Spot Details

Country: Canada
Nearest town/city: Calgary
River: Lower Kananaskis River
Address: Canoe Meadows, Kananaskis, Alberta Canada
Latitude: 51.052207
Longitude: -115.018777

Wave Details

Characteristics

Wave works all year. The wave is a smooth left that is best on a high volume long board or SUP. Very relaxed and cruisy.

Dangers

Read the safety information on AlbertaRiverSurfing.com.

River Gauge

Weather in Calgary

Today 09/02 High 21° / Low 7°

Tomorrow 09/03 High 14° / Low 2°

Tuesday 09/04 High 14° / Low 3°

Spot Location

You know more about Shallows?

The post Shallows appeared first on Riverbreak.

Photo: Christian Scagliati

Photo: Christian Scagliati

Photo: Christian Scagliati

The post Slam the Kan 2018 appeared first on Riverbreak.

Camera: Kyle Maguire

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The post James and Matt River Surfing in Kananaskis, Alberta appeared first on Riverbreak.

45 minutes outside of Calgary, Alberta, at 3500ft above sea level, the Kananaskis River churns out 1000 cubic feet of water per second during the day. At night the power dam is shut off, allowing river surfing revolutionaries Neil Egsgard and Jacob Kelly Quinlin to tweak their new designs for sculpting a world-class surfing wave. But they aren’t keeping this knowledge to themselves—they want to share their wave designs with everyone, everywhere, for free.

River surfing is still really new and we’re all connecting over this love of exploring and finding new waves (Jacob Kelly)

In 2005, Egsgard and Quinlin, amongst others, founded ARSA (Alberta River Surfing Association), which now represents over 100 river surfers in Alberta. Egsgard confirmed, “Surf Anywhere was born out of the need for ARSA to have a world class wave. This selfish quest quickly turned into a project to improve the world.” These guys aren’t really selfish though—they want to share their knowledge with river communities, everywhere. Any river community can access the open-source, easy-to-follow plans to build their own surfing waves.

The Surf Anywhere wave is based on the design of the Eisbach river wave in Munich, Germany, that surfers have been riding since 1972. ARSA has improved the original structural drawings to build and test a bigger, better and adjustable wave. “Because our river shuts off at night, we can afford to make mistakes,” said Quinlan.

According to Egsgard, all you need is a river with a minimum flow rate of 200 cubic ft./sec, a drop or slope of 1.7 ft., and $200.000 for the original start up costs. After the initial investment, there are no on-going costs. There are no pumps, just the natural force of the river, making this a sustainable project. Best of all—like surfing in the ocean—it’s free.

Notes from the Director Desiree Bilon

I was inspired by the Surf Anywhere story from the beginning. Here were these guys designing a wave on the Kananaskis River, 45 minutes from Calgary, and they were pursuing their dream from the funds they raised themselves. Plus, they were making the development plans open-source, so that they would available to anyone, anywhere for free.

I was already impressed, but it wasn’t until I met the surfers that I knew I had to tell their story. I’d been surfing for 12 years and had never come across a community of surfers like this. Everyone was kind, supportive and encouraging. There was no localism, no animosity, and people took turns. The scene was always fun and friendly, very unlike anything I’d ever experienced ocean surfing.

I’d wanted to make a documentary for many years, but something always seemed to get in the way—time, money, and surfing. After I injured my leg and wasn’t able to surf, I had more time and energy for writing, photography and film.

By the time I heard about the grant from STORYHIVE to produce a Digital Short, there wasn’t much time left to submit a pitch—maybe 10 days. Even though I’d always worked well under the pressure of a deadline, I thought I might not make this one. With the help and support of Glenn Dixon and many of the surfers, I was able to turn my vision into a reality and hand the pitch in on time. The Surf Anywhere documentary wouldn’t have happened without them.

STORYHIVE chose 15 winners in Alberta and I was one of them. I couldn’t believe it. There was a Winner’s Workshop in Edmonton that my brother Troy Bilon and I attended on December 6th, 2015. At the workshop, I met my mentor Ava Karvonen from NSI (National Screen Institute – Canada). Her feedback on this project was invaluable. After that, everything happened so fast.

Through this opportunity, I was able to become part of community of writers, producers and directors. This is how I connected with Carey Missler, another digital shorts competitor in British Columbia. Carey became our main cameraman and steadicam operator.

Some of the biggest challenges that came up during filming were the tight deadline—with only two months to produce the documentary and over the Christmas holidays; the cold temperatures; and the lack of daylight. But I’m not going to complain because all I had to do was film, whereas those guys were actually surfing.

With this film I wanted people to be able to experience what it is like to surf in an icy cold river in the middle of winter, while at the same time learning about the Surf Anywhere project. I wanted to capture these surfers in their element, and find out what river surfing means to them.

Surf Anywhere is my first film about river surfing, and surely not my last.

Main Characters

Neil Egsgard was born in Orillia, Ontario and is the regional manager for Carma Industries Inc, a wave builder, the founder of Surf Anywhere, and the President of the Alberta River Surfing Association (ARSA). He has been river surfing for 10 years.

Jacob Kelly Quinlan was born in Calgary, Alberta and is a river surf instructor/graphic designer. He has been river surfing for 10 years. He has travelled to more than 60 river waves around the world.

Justin Gullickson was born in Star City, Saskatchewan and is an audio video technician and an ambassador of Surf Anywhere. He has been surfing for 6 years.

Jason McQuade was born in Whitianga, New Zealand and is a surfboard shaper. He owns his own company called Wave Slayer Surfboards. He has been surfing in the ocean for 25 years and 5 years on rivers.

Desiree Bilon was born in Edmonton, Alberta and is now working as a documentary filmmaker. She has competed in surf contests internationally and has been ocean surfing for 12 years, and river surfing for one season.

Secondary Characters

Ben Murphy was born in Wollongong, Australia and works as a carpenter. He has been ocean surfing for 30 years and his first river surf was in 2001 in Munich. He is a professional surfer sponsored by Rip Curl, Lib Tech surfboards, and Spy Optics.

David Hernandez Cachero was born in Madrid, Spain and studied kinesiology. He works as a Canada Post mailman. He has been ocean surfing for 15 years and river surfing for 9.

Luciano Mariani was born in Calgary, Alberta but grew up in Chile. He works as a journeyman welder and an apprentice millwright. He has been river surfing for 5 years and ocean surfing for 3.

Robin Stolba was born in Marienbad, Czech Republic but grew up in Paris. Previously he was employed as a marine biologist. He has been surfing in the ocean for 15 years and river surfing for 1 year.

Tiffany Butler was born in Mayo, Quebec and works as a lawyer. She has been river surfing 1.5 years and skateboarding and snowboarding forever.

Mallory Chapman was born in Emerald Park, Saskatchewan, and is the owner of Studio Revolution (SURFSET Fitness Boutique). She has been surfing in the ocean for 8 years and in the river for one season.

Julia Barnes was born in Bratislava, Slovakia and is a stay-at-home mom and the owner/designer of Honubelle swimwear. She has been ocean surfing for 6 years, and in the river for one season.

Peron Desnoyers was born in Calgary, Alberta but grew up in Langley BC. He works as a Customer Service Supervisor 36 years old. He has been river surfing for 2 years.

Tristan Gaudet was born in Lac La Biche, Alberta and works as a cabinet installer and as a surfboard shaper. He has been river surfing for 2 years.

Key Production Personell

Desiree Bilon
Director producer and writer
Desiree Bilon is a writer, photographer and filmmaker. The first time she worked on set, she was a stand-in for Elle Macpherson during the filming of The Edge. From that point onward she was fascinated by the art of filmmaking and production. As a competitive surfer in 2012, Desiree was featured in two episodes of the Endorphin TV pilot in Mexico, but after sustaining a serious injury she moved back to Canada and won a scholarship from the Writers’ Trust of Canada to study creative writing at Humber College. For the past two years she has also been working as a professional photographer. Her writing and photographs have been published in print and online magazines such as, Great Ocean Quarterly, Kurungabaa, LATER, Matador Network and Planeta Surf. Desiree’s dream now is to inspire others with her films. Desiree received a STORYHIVE grant to produce her first short documentary, Surf Anywhere.

Glenn Dixon
Co-director, writer, editor, and music director
Glenn Dixon is a writer and documentary filmmaker. He has written for National Geographic magazine, the New York Post and many others. Glenn has published two books on adventure travel. His second book Tripping the World Fantastic, about music around the world, was shortlisted for the W.O. Mitchell award. He has traveled through more than 70 countries and has worked on films in Tibet, Guatemala and Jordan. His third book, Juliet’s Answer, which takes place in Italy, will be released internationally by Simon and Schuster (2017).

Carey Missler
Principal photography
Carey Missler is an award winning film director, producer, writer and cinematographer. In April of 2015 he won the “Award of Excellence” for directing The Paddler Movie, at the Canada International Film Festival. Carey also won the 2015 “Spirit Award” at the Toronto International Beaches Film Festival. His last movie “The Canadian Surfer movie” received worldwide distribution and was broadcast around globally.

Contact

The post Surf Anywhere: A Story of River Surfers in Alberta appeared first on Riverbreak.

The post Summer River Surfing in Alberta appeared first on Riverbreak.

The post Mountain Wave on the Kananaskis River Calgary, Canada appeared first on Riverbreak.

Slam the Kan, now celebrating its 10^th year, invites everyone to share this year’s fun. From September 10-13 Slam the Kan event includes a film premiere, surf demos, SUP demos, a ladies surf expression session, the Surf Slam competition, surf yoga and a SUP race.

Kicking off this year’s event at Calgary’s Plaza Theatre on Thursday September 10, is the film premier Can I Surf That? A question and answer session will follow with filmmaker Brittany Parker.

Location and Programme

This year’s main event will take place at Canoe Meadows Camp Ground in Kananaskis, Alberta on Saturday September 12. Join Alberta surfers (100 and growing) for a day and night of surfing, camping and music. Water sports will run from 10:30am-4:00pm with demo surfboards available from RMRS (Rocky Mountain River Surfing).

The format of the Surf Slam differs from a traditional surf contest.

Watch the Surf Slam competition as crews, consisting of six surfers, battle for the title of King of the Mountain. The format of the Surf Slam differs from a traditional surf contest — instead of assessing individual skill, judges and the audience will evaluate each crew’s collective effort.

Saturday evening’s entertainment showcases bands such as Ten Minute Detour, Bloom, A-Mac and DJ Funkin’ Right, amongst others. Sunday’s events include surf yoga and a down-river SUP race.

What To Bring

Contest organizers Jacob Kelly Quinlan, Neil Egsgard and Justin Gullickson encourage attendees to bring something to the event that will make the day better for everyone. This could be a game, costumes or baked goods (and lots of them). Attendees should also bring camping gear, food, beverages, beach gear, and cash and credit cards for shopping and food truck purchases.

Slam the Kan is a not-for-profit event that supports the Surf Anywhere project to build world-class river waves. Tickets are available for purchase from your favorite river surfers (whoever sells the most tickets wins a wetsuit). Tickets are also available from Studio Revolution and online. ARSA (Alberta River Surfing Association) is dedicated to promoting river surfing as a viable past time. For the ten years ARSA has organized social gatherings and raised funds to build the wave at this year’s event.

More Information

Website: www.slamthekan.com
Jacob Kelly Quinlan: jacob.kelly@surfanywhere.ca
Official event photographer: Robert Bishop www.rbishophoto.com

The post Slam the Kan 10: Surf, Camp and Celebrate appeared first on Riverbreak.

We started with our dream of a powerful, easily customizable wave that would help other surfers build local river surfing features. As we created our designs we discovered the limitations and conditions of our river and ideas so we repeatedly adjusted our plans & actions and shaped an effective solution. These are the conditions the Surf Anywhere features meets to evaluate waves for river surfers everywhere. The design will be explained in a later article.

River Conditions

The fundamental river restriction is how much water is available and when it is available.

A River Rising – No Flow to 30 cms in minutes (1000 cfs): The Kananaskis River turning on as it does daily. This is where we are building the Surf Anywhere Feature.

Kananaskis Conditions

• River shuts off completely every night except for some periods during spring run-off.
• River runs continuously for some periods during spring run-off.
• River flows every day of the year
• River does not freeze over because of the large flow changes
• Water is clean
• Water is cold (Summer: 10 – 15 C or 50F – 59F, Winter: 0C or -32F)
• Regular River Flow: 25 – 35 cms or 850 – 1200 cfs
• Typical Annual Flood Flow: 50 – 70 cms or 1,700 – 2,400 cfs
• Maximum River Flows: 250 – 300 cms or 8,500 – 10,500 cfs
  • Highest flow in past hundred years was in 2013

Strength

The feature must remain safe and strong in the worst conditions.

The Power of Water – Dam in Flood Upstream of our Waves: Barrier Dam that controls our river flows during the biggest flood in the past hundred years in Spring 2013.

Normally the dam shuts the river off every night allowing us to build. This was the most water in past hundred years and at the highest point  there was over 10 times the normal flow. Our feature will perform and last through:

• Large volume of fast moving water
  • Survive impacts from boulders, rocks, trees and picnic tables
• Regular wear
  • Movement of small rocks and debris
• Weather Exposure
  • Hot summer days of 30C or 85F
  • Cold winter nights of -40C or -40F
  • Submerged during part of most days
  • Expose to air during part of most days and all of most nights
  • Be removable in case a dangerous condition develops
• Multiple Seasons
  • Undergo regular inspection
  • Document durability / repair
  • Try other materials and document results

Current River Usage

The Kananaskis river is regularly used by a wide range of river craft and must allow all users to safely pass through. The feature will allow eddy access from users so they can get onto the wave without leaving the water.

River craft include:

• Surfboards
• Stand Up Paddle Boards
• 12’ Rafts
• Kayaks – Playboats, Creekboards and Race boats
• Canoes
• River Boarders

Environmental Restrictions

We want to improve the river while maintaining the environment and feeling of the beautiful natural space. So the Surf Anywhere feature will:

• Look good and natural
• Minimize bank and bottom erosion
• Allow passage of local fish
• Avoid all pollution

Surfability

The feature must be wide, powerful and adjustable so we can create world class waves and test wave ideas from surfers around the world. The key factor is smooth, fast flowing water which we will create with:

• Large drop
• Smooth bottom
• Low Angle in slope
• Straight vertical side walls
• Adjustable flow through channel to show how waves change with more or less water
• Adjustable slope to find the ideal water direction for each wave shape
• Adjustable wave ramp to perfect the surfing face(s) of the waves

This my second article on wave construction for the Surf Anywhere Project. My next piece will be on the Surf Anywhere feature design. As the Surf Anywhere Project creates, builds and shares waves the information will be refined, shared and will eventually cover all key areas of river surf wave construction from feasibility to testing.

Stoke & Flow

Neil Egsgard
Founder & President
Surf Anywhere Project
http://SurfAnywhere.ca

The post Surf Anywhere: Conditions for the Trial by Water appeared first on Riverbreak.

Rocky Mountain River Surfing was founded in 2011 by Jeff Brooks who had the idea of giving surfing lessons on the beautiful Kananaskis River. Jeff is an Albertan river surfing pioneer and one of the four founders of the Alberta River Surfing Association (ARSA).

Besides surfing the rivers of Alberta, Jeff has surfed a number of other river waves in British Columbia, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and in Colorado where he was awarded 2^nd place in the mens division in a river surfing competition. If you’re keen to hit the water with the guys from Rocky Mountain River Surfing, shoot then a message –  river surfing lessons are available year round and are $80/person for a group of two or more or $125 for a private lesson, including all gear.

Website: rockymountainriversurfing.com
Contact: calgaryriversurfing@hotmail.com
Facebook: facebook.com/groups/206629676033996

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