surf's up, dude

Waiting around for the perfect wave can take some time, especially when there are station wagon-loads of other surfers crowding the same stretch of coastline. Carving waves far from the open water, a whole new breed of riders has sprung up. River surfing has become the latest adventure sport to hit landlocked areas. In ocean surfing, an average wave lasts maybe ten seconds, whereas a river wave lasts just about as long as the rider can keep up. Hot spots in North America include the Lunch Counter on Wyoming’s Snake River and Habitat Wave on Montreal’s St. Lawrence River. Montreal’s Corran Addison, one of this sport’s biggest names, created the first river-specific surf board as well as the instructional DVD River Surfing 101.

More challenging and less common is tidal bore surfing. Not for the amateur, this form of extreme river surfing has also begun to pick up speed among hard core surf enthusiasts around the world. Tidal bores are waves that form at the head of an incoming tide in certain rivers and estuaries. These bores can travel in excess of 20 mph, getting stronger and shallower as the river narrows, reaching up to 30 feet in height. Some of the more famous monster river waves around the world are the Silver Dragon in China, and the pororoca in the Brazilian Amazon.

While there isn't an inland exodus among die hard surfers, there does seem to be a growing number of adventure seekers hanging ten on the riverbanks in the future.

-trendcentral