Chris, you have long been pioneering the river surfing scene in Idaho and beyond. How did you get into river surfing, tell us a bit about your story.

I moved to Hawaii in 1987 when I was 15 years old and I met a lot of the top guys in the local crowd. I went to Wailua high school for a few years and just like the guys do now, we would wait for the big pond behind the shore break at Waimea Bay to fill up, dig it out and surf the huge river waves it would make for about an hour or two. When I first moved Idaho it was to take care of my grandmother, so I had to leave ocean surfing behind. When she passed away, I found myself lost and thinking of moving back to the ocean and I told my friend Ronny that I needed to surf. He knew about river surfing from back in the day, so he sent me a surfboard wrapped in a wetsuit regular postage with glass-on fins and that’s where it started for me in Idaho in 2010.

What led you to become a shaper and where did you learn how to shape surfboards?

Shaping is an art and there’s no room for mistakes.

The first board I shaped was in Hawaii when I was 17 with my neighbor who was a well-known shaper of the time, so I’ve always known a lot about surfboards but riding them was always my passion. I’ve ridden thousands of surfboards broken 104 last I kept count. I was always sponsored by a board company or local shaper up to this point so I had no desire to shape. I wanted to win competitions but I’m older now and times have changed. The last surfboard I bought said was made in China. As a former semi pro that disgusted me so I decided to make my own boards, because there was nothing else out there in the United States. I’ve had quite a few people copying me up to this point which is very flattering but shaping is an art and there’s no room for mistakes. I’ve done a lot of R&D and know what it takes to make that magic river board.

Chris “Crash” Peterson out in the river

What inspires you when you develop new shapes or designs? Where do you get ideas for new design concepts?

I’ve come to find out that the river and the ocean have a lot in common. Although both have their specific characteristic you can still ride a traditional surfboard at both ocean and river. Each wave in the river and in the ocean has a different quality, steepness, speed and texture, so every board has its purposes just like the ocean waves.

What is your shaping philosophy?

My shaping philosophy was always to build a community that has not existed because I felt like a fish out of the water and it seems to have taken off more than I thought it would. The philosophy remains the same as in ocean surfing even though we’re stuck miles inland. The unique, spiritual connection to the water remains the same … and there’s no sharks in rivers.

Would you agree that good surfboard designs are born from experience of surfing and building boards? Is that why river surfers love your boards?

Yeah, I have a lifetime experience of surfing and working with shapers of so many different board designs that it gave me the knowledge to design the perfect board for each wave. I’ve definitely had some help along the way with surfers who helped me find tune the craft they want to ride.

Peterson boards come in different shapes, sizes and artworks

Let’s talk about shaping technology … machine shaping has become increasingly popular these days. What do you prefer?

Machine shaping is a funny thing, the machine can only be used with years of shaping knowledge because you would still have to come up with designs that were proven and you know would work. So when you scan the board or punch the dimensions in the computer you must know what you’re going to get. Shaping isn’t as simple as it looks sometimes. I have no problem using a computer shape if needed. I haven’t been busy enough yet to justify it, but maybe one day. I have some proven designs now and it seems like river surfing is here to stay, so maybe I’ll use it one day. Right now it’s all by hand.

What parts of the board design are most important in determining the performance of a river surfboard?

I like to watch people ride my boards and seeing the stoke.

Actually everything is super critical the rocker, fin set up, bottom contour, rail design, outline, length, thickness. And of course what wave you’re going to ride it on.

What materials do you use? What role does sustainability play for you as a local shaper?

A lot of people are highly allergic to a lot of the surfboard chemicals. I don’t use polyurethane it’s very toxic, smells bad and it’s more brittle. I use traditional surfboard blanks with the stringer for durability. I use very strong glass that is still flexible so the board doesn’t feel like a brick and high-quality epoxy resin for it’s lightweight and durability.

In the shaping room …

For many river surfers durable and resistant boards are key. How resistant are your boards and what do you do to increase their durability, such as reinforcing rails with kevlar or carbon for example?

I offer a lot of durable materials but over time people tend to stick to traditional surfboard weight and feel. Today, there are so many different surfboard materials out there but through my research everyone still prefers the traditional feeling. However, I do offer tougher materials such as carbon for example, if people want it.

How do your boards differ from other boards, what makes Peterson boards so unique? What defines your style of board that you are known for?

Working with local shapers has always been better because we know where you’re going to surf.

There is only a handful of guys out there that build boards from start to finish like I do and I have a artistic background in painting and airbrushing so I’m able to integrate a lot of art into my surfboards that otherwise would add too much time to the process. And having a lifetime of surfing experience lets me identify little changes and tweaks that would take another shaper who doesn’t surf a lot much longer to work through.

How would you describe the “ultimate river surfboard”?

Just like in ocean surfing there really is no ultimate surfboard but you can come very close to it, depending where you live and what waves are your are going to be riding. That’s why, throughout history, working with local shapers has always been better because we know where you’re going to surf and sometimes we’re going to surf with you.

What advice would you give river surfers to find the perfect board?

In the beginning I would suggest you look for something that you know that work. Maybe what you see other people riding, something that fits your style. Don’t worry too much about beating it up, the first surfboard always takes a beating. Over time you learn to take care of your boards better. It’s better to get a really good board in the beginning, so you will learn faster but if all you can afford is a junker, get what you can and get started!

Getting some air time on a Peterson board in Boise

For what level of surfers are your boards suitable and why?

I’ve learned that for a lot of people who want to get into river surf it’s better to get a performance board right at the beginning. People learn quick – it’s better if you don’t have to upgrade right away.

Which ones of your shapes are the most popular right now? What are you customers’ favourite boards?

My most popular board is a 5’0 squash tail that looks like an ocean board. I worked on this shape together with Adam, an ocean surfer who turned into a river surfer. We worked hard on this design and it’s the magic all around river surfboard I think.

What is the ideal river surfboard fin setup in your opinion? Any preferences for Futures or FCS?

Yeah, a thruster set up with a smaller center fin is ideal. I have no preference on fin boxes, though a lot of people get FCS because they usually have an old box of fins laying around. I do like Futures though, they look cleaner.

What is the most challenging thing about being a shaper?

Shaping is very time-consuming and it doesn’t leave much time for other things.

Definitely the time. Shaping is very time-consuming and it doesn’t leave much time for other things like another job to pick up the slack. There’s not very much money in this business and surfboard materials are expensive. They look cool and they’re fun to ride but board builders generally don’t make much money.

What do you find most rewarding about shaping surfboards?

I like to ride them and I like to watch people ride my boards and seeing the stoke. Their lives change and they become surfers when they feel that energy.

What can we expect to see from you in the future?

I’m getting older and I have a bad back, but I still try to surf as much as I can. Right now, I’m really focused on board design and building a community.

Can we find your boards in a shop, or where can they be ordered? Can we get our hands on a Peterson surfboard outside the states?

We don’t have many surf shops in the mountains, so I mostly rely on word-of-mouth and my website freshwatersouls.com. I’ll ship my surfboards anywhere in the world – FedEx is cheap.

Where do you see river surfing in 5-10 years from now?

I didn’t know things were going to go this far this quickly. So many wave pools being built, stationary waves and waves mimicking the ocean and all that. I think it’s one of those things where you just have to wait and see if a lot of these projects really happen. And if they do, yeah, things will change a lot, more waves are always better!

Anything else you want to pass on to our readers?

Yeah, the river surf community is a very cool crowd, it’s like skateboarding and surfing combined. No bad vibes, people are stoked when you get a good ride so don’t be afraid to come on down and give it a try, we’ll definitely help you out!

Contact

Use discount code RIVERBREAK for 10% off a hand-made Peterson Surfboard!

Website: freshwatersouls.com
Email: petersonboards@gmail.com
Social: facebook.com/petersonboards | instagram.com/freshwatersoul

The post Shaper Talk with Chris Peterson: Boards Made in Boise appeared first on Riverbreak.

Concept: Florian Dorn, Lukas Haigermoser
Production: Florian Dorn
Camera/Edits/Photography: Florian Dorn
Starring: Lukas Haigermoser, Daniel Schur, Tobias Rothauer, Sebastian Donis and others
Locations: Austria (Salzburg, Upper Austria), Germany (Munich)

The post FAR AWAY – A Fascinating Look At The River Surfing Scene in the European Alps appeared first on Riverbreak.

Social:
www.instagram.com/waveslayarsurfboards
www.facebook.com/WaveslayarSurfboards

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E-Mail
bixbysurfboards@gmail.com 

Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/Bixby-Surfboards-492152024136578/

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All WUUX surfboards are based on a Multi-Layer-Core. Each board is delivered with Bamboo-Plugs. Everything else can be customized to your needs. The company takes pride in their interdisciplinary approach in crafting beautiful and functional surfboards, that’s why they build their boards in an unique way. WUUX Surfboards are extreme light and highly resistant against impacts. The rails are made of high density foam and completely covered by several layers of fiberglas. On top of this, WUXX is also proud of a number of special board-features like Bamboo-Plugs or the patented Freestyle-Tail.

Social:
https://facebook.com/wuuxboards
https://twitter.com/WUUX_UrbanSurf
https://instagram.com/wuux_urbansurfshapes/
https://pinterest.com/pin/428123508304050878/
https://flickr.com/photos/130985931@N02/

WUUX Surfboards at the Almwave and Eisbach

The post WUUX River Surfboards appeared first on Riverbreak.

We’re pretty curious about the name “delight alliance” and how it all began. What exactly is delight alliance and where does the name come from?

Delight alliance is a small surfboard shaping company based in Salzburg, Austria. We focus on river surfboards and boards for surfers who would like to improve their ocean surfing skills. The name “delight alliance” comes from the delight you feel while surfing and the alliance of surfers with whom we share our passion.

Love the idea behind the name! When was delight alliance founded and how did you come up with the idea of shaping surfboards?

The first boards were built in 2007 in a small workshop in Kuchl, Austria, close to a popular river surfing spot on the river Salzach. The regular ocean boards were good, but not 100% suitable for rivers, this is where the idea of developing and building a specific board for this wave came to us. This was the beginning of the “vonda” shape, this shape is still available and it is the allrounder shape suitable for almost every wave out there. A few years later the HD-rails and FixPlugs were invented to make our boards more durable against stones and concrete.

So it sounds like your shaping was driven by the specific needs of river surfers. What is your shaping philosophy at delight alliance?

We are shaping surfboards suitable for river surfers and land locked surfers. When we develop or improve a shape, we always think about every aspect of the surfboard, the hydrodynamics, impact forces, static lift, dynamic lift, water speed and much more. Getting all of these elements into one board isn’t always easy.

So, you guys use machine shaping, right? What are the advantages compared to hand shaping?

In order to develop boards we have to be able to build the same board over and over again. The shaping machine we are using is pre-shaping our blanks which allows us to be as precise as possible. In my opinion that’s the only way to develop boards seriously. There are of course a hand full of shapers who would be able to do the same by hand, but like I said just a hand full. So in order to develop the best river surf boards you need a shaping machine and anybody that has built a board knows that although the blank is pre-shaped it is still a lot of work, and there is always a special connection with every board built.

Do you think that river surfers need specific boards that differ from ocean surfboards? What makes a good river surfboard?

Yes, I do! If you take skiing for example, you wouldn’t be happy with a powder ski whilst doing a slalom race, different types of skis offer a better performance for certain types of terrain or style … the same is true for surfboards.

River surfboards tend to be shorter and with less volume, this means that there is less static lift which isn’t needed so much as it is in the ocean. River surfers benefit more from the dynamic lift, this is created by the water speed as well as some other aspects such as surface area, angle and tail shape etc.

Delight alliance is by many regarded as an innovative board producer. What is so unique about the boards you build?

What makes a big difference is that river surfers are surrounded by stones and concrete, regular boards don’t like that. That’s exactly why we invented the HD-rails (“hau drauf” rails), a rail reinforcement with kevlar, the same material also used in bulletproof vests. It increases the durability compared to a regular board by three times. Some of the waves work with a spoiler (e.g. sheet-flow waves), on waves like this you can easily destroy your fin boxes. So this is why we are using a technique called FixPlugs to distribute the force on a bigger surface — the fin boxes don’t break that easily.

This durability approach sounds pretty useful for river surfing. What are the most popular models of delight alliance?

The Vonda & Fluky Bastard. The Vonda is the allrounder shape and can be used for almost every wave out there. The Fluky Bastard is the shape created for powerful surfing on faster waves like Eisbach, Citywave or Alm.

Which riders are part of the delight alliance team?

Our HD technology makes our boards three times more durable than standard surfboards.

We are working together with some of Europe’s best river surfers. Kathy Gappmayr, two time European champion has been riding delight alliance boards since her very beginning and we are very happy to have such an all-round talent like her in our team! Young gun Lukas Haigermoser is one of Austrian’s best river surfers and we are really excited by his talent and think he will close the gap on the really strong Eisbach-surfers this year! He is very engaged in board developing, there are always crazy ideas in his head!

Steve Ratzisberger just joined our team, his radical surfing style is great to watch. We are excited to work with him and get all his input. We are also supporting some grom riders which is really exciting to see the up and coming talent for the future.

You are based in Austria, right? Do you also sell the boards internationally? Where can river surfers buy delight alliance boards?

We are located in Salzburg, Austria, in the middle of the Alps, pretty uncommon for a surfboard shaper. We are selling our boards all over Europe. In the future we would like to sell to North America as well, but we need to do some paperwork first. Delight alliance boards can be ordered online delight-alliance.com, you can call or visit us in our workshop.

Are you also partnering with specific brands (fins, gear) or shops?

We try to support the local brands, there are so many creative people who sell amazing products around us. driftwood fins, brick beanies, NU.ART surfstuff and of course Riverbreak. We share our experience with the local communities that are planning to build waves. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL WAVE!

What advice would you give to people looking for the right river surfboard?

The river surfboard best for you does not only depend on your style, we also look at the type of wave you regularly ride on. But the most important thing is that you feel comfortable on your board.

How often do you hit the river waves yourself?

As often as I can! I get really grumpy if I haven’t managed to get on my board for a couple of days.

What does the future hold for delight alliance surfboards?

Tricky question! If we knew, life would be a lot easier! But we will do everything with the same passion for surfing like we have been doing for the past 8 years. Then I believe we will have a lot of fun doing what we are doing. Of course, we will try to get more waves, so that everyone gets as much surf time as he or she wants.

Anything else you want to pass on to our readers?

Stay hungry!

The post Delight Alliance: Most Durable Surfboards for River Surfers appeared first on Riverbreak.

Hey Chris, thanks for your time and the opportunity to hear your thoughts on river surfing and design. Can you give our readers a short introduction about yourself?

Hi! My name is Christian Mimler. I’m a passionate surfer and designer based in Salzburg, Austria – a landlocked country.

Where do you live now and could you tell us more about your own roots?

I grew up in Kleinwalsertal in Vorarlberg, a beautiful valley 1,200m above sea level. But for the past seven years, I’ve worked and lived in Salzburg, the spot of my choice: great landscape and very close to the mountains — the perfect playground for river surfing, and freeriding in winter.

What is your connection to river surfing?

I surfed in the ocean many years before I even thought about river surfing. During my design studies, I came up with a book project that was about surfing in the alpine region — at this time such topic sounded quite contradictionary to me. It was about exploring the possibilities of surfing far away from the ocean. After a doing some research, I found out about the Eisbach, Floßlände and other spots, so it all kind of started with a self-experiment to get some footage for our project. The year after, I went to Munich for an internship and started to surf regularly in the morning before heading to work…

Tell us about your first surfing experience? How did it all start?

I started surfing in 2001 when I travelled to Australia with a friend. It was love at first sight, though it took me quite a while to figure it out! Arriving in Torquay (near Bell’s Beach) as bloody beginners we dropped into the first surf shop we saw and bought some used boards. Nice and slim shortboards that looked good and would fit into our Ford Falcon … I started on a 6’1″ and you can imagine how long it took me to catch my first waves.

What are you doing for a living and is there a connection between your job and surfing?

I work as an art director/graphic designer. Besides my family, design and surfing are my biggest passions. To me surfing is an incredible source of inspiration and it kind of balances me out. In the water you need to be focused, and you forget about all the other stuff that’s going on in your head.

Buster “Pacman” Limited Edition Surfboard, D-Type 5'7"

What was your inspiration for the pacman artwork? What is your connection to pacman?

The inspirational background is also about surfing. Once you are on a good wave it’s hard to stop and not wanna have more. Just one last wave, and another last one and another … Somehow the next always seems to be the best! This kind of reminded me to the computer game Pacman. I don’t like that negative vibe that can happen in the lineup when it’s crowded – so that’s what the “chasing guy” stands for. In the end it should be all about having fun in the water!

What are your plans for the future?

I’ve been doing some artwork for Buster Surfboards over the past few years, but the PACMAN board is the first “designer’s special edition” that I’m selling exclusively. I chose the d-type since it’s the first river-surfboard I loved from the first moment. It allows tight and fast lines combined with great trick performance. Many thanks to Nico from Buster Surfboards for the cooperation! Let’s see what comes next …

The river surfing scene is growing steadily – what do you think makes river surfing so attractive not only in Germany but everywhere around the world?

It has great potential and offers a lot of land-locked surfers the possibility to surf all year round without moving to the coast. Thinking of myself, I can live in the mountains far away from the coast, have a great winter, and surf all summer. At first river surfing was just compensation not being able to surf in the ocean, but nowadays it means a lot more than that to me and is an important part of my life.

What do you think about the future of river surfing, especially in Salzburg / Austria?

This is just the beginning and the scene is steadily growing. All across Europe, initiatives are popping up and the sport is getting more attention than ever before. This is a big opportunity for the entire river surfing community. I’m super positive that the Saalachwelle in Bad Reichenhall will become reality one day … it just has to, fingers crossed!

Anything else you would like to pass on to our readers?

All the wave initiatives that are popping up all over the world need your support. Please check out projects like surf anywhere or Saalachwelle, and wave the river surfing flag proudly!

Thanks for your time and the interview, Chris ALOHA!

The post Chris Mimler – Passionate Surfer and Designer appeared first on Riverbreak.

Strongwater wants river surfers to gain feel & respect for the waves, enjoy the beauty of the river and to improve mind, body and spirit. The guys from Strongwater also offer river surf lessons on Tuesday evenings at 6pm or Saturday afternoons at 3pm. Their classes are limited to four participants and your are looking at 25$ per session or 40$ per session including gear.

Get in Touch

Strongwater MTN Surf Co.
614 S. Higgins Ave.
Missoula, MT 59801

E-Mail: kb@strongwatersports.com
Website: strongwatermtnsurf.com
Facebook: facebook.com/strongwatermtnsurfco

The post Strongwater Mountain Surf appeared first on Riverbreak.

The mastermind and shaper behind Fatum is Gero Tragatschnig, a German surf enthusiast who moved to Portugal to find the ideal place for shaping and surfing all year round. Today his company is headquartered in Peniche where Gero is applying his shaping experience and wave knowledge to develop high performance shortboards and an entire range of boards for different users and wave conditions.

Believing in a Close Relationship with the Surfer

Over the years Gero gathered a blend of exquisite knowledge of less conventional shapes such as fishes, malibus, longboards and quads. His experience with high performance short boards are is result of his work with team riders such as Thomas Lange, Leon Glatzer, Tao Schirrmacher, Flori Kummer. The ability to surf the diverse waves in Peniche area, collaborate and receive feedback from local and travelling surfers influenced the shapes Fatum has created since then and now are carried in the company’s portfolio.

Range of Boards

Today’s Fatum board range is suited for a wide range of surfers, from more seasoned surfers looking to just have fun with their surfing or returning to the water, to high performance surfers looking to use state of the art shapes for competition.

Find out More About their Boards & Team Riders

Website: fatumsurfboards.com

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