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< May, June 2000
	Hotline
Riverboards Increase on Rescue, Play Markets

If you're out on the river this summer and spot a sturdy piece of flotsam with a person attached, watch carefully—it might be Shane Bolling trying to steal your surf wave. Then again, it might be someone coming to rescue you.

Riverboarding has been the rage in Europe for more than a decade, where the sport is known variously as hydrospeed, aquanaut and NEV, a French acronym for "swimming in live water." Bolling tried a board in New Zealand three years ago and decided on the spot to import them to North America under the brand name Ripboard.

Bolling says riverboarding, more than any other whitewater sport, places you face-to-face with the living, breathing force of the river. "It gives you a chance to swim a rapid safely and enjoy it, as opposed to getting sucked under and tossed out," Bolling says.

Ease-of-use has also made riverboards a favored swiftwater rescue tool. About three-fourths of the boards in the United States are sold for river rescue. Wildwasser Sport imports a plastic Prijon Riverboard similar to Bolling's Ripboard but with tie-points for rescue apparatus. Both plastic boards are about three feet long, weigh twenty pounds and have molded recesses for torso and elbows. Carlson's foam boards are lighter and longer at eight pounds and about 4.5 feet. With either design, boarders steer and power themselves with swim fins, an arrangement that novices seem to grasp intuitively.

Perhaps most appealing is the ability to tackle big, exciting water at a much higher level of participation than a raft guide's "paddle left, paddle right" exhortations allow. Outfitters in Europe confidently send novices down Class IV rivers. "You're already swimming, so there's not much else that can go wrong," says Jim Cassady, who distributes America's most popular board for designer Bob Carlson, who still hand-shapes them individually.

Boaters who try riverboarding will be amazed at how easily they surf, particularly on breaking waves. But progress against the current is strenuous and slow. "Riverboarding is best on a river with big flow, lots of waves, bright sun and places to eat lunch," Carlson says. "You look for an auto-load eddy." On the right wave boarders can dig into a big bag of play tricks, including barrel rolls, spins and squirt moves.

A racing scene is beginning to develop as well. Bolling is working with Whitewater Cup organizer Mark Joffe to include a board class in the September 29 rafting competition on the Upper Gauley. Joffe, who a few years ago was the second person down the Zambezi on a boogie board, has supported the plan enthusiastically.

Racing in Class V water isn't enough for Julie Munger, who recently riverboarded the full length of the Grand Canyon. Munger's brand of hardcore is what gave birth to riverboarding. In the early seventies a trio of French raft guides lashed together a pile of life vests and hit some of the wildest water in the Alps. They quickly advanced to boards, and today's whitewater outfitters in France and Italy do as much as 30 percent of their business on riverboards. Carlson developed his own boards concurrently in California, but the sport remains a curiosity in North America. One reason the sport hasn't taken off commercially is its paltry profit margins in comparison to rafts. And not every raft client would be comfortable on a riverboard staring at a Class IV drop, particularly in cold weather.

The Ripboard and Prijon Riverboard each retail for about $400, while the Carlson board sells for just under $300. Boarders also need fins, helmet, PFD and a good wetsuit, bringing the total equipment investment into the same range as kayaking. Last year Wildwasser sold about 100 boards and Carlson about 500. But that number is rising steadily. "It's a critical mass thing," Carlson says. "The sport is growing exponentially, but the exponent is still pretty small."

—Jeffrey Moag