River Surfing’s Turning Dumps into Hubs

June 21st marks International Surfing Day, and this year many more landlocked brethren will be joining the festivities. How? Thanks to these pretty rad things called rivers.

Now that rivers aren’t just big dumping grounds, outdoorsmen (or nutters, depending on how you see them) in non-oceanside places from Graz in Austria, to Livingstone in Zambia, and Jackson Hole, Wyoming have taken to surfing them.

River surfing is no easy feat. What it is, however, is addictive. It’s thrilling. A river’s power is electrifying, and when you’re actually on it, riding it, moving with it, it’s enlivening.

RELATED: What I Learned my First day River Surfing

The sport’s enlivening what seemed like sapped river towns. What used to be dumps are now hubs. And since solo surfing’s not recommended, riverbanks are once again becoming social scenes. Communities are coming together. They're uniting over these standing waves. 

In Strong Water, KB and Luke of Montana detail how they wanted to be in the mountains, but also wanted to surf. Kayaking initially quenched their thirst for surf, but paddling eventually stopped cutting it. Unsatisfied, they made magic happen; they started river surfing. What’s since been born is Montana’s first surf community. I'll let you soak that in for a moment. 

Strong Water is a Telluride Mountainfilm 2016 finalist. We can see exactly why.