Team, Guest Authors and Friends

When I was 12 my dad gave me a boogie board. He told me to go play in the river next to his apartment. I have been playing in the water and helping pioneer the river surfing scene in Colorado ever since. I have a bucket list of waves I want to surf around the world! I love to play in the water and will try and surf anything! Surfing is surfing no matter what you are riding, short board, long board, SUP, boogie board, pool toys, lunch trays ... you name it I will try and surf it!

is a passionate river surfing grom from the south coast of England. There are just a few ocean waves in his area but Ben recently discovered a river wave in the garden of a grandma of a friend of him. Since then Ben and his mates have also been exploring the south coast of England for new river waves.

is a professional licensed engineer with McLaughlin Whitewater Design Group in Denver, Colorado. His river restoration and wave designs include the Ebensee Surf Wave (Austria), Neckarwelle (Stuttgart), River Run Park (Denver Surf Wave), Boise River Park, and Chattahoochee River Restoration in Columbus Georgia. While attending Cal Poly, where he received a degree in civil engineering, he fell in love with surfing the powerful, empty lineups of Central California. With Ben’s passion for rivers and surfing combined with expertise in hydraulics and fluid dynamics he is advancing river wave design to bring land locked surfers, like him, the stoke of riding waves. When not designing waves or surfing, he is probably in his shaping bay building surf boards for both the ocean and river. He sits on the Board for the Colorado River Surfing Association. Ben has presented at many U.S. and international conferences on various topics related to river recreation design. Most recently, he presented design strategies for integrated recreation and fish passage projects at the 2013 International Fish Passage Conference, design of surf waves in natural river systems at the 2014 Forum Flusswellen in Munich, and the future of surf wave design at the 2016 Forum Flusswellen in Nuremberg.

Börny was forced to surf the river Mur in Graz / Austria for the first time in 2010 (by PhilK) during the time he made a movie called 'murtreiben' about the local riversurfing scene (sounds very similar to PhilK's story). Since then he decided to surf rivers instead of making movies. And now there is Riverbreak!

Chrissi started river surfing at the age of 17 in front of the worried eyes of her parents who allegedly were more afraid than her. She reached first place at the Murbreak Surf Contest 2010 and 2012 (best female rider) and never misses out an opportunity to shred the local river waves.

To David, as an artist, surfing is a form of artistic expression. At the time of the short board revolution, David was designing and shaping highly experimental boards. His deepest bond to the wave is the natural beauty that surrounds him, and he has found this beauty right here at the Payette River in Cascade, Idaho.

Don Piburn is a surfer, '70s outlaw skateboarder, '80s backcountry snowboarder, and a late '80s Snake River surfer. He moved to O’ahu in the early '90s, where he completed a 35-year career teaching infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with disabilities. This included decades in partnership and in the employ of native Hawaiian programs serving families and their youngest and most vulnerable keiki. Recently retired, he now regularly surfs O’ahu’ s varied waves, including those on the Waimea River. He fishes from and surfs his kayaks on windward reefs, and regularly hikes with his Hawai‘i born and raised wife, Janice.

As one of the founding fathers of the sport, Eli has long been a huge inspiration for many river surfers around the world. His travels brought him to the remotest corners of the Earth. He is the founder of the WRSA (World River Surfing Association).

Iris supports the Mag and helps out where she can. She's the "kind spirit" of Riverbreak and has been part of the project since the start. Without her support, the masterminds behind Riverbreak would have gone mad already!

A founding member of the Surf Anywhere Project, Jacob loves exploring new waves, meeting stoked river surfers, and hopes to make it easier to surf anywhere in the world. Beyond that, Jacob's passion is community and is a pioneer of river surfing culture.

Jan is one of the most versatile board fanatics out there. Surfer, kite surfer, wake boarder, skateboarder, snowboarder -- no one label adequately describes JK. The all-round water enthusiast and co-editor of surfmag.pl has recently started to chase undiscovered river surf spots in his home country, Poland.

Jason Lopez is an adventure travel writer, blogger, world traveler, guru & surfer who spent 20+ years living, working and surfing in Bali and other exotic locales of Asia. He has dedicated his life to finding his way to personal enlightenment & happiness. Check out his travel adventure blog at: thetraveladventuredude.com

I grew up surfing the beautiful uncrowded beaches of California’s Central Coast. I love being in the water and enjoy pretty much any and every board sport. Currently I reside in Denver, Colorado. When the flow is up you can usually find me surfing at River Run Park. When the wave shuts down for the season I enjoy mountain biking, snowboarding, hiking and exploring the awesome state of Colorado.

Since Max started to surf at the tender age of seven, he has now been surfing for more than half of his life -- and he has no intentions to put a stop to that! Not only is Max highly active local in the river surf community, but he also runs his very own surf shop, NU.ART surfstuff. Please welcome this brilliant guy at Riverbreak!

Michael has been part of the Ottawa surf community since 2011 and is a founding member of the Ottawa River Surfing Association. Since 2016, he has been teaching himself the art of surfboard repairs in his spare time. Aside from surfing and repairs, Michael has an exciting career in government.

Neil Egsgard is the president of the Alberta River Surfing Association (ARSA) and leader of the Surf Anywhere Project -- a project to share wave building details and knowledge so waves can be built everywhere. He loves river surfing, believes surfing can be anywhere, built RiverSurfing.ca in 2009 to share and record the sport and since 2005 has surfed river waves from big to small all over Western Canada and the northwest United States.

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.

Phil was forced to surf the river Mur in Graz / Austria for the first time in 2009 (by PhilB). It was love at first sight. Later they got married. Things have been going downhill ever since. But now Riverbreak has arrived!

All the folks affiliated with Riverbreak. Thanks for your love!

The editorial team of Riverbreak is a loose connection of passionate river surfers. As a group, we strive to give the larger community a voice on an international level – our mission is to connect river surfers around the globe.

Originally from Santa Rosa, California, Ryan Hughes is a surfer, hunter, fly-fisherman, and all around outdoorsman. He is a senior journalism student at University of Nevada, Reno. Ryan writes for several websites, including theinertia.com and liveoutdoors.com. He was recently acquainted with river-surfing during a summer internship in Boise, Idaho. He hopes to spend his next summer in Missoula, Montana, surfing and fly-fishing.

Ocean surfer, Outlaw pool skater, snowboarding teacher, early pioneer river surfer, wake surfer | Co-author of 'The Lunch Counter Trilogy' and author of 'Memories of a Little Surfer Kid from Ocean Beach' and soon 'Massacre Sites; Working for the Dead' and 'Tales from a Concert Security Rover' both works in progress | Owner of Mtn. Threads Hats & Clothing | www.boardwarm.com | Stevens County, WA 2017.

Simon is the "Youngest Veteran". He has been chasing river waves since almost 20 years, starting on a wave in the south of Munich, one of the birth places of our sport. Simon loves high water surfing and river surf comps and dreams about barrelling river waves, since he was lucky enough to surf one during his many trips.

is the founder of River Surf Systems, a company using their unique Reef Pass technology to mold flowing rivers into surfing waves shaped as good as the best ocean waves. Tanner is looking back at 30 years ocean surfing, 3 years of wake surfing, 25 years in construction, 7 years construction project management, 3 years of physics in college and a functioning river wave prototype.

Being a board enthusiast in his spare time, he earns his living as an independent consultant and software developer. One day he met TomKa, whom he saw surfing on the river, and from that day on things went from normal to madness! He became a passionate river surfer and has been involved in recent wave building projects.

TomKa was inspired by his co-worker - the legendary Reini Urban - to surf the river Mur in Graz. Since the first day, he was fired up about river surfing and didn't miss a chance to hit the local waves. He likes to push his limits in other extreme sports like skiing or mountain biking. Tom is always keen to explore or help build new waves.