave because they, like here, have a high water flow rate measured as cubic feet per second. The Spokane River rarely drops below 500 cfs and rages when it gets up to 15,000+/-. Reminds me of the Snake River Canyon back when.

Getting people to come to the meeting and at least talk about it was a first step. He has the contacts down in Spokane, and an excellent platform to spread the idea from in the magazine.

The meeting fizzled. That was certainly more than a little discouraging. Now what? And suddenly in the fall a River Surfing Summit was announced.

After I posted on Riverbreak that I was going, an email came back saying ‘You’re our man!’ from them. Oh great, put a little more pressure on this old guy surf dude who hasn’t surfed a river wave in … forever! Derrick at OutThere Outdoors Magazine designated me as a ‘freelance writer’ for the magazine and said he’d pay me for the article I would write. It was official.

Preparation

So how does one practice jumping into a river wave without having a river wave to jump in on? Wake Surfing! For an ocean surfer it’s a pretty good way to practice as the water is going in the wrong direction like river waves, and you are moving fast behind the boat which feels quite similar to the water coming downstream at you when surfing a river wave.

He agreed to take me out on Waitts Lake for one last afternoon surf session.

The water had already gotten chilly due to a few early September cold snaps but I managed to talk my neighbor DJ into de-winterizing his ski boat since he had already put it up for the year. He agreed in the interest of surfing (I had taught him to surf mountains on a snowboard a number of years earlier) to take me out on Waitts Lake for one last afternoon surf session. Marv agreed to come along as the 3rd person needed as flagger. That weekend we woke up to a beautiful sunny day with nearly glassy surface conditions due to lack of the usual winds blowing down into the bowl of the lake below the mountain. Perfect. Water was cold but the 2mm short sleeve shortjohn wetsuit was enough protection with the warm air.

A bonus was that there were no other boats on the lake. The lake was perfect.

Marv tried to take a few pictures while sitting and watching in the back of the boat but none of them came out as he rides motorcycles not boards and doesn’t really have the timing down for catching action shots. What did come out on the 10 year old Kodak digital camera we were using was when he thought he had shut it off but had turned it to video which accidentally captured 9-seconds of me smacking the wake wave on my mid-1990s Hyperlite HO Series single-wing swallowtail twinfin wakeboard at 20mph before the camera found itself aimed at his pant leg.

If I did get a chance to surf the post-Summit surf session on Sunday, this afternoon session gave me at least a small chance to not completely kook out in front of everybody. I hope.

The 8 hour drive was long through the eastern Washington Scablands and even longer once I crossed the Columbia and turned onto Hwy 97. The 55mph speed limit down the back of the high desert of Oregon feels pretty slow in comparison. But with good music playing through the truck’s speakers, the clear air showing long distance vistas and snow-topped volcanic cones stretching in every direction that I hadn’t seen in over a decade, and a surprising lack of traffic going in my direction made for a fine day’s drive. The tiny towns on the highway that I went through were nearly empty of people until I got close to Madras.

People everywhere! The population has certainly grown over the last decade that I haven’t driven this highway. Madras was much larger, Terrebonne, too, and I hit the Bend City Limit and the sign said there were 80,000 people living there! I later found out that the real number is probably closer to 120,000 people.

Jacob came out of the water with a big smile when he saw me walk up.

I drove into Bend and headed towards where the map said the Wave was and found myself in the middle of a huge festival that had taken over the entire downtown area. Blocked-off streets sporting stages and sound systems and huge crowds of people surged back and forth through the narrow streets elbow to elbow. Traffic was nearly at a standstill. Every street I passed had a stage set up on it and was full from one side to the other. I was mostly lost and rolled down the window to ask the car stopped next to me where the Surf Wave was. The young college-age women looked a little hesitant to roll theirs down but as soon as I asked where the Surf Wave was their faces changed from frowns to smiles and they told me the most direct route and which traffic light to turn at. Nice people!

As I was crossing a bridge over the Deschutes River I could see the Water Park off to the right on the north side with a bunch of surfers standing in the middle of the river and spectators scattered on the bridge and both banks watching the action. I missed the first street and had to circle around the neighborhood that the Park is located in before I drove up to a very well-kept public park and a small diagonal parking area that was full of vehicles with surf racks.

Looks like I found the beach. Jacob came out of the water with a big smile when he saw me walk up. Said it was the mustache that was unmistakeable.

After surfing the Bend Wave until nearly dark (I just watched), the summit people got out of their wetsuits and into warm clothes before gathering together in the parking lot to convoy to Sun River Brewing where Surf Anywhere had reserved a semi-enclosed outside table large enough to fit the 25 or so people that showed up for Friday’s surf session and this Greet & Eat. Some of the surfers headed for motels while those that were car-camping there at the park fit themselves into whatever small space in the vehicles going that they could squeeze into.

Bend Whitewater Park

You can legally car camp at the Bend Wave parking lot. In this era of seemingly never-ending restrictive laws being passed by cities against everything, this was a nice change for a city council to take.

There were people already there when the cavalcade from the wave arrived, and more came in as the evening progressed. Great food and drink and stories along with all sorts of pics and vids on cell phones were shown around the table as those of us that didn’t know the local crew or one another introduced ourselves.

Nobody knew me. Of course. And I was about three decades older than those at the table with both a white mustache and ponytail and probably looking a little sore muscled and a bit bleary-eyed after the 8 hour drive south I had just made. Road trips get harder as you get older.

Nobody knew me. Of course. And I was about three decades older than those at the table.

Mostly I just listened in on the multiple conversations going on around me and tried to get a feel for the people that I was meeting. Technical talk about wave building and sites found, waves ridden, scary whirlpools, accidents and near-drownings, equipment failures, new safety gear being invented, the rumble of voices filled the table for the next three hours. What I saw in these people was a gathering of the tribe. It reminded me so much of the long-ago beach scene I grew up in that there were times when I could have closed my eyes and seen the faces in my memory from the early 1970s. Or could have fit the talk into the mid-1980s snowboarder scene I was in over a decade later in Northern Utah while surfing the Lunch Counter.

Thinking back I can’t think of anyone at the university except my partner DP and Ronnie Orton (another ocean surfer who surfed the Jordan River’s First North American River Surf Contest held in 1984) that was even interested in hearing about surfing rivers. There wasn’t a River Surfing Tribe then.

My my, how things have changed in 29 years! Here I was surrounded by an extended tribe of people whose major connection is an absolute passion for surfing river waves.

What I saw in these people was a gathering of the tribe.

It’s a little uncomfortable being in a new situation surrounded by people that are automatically tightly bound together like they are. In the first place, I hadn’t surfed a river since 1991 and am not part of the current riversurfing scene that is spreading around the world. In the second place I had never met any of these people. I had emailed back and forth with Jacob and Neil about the Summit, and Ryan once with an offer for a floor space spot to sleep on, but this night I found myself listening more than talking.

I didn’t realize at the time just how many had actually read, or at least viewed, the video segments and still pictures of DP and I in the Lunch Counter Trilogy. I am not dead but I am ancient history to these folks!

People started to drift off and Uber got a few more customers that were unwilling to drive after sampling numerous brews with the meal. Always a good idea! Pictures were taken, cards were exchanged, emails were put in cell phone mailboxes, the last sips of ales and darks were drained from glasses, coats were put on, and into the cool Bend night we all went.

Later Friday Night

After the Sun River Brewing dinner get-together broke up around 11pm, some of the gathering headed off to motels and other previously arranged accommodations while a number of us followed Ryan Richards in an Uber taxi across town to his place where he had graciously offered floor space not only to myselfbut others, too. A couple of the Canadian conferees including a river board shaper were spending the night, and a number of other surfers crowded into vehicles like KB, the co-owner of the Missoula Strongwater Surf Shop who had decided to come party with us. A couple ofcarload followed to continue the festivities and talk story.

Friday night get together

Everybody has stories that are meant to be shared and none of us were tired enough to sleep.

There were backpacks and sleeping bags to carry in from the various vehicles along with the usual (and unusual) traveling paraphernalia that people accumulate after years of road tripping. Being surfers there were a number of skateboards pulled out, too, and the Strongwater guy had brought his longboard to ride back to the Wave parking lot where he was truck camping in a very well put together company panel-van. That would be a 3-mile skate through town long after midnight.

Everybody laughed when I pulled out my single airbed until the pump inflated it and they saw it was a double-thick pillow-top. I saw envy in their eyes! Road Trip Rule #7: have a good airbed. Another of the rules for road trips: always take your pillow. So that came out next from the back of my old Toyota 4x.

I had brought along my 27 yr old pair of LP Jr. Congas & stand (smaller & easier to travel with than the large set), the harmonica bag with a couple of mics, and a small traveling amp. A bag of hand percussion instruments were for those that didn’t have anything to play but ‘air guitars for a potential post-Summit’s jam session that was mentioned in an email. They all helped carry everything in. There was an electric guitar, acoustic guitars, and Ryan had a mandolin and banjo. This could turn into a fun weekend jam!

My feet hate the dished-out decks of current skateboard shapes so I roll old school boards.

Then I pulled out the skate I had brought along from the back cab seat. The ‘emergency vehicle.’ I always keep one or another of my 70s pool riders in the truck or little car during the dry season, and I’ve been riding this ’78 Bahne 27” Bullet with Lazer trucks and green Sims MiniComp wheels the last few years because I love how it rolls. They had never seen one I don’t think. Flat deck old school warp tail but hey, I’m old and these were what we rode back then. My feet hate the dished-out decks of current skateboard shapes so I roll old school boards.

It was after midnight and the rolling hilly blacktop Bend residential street in front of Ryan’s was perfect for a session since there was zero traffic. As Ryan’s was in the middle of the hill, we had to skate up and turn around at the cross street to get our speed up. By the time you passed the crowd standing in the street watching we were going pretty fast. I let a couple of the guys try out my flat deck to feel the difference in board design and how they rode. Favorable remarks came about my old skate.

So there we were, a bunch of river surfers from all over the continent skating downhill slalom runs in the middle of the street at 1am. Surfers. Surf anywhere indeed. Go figure.

Then it was back inside and get everything organized and ready to bed down, open up more of the craft beer (HOW many breweries does Bend have by the way?), roll some of the legal cannabis from my garden for those that partake, and gather around the kitchen table to continue to talk stories that were passing around at the Brewery earlier. Of course cell phone pictures and vids were being brought up on screens to help place the story.

A few of the surfers headed off to motels and B&Bs, the Strongwater surfer skated off into the dark sometime after 2am, and the last of us laid down for some sleep by maybe 3am.

The Summit on Saturday

I was not the first one up. As a matter of fact I was the last one to crawl out of the sleeping bag. At four hours of sleep at most for this almost-63 year old surfer, that I even got up is surprising!

By the time they all got back I was almost human and ready to roll.

Everyone was bustling around … in slow motion. It was pretty funny to watch the movements and hear the groans of returning sobriety. Coffee was definitely needed with this crowd. Bags were rolled up and stuffed away, bathroom relay went into action, and a couple of the Canadians left to find coffee and danish and eggs and waffles a few blocks away after getting directions. Ryan also headed that way a bit later in another Uber taxi. Since I don’t drink coffee I heated up some water in a pan and filled my huge travel mug with hot tea. Another Road Trip Rule: Always bring your own insulated mug, tea bags, sugar, and a spoon. By the time they all got back I was almost human and ready to roll.

The Summit at the Bend Parks & Recreation building’s ‘Riverbend Room’ was full of sleepy-eyed surfers staring at Ryan’s tablet plugged in and projecting onto the big screen at the front of the room the live feed from the Bend Wave. All of those present, every single one, were moaning that the wave was better today than yesterday. Oops. Sorry, the presentations were about to start after everyone helped themselves to the morning spread set out by Neil and Jacob. More coffee was needed! But every surfer in the room was secretly hoping to have a session sometime in the afternoon if at all possible. The lunch break? Or maybe right before dark?

River Surfing Summit, Bend

Guys, this Summit meeting is scheduled to go all day. There isn’t going to be much of a chance of surfing today. A classic example of surfer optimism in action. A couple of the speakers were mumbling about sneaking out after they were done with their presentations leaving the rest of us … the dirty dogs. This sounded very much like surf rats ditching school. How well do I know that lifestyle?

We all claimed seats at the tables set up in front of the podium. And right off the bat Neil spoke some truth about the ambition of putting a surf wave in any river and the hurdles any group of supporters face. He bluntly stated that, from finding a suitable site to actually surfing the wave the first time, we are looking at ten years. A decade! The roadblocks are many, the entrenched interests are varied, the permitting process is a typical horrible governmental bureaucracy, city councils are obstinate and short-sighted with deeply held prejudices, and the Environmental Impact Statements that are required bring in everybody from farmers complaining about water usage to environmental groups worried about their particular causes. It is a vast uphill battle that will cost untold hours of unpaid work and frustration with no guarantee of success. Who funds it? Who controls and regulates the new whitewater park and surf wave? Is it under city, county, or State control or does this particular stretch of river (providing one has found the perfect spot and a number of alternative ones) fall under Federal waterway regulations which is an entirely different ball game?

If this was a get-rich-quick sales pitch for his company to build wave parks and retire to live a life of easy wealth sometime soon, it was a strange way to start. This was early in the morning and dashing the dream this quick was daunting.

These folk were surfers and that kind of dedicated lifestyle is one I intimately know of.

Then I reminded myself that these people don’t talk the walk but are passionate about their surfing and have found a way to spread what they love to do into places where people have never imagined that their river could provide so much healthy, outdoor, all age groups fun. Surf Anywhere wants to see their waves built in places where it becomes part of the betterment of the community open to all and quite unlike unnamed famous personalities who are charging $90 a hour to surf the perfect wave in a plastic toilet bowl. This was far more real!

I like the ethic that I found apparent throughout the Summit meeting; and that was not just from the organizers but from all of the people in the room. It was a breath of fresh air when compared to the manic rabid corporatism running rampant across the US. These folk were surfers and that kind of dedicated lifestyle is one I intimately know of.

If Surf Anywhere can maybe make a living building new waves and river-running waterparks for diverse groups of people to find joy in, so much the better.

My main goal of this entire weekend was to garner as much information about all the steps that it will take to get a surf wave on the Spokane River. Here are expert, experienced people who have already done so. I didn’t have a clue how to get donors, how to navigate the local government bureaucracy that loves to put hurdles to trip over and hoops to jump through, what to watch out for and what to pre-plan just in case this problem came up or that idea crashed and burned. This meeting, this Summit and the people that were there, provided far more information than I expected and, furiously writing notes during each speaker’s presentation (barely remembered university note taking hasn’t failed with age), I filled many pages of a notebook with a far-reaching conglomeration of personal stories and hints and tips and what did and did not work ranging from site exploration to how to hold your first contest.

It truly devolves on us the locals to convince others that this is a wonderful opportunity.

I could fill pages from my notes with what I came away with but the bottom line is that, if this is what you are interested in for your area, you should have been there. Surf Anywhere will work with anyone that is trying to set this up in any capacity, but their focus was for us to do the legwork and volunteer work and suffer the headaches and clamber over the obstacles that will be present. They will build it for us, and have the ability to navigate through all of the steps one faces (rather daunting it is, too!), but it truly devolves on us the locals to convince others that this is a wonderful opportunity to open another avenue of river use for all to enjoy.

The wave we want for the Spokane River requires dedication of purpose and much patience.

I strongly suggest that if you are truly interested in bringing a wave to your area, you be sure to make the next River Surfing Summit. You will not be disappointed. You can watch the recorded live stream of the summit here.

Continue with Part II: The Weekend Continues and the Sunday Surf Off

The post A Gathering of the Tribe: North America’s 1^st River Surfing Summit (Part I of II) appeared first on Riverbreak.