HISTORY OF RIVERBOARDING

"Old-school' riders on boogie boards

Seen some riverboarders on the water lately, or viewed riverboards in action in commercials & on the Amazing Race? Here's how it all started:

According to the man many consider to be the “father” of the sport, Robert Carlson, the newest extreme sport is actually one of the oldest. He has been quoted as saying, “Anyone who jumps into the water and grabs onto a log is doing riverboarding. It goes back to Paleolithic times.”

Of course, many people have ancestors who claim to be the “first person to go down that thar river on an air mattress,” but they hardly get credit for creating the sport - most people would instead credit them with causing the demand for psychiatric treatment. From all available recent accounts, the modern sport of riverboarding began during the 70's but on opposite sides of the world.

Back in the 1970’s in the French Alps, some adventurous raft guides decided that there had to be a more exciting way to “Nage en eau vive,” (translated roughly “swim in the river”) and so they tied together some life jackets and took the plunge into the broiling rapids. Their adventure was such a rush that they started looking for more stable and aerodynamic ways to brave the whitewater, and foam boards eventually began to take shape, gettting the label of “hydrospeeds.”

Mr. Carlson had some extra insight on the issue: “When I interviewed the owner of the French rafting company RAFT he told me the original mold of the hard plastic 40lb. hydrospeed was from an underwater personal submarine shell used by scuba divers. While the hard plastic armor protected the elbows of hydrospeeders running the rocky narrow channels of the alpine creeks, the hard plastic kept smashing the teeth of fellow boarders in the holes below. The French outfitters could not afford the skyrocketing dental bills so they had to create a foam version of the same shape, [shown below]. This was a great improvement, but evolution continues.”

A homemade "hydrospeed"

Around the same time period a California surfer (the aforementioned Robert Carlson) started using boogie boards to “surf” the waves on local rivers during whitewater rafting trips. He soon developed his own beefed up version of a boogie board and dubbed it the Carlson Riverboard. It was thicker and more boyant than regular ocean boards, which provided greater stability in the powerful currents of the rapids.

The Carlson Riverboard & rider popping out of a rapid

And in still another part of the world, a guide in New Zealand is said to have, well, had the same idea, taking a boogie board and riding down the river…the rest, shall we say, is history? They dubbed their board a “sledge.” It is from this New Zealand design (which is also reminiscent of the original European hydrospeed) that the Ripboard gets its origins.

A New Zealand "sledge" (also a Ripboard)

While the sport has slowly grown from it’s humble beginnings to around 30% of all whitewater trips in Europe (according to some sources), riverboarding has not yet gained major exposure in North America. The main use has been for swiftwater rescue, but the past 3-4 years have shown a great deal of growth in the overall exposure of riverboards as an extreme sport toy.

Events such as boardercross (full contact racing down the river) have begun to appear, some national exposure was gained by a small group of brave women who riverboarded the Colorado river, and perhaps the surest sign of growth – riverboarders have made appearances in Nissan Exterra advertisements for two years in a row: Last year the Carlson riverboard (and some riders) made a cameo, and in August of 2003 there was an ad which stars riverboarders (though they actually appear to be regular boogie boards). Riverboards also appeared last year in a Nike ad, according to Carlson. In 2004 CBS's hit TV show "The Amazing Race" featured contestants in New Zealand riverboarding what New Zealand Riverboarding guides Kaitiaki Adventures claims to be the highest riverboarded waterfall in the world. (Click here for the video)

Where will the sport be in another couple of years? Who knows. While riverboarding will probably never become as mainstream as wakeboarding has become over the past few years, riverboards are becoming a popular choice for travelling whitewater rapids.

At this time there are still only a handful of riverboarding guides in North America which offer trips, but if you have never tried riverboarding and happen to be in the area where one of these outfits runs trips, you’ll want to be sure to give them a call and experience the river as you never have before – at face level!

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