Although Paddleboard is my profession and on a SUP is where I spend most of my time, my real passion is surfing. I think about surfing more than I think about food. Where it gets weird is I live in a land locked state, a 7 hour drive from the closest ocean; however I live only a few miles from some of the best white water in the country!
I started surfing in 2008 when I lived in Hong Kong. Hong Kong actually has some decent surf and the water is nice and warm and there aren't really any sharks! I started long boarding and I fell in love with the feeling of riding a wave. In 2010 I moved to West Virginia to become a White Water Rafting Guide. I fell in love all over again, but this time with white water. About a month into living in WV a friend brought me to this play spot where kayakers would surf and others would boogie board. It was a little hydraulic, a recirculating wave on the river. I played with the boogie board in the wave for hours, I felt like I was a little kid again.
It then clicked, if we can boogie board this, why couldn't we surf it?
Canyon Doors - The boogie board spot, being surfed!
I borrowed a friends little short board the next time the levels were in and brought it to the wave. I was out at the wave for about 4 hours. I tried and tried and tried and I couldn't get popped up on the board. Every time I went to stand, I would wash off the back of the wave. I gave up on the idea of surfing a river wave, I just thought it couldn't be done.
That same year, unknowingly to me, a guy named Chuck had the same thought and brought out his short board to a different wave just a few miles downstream from where I was and had success. Four years later Chuck and I would be surfing that wave weekly for hours on end.
It took me a while after that first try to realize river surfing could actually be done. I wasn't aware it was being done other places. 3 years after that first attempt I met some people that were starting to SUP Surf a river wave and it brought that river surfing thought and possibility back to the forefront. Getting on a SUP on the river was the start of it all for me. It snowballed into an addiction of finding waves and surfing a variety of boards.
I'll blog more about the different spots, waves, levels, and boards later on!
Perfect Wave - The first place I saw someone surfing a river wave on a SUP
The best surf spot! This is where Chuck started the River Surfing in WV