Elijah Mack

It’s safe to say that Elijah Mack is one of the earliest pioneers in river surfing. In his quest for unexplored river waves he traveled to the remotest rivers, surfing more than 200 waves and counting.

As one of the founding fathers of the sport, Eli has long been a huge inspiration for lots of river surfers around the world. His travels brought him to the remotest corners of the Earth — constantly on the lookout for fresh, unsurfed river waves. There’s probably not a single, serious river wave out there, which Eli hasn’t surfed yet. His record stands at some 200 river waves surfed.

Surfing Runs Through his Blood

Having surfed over 200 river waves, Eli is kind of the godfather of river surfing.

Biographically, Eli had already inscribed the sport of surfing into his genes. His great-uncle, Dempsey Holder, was one of the first big-wave surfers and his dad, Jeffery Simmerman was a surfer too. Eli started bodysurfing at the age of eight, and surfing at the age of twelve. Relatively soon, he discovered his passion for larger waves and surfed the “Killers” (Todos Santos) and then the infamous Mavericks in Northern California.

It’s not an everyday thing that big-wave surfers develop a passion for (relatively) small river waves. Eli is an exception to the rule. He started river surfing at the age of 27 when he realised that he just has to take a look at rivers (as opposed to the ocean) to find untouched and uncrowded waves everywhere. Since then, he began to explore river waves across the world.

Taking a Break from River Surfing

It’s safe to say that Eli was one of the early pioneers who helped give the small river surfing community a voice and emancipate the sport from ocean surfing. Today, Eli lives in Oregon with his four kids and his wife. In the last couple of years it got quiet around Eli, but he ensured me that he’s still in love with river surfing as much as he did when he first started. Let’s hope we’ll soon hear back from the man who has been surfing anything and anywhere.

More of Eli

Browse through our photos, videos and stories to see more of Eli’s surfing: Eli on Riverbreak

More about: Elijah Mack North America Oregon People Pioneer Pro Riders River Surfers USA

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PhilB Phil is a passionate riversurfer based in the capital of urban hydro power, Graz / Austria. He graduated from the International University for Riversurfing (IUR) in 2008 before he got married (to PhilK) in 2009. Instead of children, they gave birth to the probably most awesome riversurfing magazine on the planet: Riverbreak.