Riverboarding or "Oh that kind of riverboard"

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Yount on July 28, 2010 at 1:25pm

I'd be happy if people around my parts would quit calling it water boarding. "you been out water boarding lately?" "No, I'm not into torture."

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Permalink Reply by Alex Koutzoukis on July 28, 2010 at 2:39pm

Friends Don't Let Friends SUP !!!!!

Just kidding, it actually looks pretty fun on inflatables in the river, but in the ocean.......? I'll stick with my 6.0 Quad Fish Shortboard.

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Permalink Reply by Rochelle Parry on July 28, 2010 at 2:50pm

I love that one.

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Permalink Reply by Rochelle Parry on July 28, 2010 at 2:45pm

MY!!!!! I almost made this EXACT POST yesterday. It irritates me to no end! Read my blog about it. Look at the date! Two days ago. Too funny!
I think it's because of all the hype SUP'ing has received in the media; people get a little glimpse from some reporter, and they don't have much else to go off of.

Here's my FB thread about it:

Rochelle Parry is getting REALLY sick of hearing 'Is that where you stand up on a long board with a paddle?' when I mention that I riverboard..
Monday at 8:49am Friends Only · Comment · LikeUnlike · View Feedback (11)Hide Feedback (11)

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Chad Petersen You could always quit.
Monday at 8:53am ·
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Rochelle Parry People are just clueless.
Monday at 8:56am ·
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Chad Petersen Ignorance is not a crime.
Monday at 8:57am
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Rochelle Parry But annoying as hell. I guess you'd have to understand a certain disdain for the whole SUP movement.
Monday at 9:22am ··
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Virginia Prowell I guess we can't know everything. Rather than be upset, be happy to spread the word and share the knowledge. You might inspire others !
Monday at 9:45am ·
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Chad Petersen Or you could turn them off.
Monday at 9:48am ·
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Rochelle Parry I don't vocalize my disdain. It's just that before the SUP it was less confusing to explain what I do.
Monday at 9:58am ·
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Paul Frolov Don't get pissed off :) Every time I mention riverboarding to my ww kayaking friends, they don't know what that is. But when I paint the picture, everybody gets excited and wants to try it ! I guarantee you, soon it will be very popular in our state...
Monday at 12:13pm ·
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Len Long I say, Roll with their ignorance. "Why yes it is"
Then just pile on the BS until they go away
Monday at 2:24pm ·
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Rochelle Parry I did tell a raft guide yesterday that yes indeed I portage every rapid... (sometimes you just get tired of keeping it real)
Monday at 2:37pm ·
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Andy Brown I didn't know that you where a broom sweeper ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Chris Washnock on July 28, 2010 at 8:50pm

Kind of related, has anyone seen one of these... http://2imagine.net/blogger2009/rapidfire2.html



What I like about them is their ability to ride rivers when they are far too low to riverboard. I do not own one (yet) but I have been looking at them for a while. Where I live, summer riverboarding is rare due to levels. One of these would give me the ability to get out on the water on days when riverboarding is not possible. In other words it gives you this option: sit at home and think about riverboarding or get on the river and think about rivreboarding

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Permalink Reply by Barry Welling on July 29, 2010 at 12:56am

this was the article I mentioned:

http://shanesliquidlogic.blogspot.com/search/label/Versa%20Board

It looks fun and all, but.... standing up moves my head further from the rocks I'll prolly fall into...and those things aren't cheap!

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Permalink Reply by Tyler Mayhew on July 28, 2010 at 10:13pm

I just tell people that I kayak.

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Permalink Reply by martyStecher martystecher on July 29, 2010 at 2:02pm

We have 2 SUP boards, A Uli 11' and a sevlor. you can get the sevlor at poolcenter.com for about $450 delivered. The newer uli models are light and better shaped. The sevlor is a little more mattress feeling, but has the advantage of removable fins, which is very important for low water. I wear calebas rubber sole fishing boots. $60 Booties do not protect your feet or ankles. Werner makes a carbon shaft - fiberglass blade paddle. This is stronger than the carbon blade which breaks down on the rocks.

All the whining about SUP (or any other sport) is from people who don't like to see others having fun. SUP is better sometimes and kitesurfing other times..... When there are large sharks in the water sup is probably better...

Cheers Marty

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Permalink Reply by martyStecher martystecher on July 29, 2010 at 2:04pm

This place Boardworks also makes inflatable boards which are about $850

http://www.boardworkssup.com/boards/bws.php

click on photo #10

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Permalink Reply by J. Young on August 2, 2010 at 8:54am

If that's your riverboarding-misconception problem, you've got it good.

I hopped on the New a couple months ago and some douche-bag told me he thought riverboarding was the rollerblading of whitewater. He said, in his experience, riverboarders didn't really know what they were doing out there. I said, "Dood, I've been on the water since 1990." He said, "I find that people on regular old boogie boards are much cooler."

WTF does that mean? LOL. I swear the stories of boarder interaction with boaters just never end. I'm gonna do a couple of runs on a blow-up porn doll. I wonder what they'll say then.

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Permalink Reply by Josh Galt on August 2, 2010 at 12:27pm

It used to be that people thought riverboarding was the "tie a bungee cord to a bridge, float downstream, and launch back up the river" sport. Now many people think it's SUP.

Here's the thing - Riverboarding is the sport it is, and it's always going to have the perception of being a bit "different". As riverboarders we need to just accept that and enjoy our sport, and if people are interested, then show them the way.

There is not going to be any fighting SUP - it's the fastest growing sport in the world and in just a couple years has gone where Riverboarding hasn't been able to go in 30 years. That's not to knock on Riverboarding, obviously, but simply to say that SUP as a sport is more marketable to the mainstream, and there's no use fighting it - it is going to be one of the biggest sports in the world, plain and simple.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, it's already a $7.2 billion dollar industry. For a sport that just started getting mainstream attention (what, 3 years ago?), that is a huge explosion in growth.

Us fighting SUP on the rivers is like skiers who fought snowboarding on the mountains. It's going to happen, so we need to deal with it. And quite frankly, as a sport it's pretty damn fun.

Will SUP ever become a legit class IV / V whitewater sport? Maybe, but probably not for a while. But is it a legit WATER sport that appeals to a lot of people and can be done on pretty much any body of water, making it very versatile? Yeah.

The good thing is that unlike with the Banshee Bungee people, nobody in the SUP world is calling their sport "riverboarding" (and to the Riverboarding world's credit, we didn't back down and eventually the bungee people gave up and renamed their sport).

So anyone who is mistaken is simply uninformed, which, instead of being annoying for us, should be a great opportunity to explain the differences!

The media is all over SUP, as are event organizers. Riverboarding had a shot at being an event at Teva this year, but last summer as SUP exploded all over the organizers decided SUP was a much better choice, and we were offered simply to be a "demo" sport. At the same time, in just two years SUP has gotten sponsorship of their river events from companies such as Budweiser. There's obviously a massive public interest and a lot of eyeballs for a company that big to consider it worthy of sponsoring.

Given public perception of the two sports, and given the rapid growth of SUP around the world, and the much slower growth curve of Riverboarding / Hydrospeed, I think that trying to fight the current is not the way to go.

Riverboarding is an incredible sport, but we need to be realistic - it's not the snowboarding of whitewater, nor has it ever been. It's a unique, exciting, sometimes extreme but always profoundly moving way to experience rivers, rapids, and waterfalls.

But it's not going to appeal to the great majority of the population, because the majority of people are scared of water.

SUP, on the other hand, promises the ability to "walk on water". As in, "have fun without getting wet, because that wet stuff is scary". Ok, maybe that's not the marketing line, but to the masses who see the sport on the 6 o'clock news, it is. And it's growing because of that - the promise of "easy", safe, fun for the whole family, including granny and the dog.

Riverboarding will never be viewed as such, because it's a swimming sport, and because, quite frankly, to the uninitiated even Class II can seem extreme.

In my experiences with Adventure Racing I have seen some of the best all-around athletes on the planet absolutely terrified of swimming, and especially of Riverboarding. It has a psychological barrier of entry that is the greatest challenge to its growth, and will continue to be.

But that doesn't mean we can't continue to encourage and convince new people to give the sport a try! Because those people who DO enjoy water always love the sport. THEY are the ones that we need to expose to Riverboarding.

In my opinion though, casting a negative light on another sport, especially one that is most definitely the flavor of the year, is only going to make us look like those jealous stodgy skiers in their knit caps, griping about "them kids tearin' up the snow on them big ol' boards".

And in full disclosure, yes, I enjoy SUP - both in the ocean and on more mellow rivers. It's not ever going to replace Riverboarding in my life in terms of my favorite method to experience the river, and especially whitewater. But it IS definitely a great sport in its own right, and an incredible workout.

For me, sports are experiences meant to be enjoyed, and I aim to enjoy as many of them as possible. Too often I think we look at "our sport", whatever it may be, as a lover - to be loyal to and given to completely, and any other sport, especially a competing one, is somehow cheating.

Not the case. Heck, some of the best Riverboarders, and indeed a few of the CORE FLI Athletes, are also kayakers and rafters. But they understand the truly unique experience of the river that can only be obtained through Riverboarding.

THAT is the message to spread.

Let the other sports come and go, rise and fall in popularity. Don't love Riverboarding because it's getting popular or because it's the "best" sport on the river. Love it because it's Riverboarding, and because of what it gives you in terms of exhilaration, smiles, and fun memories with friends.

Love Riverboarding simply because it's unlike anything else you can experience in water.

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Permalink Reply by Rochelle Parry on August 11, 2010 at 11:24pm

Sharks looking for SUPper :)

Me my Shark and I from Chuck Patterson on Vimeo.

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