Doing whitewater SUP is like anything else…start on the bunny hill(currents) and work you way up to the steep cliffed terrain with trees around the landing (rocks and waterfalls). With lots of challenging practice I found myself analyzing Valley Falls with a SUP.

I had been thinking of running a waterfall on the Tygart river in West Virginia for about a year. A few weeks ago I finally had a chance to give the waterfall a go. The waterfall is known as Valley Falls and is located in Valley Falls State Park. I am not sure how tall it is but it was tall enough to make it really difficult. This waterfall is really easy for an experienced kayaker but it was far from easy on a stand up board.

Before running the drop I took a close look at the pool depth for obstructions that I might smash into. After some probing with my paddle, I figured out that there were not any rocks under the surface near where I would crash….if I crashed. I am really glad I checked what was under the water at the bottom because I had a number of crashes off the board that where pretty much head first. I also checked the depth of the water at the lip of the drop just to make sure that the fins would not hit the bottom. That would have made for a ridiculous photo and a huge crash.

After I had fully scouted the dangers…I started running through my head how I was going to stick the drop…..1)Get back near the tail of the board with a wide stance to transfer my weigh when needed. 2)Have plenty of speed coming up to the lip of the drop. 3) Leave the lip with a huge stroke shooting the board outward to prevent from the nose pointing straight down. 4) Bend my knees and prepare for impact. 5)Stay on the board.

After the first attempt I realize almost everything I had listed off in my head was a lot easier said then done. First being back on the board slowed my speed…having a really wide stance (front to back and a little side to side) made the impact hard to deal with….keeping the nose of the board up was really tough….knees bent…well that is kinda hard when the board starts to float away in the air…The impact was huuuuuuge and seemed really hard to deal with when the board is so rigid….and staying on the board was more like….. try not to smash into the board.

Well if you can do something like this in a skateboarding situation then it should be possible to do it on a SUP off a freefall waterfall. I went back to the top of the drop and applied what I had learned. Now my strategy was this…1)Shoot off the drop with speed and keep the nose up. 2)Stay with the board by bending my knees more at the lip. 3)On impact, land on the board on the back half and smash the tail into the pool to absorb the impact.

After the next couple of runs over the drop…I started thinking…OK now I am starting to get close…everything worked but the impact was still a lot to deal with. I was starting to have perfect runs except that I was falling off the board from impact…

When running a waterfall like this in a kayak with perfect form, then the impact would not be a problem…the work was done on the way down…not on impact. The turning point was when I told myself that I would get hurt if I did not stay on the board. I literally made myself think that. Even though that was not true it worked. I was able to have a run where I felt like a had a perfect run where everything went right and I landed with the board and absorbed the impact by smashing the board under and taking a knee.

Full Sequence On Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ridestride/sets/72157622551517175/

Complete SUP On Valley Falls Gallery:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ridestride/sets/72157622514567261/

Running a vertical free fall waterfall is definitely the hardest SUP situation I have encountered on the water….In a lot of ways it is like paddling over the wash of a monster wave. It takes a lot of technique and it typically does not go well the first time. Whitewater stand up is inherently dangerous like big wave surfing but with proper evaluation of the consequences the challenge is exciting. It will be interesting to see the future of whitewater stand up reveiled as time goes on.

-Luke Hopkins, Stride Stand Up Paddleboards

Credits: SUP paddler Jason Stender was there for some added safety had he made a few very impressive attempts at run the waterfall. Thanks to photo guru Simon Robinson there are photos to share.

The above article has been published with the permission of Stride Stand Up Paddleboards : The article was originally published here: http://www.ridestride.com/ssp/news?news_id=33