John Bryja is one of North America’s original watermen. As a youth, John Bryja dominated the Ontario windsurfing race circuit winning multiple youth titles in the mid 1980’s. Following graduation in media studies from the University of Windsor, John Bryja embarked on an ambitious four year Olympic windsurfing campaign. His top international finish was at the 1994 Mistral World’s where he finished 4thin the men’s heavyweight division. During his Olympic campaign he also won multiple titles including the men’s heavy weight division at the 1994 USWA Mid-Winters, and a 3rdplace finish at the prestigious Islamorada Pro-Am in the Florida Keys.
John Bryja began his publishing career in 1997 when he joined SBC Media as Senior Editor of Windsport Magazine. It was at the Surf Expo trade show in Orlando in 1998 that Bryja was first introduced to kitesurfing. His boss at the time, Steve Jarrett, purchased one of the original Wipika kites, handed it to Bryja and said, “You should learn how to do this.” A year later SBC Kiteboard magazine was born. SBC Kiteboard quickly established itself as the leader of in-depth kitesurfing gear tests.
John Bryja became publisher of Kitesurfing Magazine in 2015 and brought a lot of the SBC Kiteboard crew onboard. Head Tester Shane Thompson, photographer/kite tester Dave Marshall, designer Dave Amos and writer/photographer/copy editor Colin Field all joined the Kitesurfing Magazine team.
With two children, Kai and Kyra, watersports have become a family activity for the Bryja’s. The entire family is active in multiple watersports. “I have become the organizer of an unbelievable amount of family gear,” says John Bryja. ” I’m a full-time board caddy. Organising the annual Kitesurfing Magazine gear tests is child’s play after co-ordinating the family’s gear over the past few summers. Thankfully, my son Kai keeps track of the local wind forecasts now, and my wife Barb takes care of booking our family’s kitesurfing trips.”
