Paddlefest has free demos, instructional clinics and a huge sale at the CKS retail location in BV. The Buena Vista Town Pond serves as a flat water demo center where you can try out boards, paddles, and kayaks. Our team riders will be there all weekend helping people find the right board.

We will also have a river demo center where experienced SUP paddlers can try out one of our river specific specific designs or jump into one of our river surfing demos where you can try out river surfer or MVP and learn to surf a river wave.  Boardworks Surf Pro Mike Tavares will also be teaching more intensive river surfing clinics you can sign up for through RMOC.

At the CKS retail store I will be on the floor all day, all weekend long along with our rep Brian and National Sales Manager Ryan Guay answering your questions and helping you get set up for the season.

There are competitive events, live music and the Arkansas River is on its way up as I write this.  Paddlefest is the best way to get your season started. Really hope to see you down in Buena Vista over Memorial Day weekend. -Mike Harvey, Salida, CO

“This weekend, I put my Badfish MCIT inflatable SUP through the test!  I have used the board for about 9 months now, but this weekend I participated in a low water stand up paddle board (SUP) boardercross and slalom races in Kernville, CA. and it was FUN!  The low water made it so LOTS of rocks were exposed or just under the surface so the fins would catch and send you flying, but my MCIT kept me above a LOT of the rocks!  The boardercross was especially exciting since it involved 5 women on SUP’s doing a mass start and mad dash down a small, bony, river channel.  I didn’t win, and I wasn’t last, but considering I was competing against former Olympic medal winners (Rebecca Giddens, silver medal in slalom, 2004)  and professional surfer Ax El, I think I did pretty well!  I look forward to a full season of SUPing and racing and testing the limits!

-Sage”

The center is home to olympic whitewater kayaking hopefuls and hosts whitewater rafting trips, but last weekend it played host to stand up paddlers.  The USNWC is a playground for whitewater paddlers, where you can run laps all day without ever having to worry about shuttle…and the bar is right there when you’re done!

Our team riders Mike and Haley did really well. Mike placed 2nd overall in the whitewater event on the 9′ MVP and Haley won on a 10’6 MCIT.

Here is a video Mike made paddling the center.

Haley Mills punching a big wave at the US National Whitewater Center on the 10’6 MCIT.

]]> http://badfishsup.com/24/badfish-team-riders-at-the-us-national-whitewater-center/feed/ 0 http://badfishsup.com/24/badfishteam-rider-clarie-chappell-exploring-jamaican-rivers-on-the-mcit-inflatable-sup/ http://badfishsup.com/24/badfishteam-rider-clarie-chappell-exploring-jamaican-rivers-on-the-mcit-inflatable-sup/#comments Thu, 24 Jan 2013 02:16:01 +0000 MIke http://badfishsup.com/?p=1850 Read more
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When I found out I’d be spending five weeks in Jamaica, land of reggae, rum and beaches, it took me all of thirty seconds to arrive at the key question…can I SUP the rivers? The ocean here is incredible but anyone who stand up paddles on rivers knows why I had to go inland. I was craving that constant forward motion, the rush you get when your speed picks up just above a rapid, peeling out from eddies, the butterflies when you spot a wave and think, ‘Hmmm, can I surf that?’.

The Blue Mountains of Jamaica rise 7400 feet above sea level on the east side of the island where plenty of rain falls. This is a good recipe for several small volume rivers, most of which pour into the Caribbean on the north shore. Our first stop was the Rio Blanco in Ocho Rios. When we pulled a playboat and a Badfish MCIT inflatable board out of the truck, five or so local men gathered to stare. They asked repeatedly if we knew what we were doing. Only one of them had seen a whitewater kayak before and all of them were baffled about my intention to stand on a board and go downstream. This river is a tropical version of a mountain river park. It’s a narrow, three or four hundred cfs, mellow two-mile float with class II drops here and there. The limestone bedrock and low sediment make for crystal clear water and the temperature doesn’t get much better, no neoprene necessary.

At the Rio Bueno in Trelawny Parish, I floated with the local rafting company. The guides watching me pump my board looked super nervous. With the shallow rapids, I didn’t use a center fin and it worked out fine with an extra paddle stroke here and there. The guides really wanted me to lay down on the board or at least kneel through the big bad “Bridge Rapid”. There is always a little uneasiness the first time you run a new rapid in place you’ve never paddled, I was grateful to be on a board that I can trust to be stable. The looks of shock were priceless after I ran it clean and that’s about when they all started asking if they could try.

After we got comfortable on the tourist-friendly stretches, we started poking around for something with a little more meat.  A couple times, we just followed rivers upstream from the coast where the roads allowed. Sometimes this ended up being just a scenic drive and sometimes more. Beta is scarce on the island because Jamaican culture doesn’t view the river as a source of recreation but I kept asking just about everyone I met. At the end of my trip I finally found myself on the phone with the right guy. He pointed me toward my last conquest, the Swift River in the parish of Portland. Finding a section with enough water and gradient took hours. We drove through tiny mountain towns with not many homes but lots of goats and the few people we encountered looked pretty surprised to see us. Between the shoddy map, the hit or miss help from locals and the occasional bridge, we found a great spot. The folks living on the muddy tire-track “road” that we eventually parked on came out of their houses to watch me run a short stretch and hike back up handful of times. The trouble getting to the river was well worth it, the Swift River valley is gorgeous and untouched. It is higher in elevation, steeper, deep blue colored and in the absolute middle of nowhere. Looking at the boulders and the gradient you can tell this is a busy creek at higher water. At low water I got to walk along the river in the greenest place I’ve been, with birds chirping and clouds sitting in the peaks above me and hand pick little rapids to paddle. I’ll take it.

I am leaving Jamaica with a list of rivers that I’ll have to check out another time. I am told that a lot more class III plus can be found during the wet spring months and there are waterfalls just sitting in the middle of the rainforest, begging to be hucked. Stand up paddling in warm rivers with breathtaking scenery was an experience I’ll never forget and it won’t be my last. I suddenly feel like there’s a whole world waiting to be SUP’d. Claire Chappell, Discovery Bay, Jamaica

Mike T RiverShred Blog

Haley Mills River Nomad

How about winter paddling destination? For paddlers like me whose paddling gets limited in the winter time, Vegas makes an enticing destination.  Warm weather, cheap hotel rooms and flights and a variety of paddling options (Lake Mead, Lake Las Vegas, the Colorado River) make Vegas a great place to escape for a quick fix. With inflatable SUP boards like the MCIT, it could not be easier to experience this less obvious side of southern Nevada.

Last week I had the chance to hit one of my favorite places to paddle during the winter months, the Black Canyon of the Colorado River. The Colorado River was dammed near Boulder City, Nevada in the 1930′s by the famous Hoover Dam. Boulder City is about 30 minutes from the strip. The Black Canyon starts at the base of the Hoover Dam. There is no more surreal experience to me than putting in the river in the shadow of that colossal structure. You need to hire one of the local outfitters to escort you down to the base of the dam for security reasons. We hired an outfitter to run the shuttle for us so we only had to worry about getting to Boulder City in the morning in our little rental car with inflatables rolled up in the trunk.

The put in for the Black Canyon is at the base of the massive Hoover Dam.

The Colorado River below the Hoover Dam is a striking place. Crystal clear water flows out of the bottom of the dam as all the sediment is settled out in Lake Mead. The stark desert landscape of the canyon creates neck craning visuals around every corner. The clarity of the water is other-worldly…there are times when you can’t easily define the surface of the water and your paddling partners look like they are floating as the paddle by you.

The river is very mild on this 11 mile section of river. The first five miles or so can be described as moving flatwater. There are some eddy lines and the current is swift in places, but there are no whitewater or boulder hazards to be concerned about. The first portion of the trip lends itself to a leisurely pace as the current pulls you along and offers you ample opportunities to check out the canyon and warm up (or shake off last night’s Vegas inspired mischief).

The Colorado River in the Black Canyon is mild water river paddling appropriate for beginners/intermediate level paddlers.

The other reason to take your time in the first few miles are the side canyon hikes that offer stunning desert slot canyons with hot springs pools.  The side hikes are cool enough in of themselves to offer all the motivation you need to plan this paddle. Each one is a little different from wider, sandy washes to tight, rock walled gorges with installed ladders and ropes to get up to pools with 103-104 degree water.  The most popular springs is the Arizona hot springs which also makes a good spot for lunch, with its big sandy beach and spectacular hot pools perched up in the canyon.

The side hikes to hot springs make paddling the Black Canyon such an amazing experience.

The side canyons are steep and in places require ladders and ropes to make it up to the pools.

Shane hanging out in one of the pools at the Arizona Hot Springs.

Below the Arizona Hot Springs, the river begins to lose current as it flows into the downstream impoundment of the Mojave Dam. We had perfect conditions, 70 degrees and no headwind. However make sure to check the forecast because the wind can blow on this lower section. On this day it was a great afternoon workout, 6 miles of flatwater with not a soul on the river (one of the reasons I love this river in the winter, I have heard it is a zoo in the summer months).

The take out is at Willow Springs marina and our shuttle was waiting for us as we pulled up at 3:30pm. Heading back into Las Vegas after a day on the water looking and looking out over the desert landscape around Boulder City I was already planning a longer paddling mission to this winter mecca. -Mike Harvey, Salida, CO

They gave one to us and we really like it. It works with a bicycle floor pump or even a tire pump at a gas station. The bike pump allows you to get to 14 with a smaller volume of air, making pumping a lot less strenuous. Be careful if you use a tire pump at a gas station that you don’t over inflate the board.

Get your Traveller Inflater, an MCIT and then go to Costa Rica.

Day 1: River Surfing

While visiting with our friends at Summit Canyon Mountaineering in GJ we learned of a new spot that had appeared during the record high water of 2011. The 29 Road waves.  We ran back to the dealership to grab a MCIT with the loaner car they gave us and headed out for a cold, January river surf session.

Dis-function in Grand Junction

The spot could not have been more perfect for river SUP; a class II rapid with a huge eddy and recovery zone, multiple surf waves and no rocks.  We started to plot a return to the spot for the spring. We were told it was optimal at low flows so we planned to come back before the run off started. Low and behold there is no run off to speak of this summer so this super fun river surfing site should be in all summer!

The Badfish Crew stacking up in the eddy at the top waves.

The rapid is just upstream of where 29 Road crosses the Colorado River in Grand Junction, Colorado. GJ is one of the warmest places in Colorado where the high country transitions to the desert. The water is reasonably warm and the air temps are very warm, making this a very comfortable Colorado river surfing site.

At the top of the rapid there is a large eddy that provides easy access to the first (and best) two waves.  These waves are the type of features that made me fall in love with river surfing, first in a kayak then on a Badfish board. Wide and smooth with plenty of room to operate, we had five Badfish boards out there at once several times. We brought Boardworks pros Haley Mills and Mike Tavares to the rapid and met one of Zack and my best friends, Blair, there for a session.

It was pure fun….everyone was hooting and hollering and high five’ing.  The 9’0 MVP was the board of choice for me. I could stay on my feet the whole time, comfortably ferrying over to the eddy after a ride.  The 9’0 absolutely lights up on these type of waves, the board simply parks on waves and turns so smoothly…it is the most underrated river surfing board around in my opinion. Haley was ripping the 7’6 MVP while Zack and Blair were loving the 8’0 River Surfer.

5 Badfish boards surfing at once

29 Road is a fantastic spot for river sup paddlers of all abilities. Beginners will find plenty of  challenges for improving their skills, including just practicing running the mellow wave train and catching the eddy to walk up and do it again.  There are no large boulders to avoid in the rapid that so its a low stress place to improve.  The waves are extremely friendly with almost perfect eddy access.

Sorry in advance to the locals for blowing up your spot…but near as I can tell there aren’t any locals! We haven’t seen many folks other than kids tubing through the rapid in any of our sessions.  We’ll probably plan some sort of demo/informal event there later in the summer.  When the whole state dries up there will still be plenty of fun to be had in GJ at 29 Road! -Mike Harvey, Salida, CO

The only thing more fun than surfing is surfing with a bunch of your friends!