I n Front
Although riverboards resemble little more than oversized bodyboards, they are surprisingly capable whitewater vehi- cles. Boarders surf steep, breaking waves that kayakers only dream of catching and flush unharmed out of holes that would topple a raft. The best riders add to the fun with a litany of tricks, some borrowed from bodyboarding. Other tricks, like submarine wave exits-where the boarder buries the board in the trough of the wave, kicks hard to go deep to the bottom, follows the fast current, submarines along the bottom where it's quiet and dark and pops up 30 to 40 feet after the hole (and the backwater dangerl- are unique to the river.
Riverboarding's chief attraction is the elemental
connection to the river's power. Rather than ride on the water, riverboarders flow in it. Board and rider become one with the river'S force. "We call it whitewater at face level," says Denver-based outfitter Shane Bolling of Ripboard river- boards. "It magnifies the experience of whitewater without necessari Iy increasing the risk ."
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