More SUP'ers navigating whitewater rivers

 

SHADY COVE, Ore. — Running the Rogue River's Rattlesnake Rapids while standing erect on a glorified surfboard with a long paddle in his hands used to elicit strange comments to stand-up paddleboarder Jake Baracker from rafters, kayakers and other traditional whitewater runners.

"There were some snickers, for sure," Baracker says. "I'd get ... 'Do you know what you're doing here?' 'Don't you understand this is a river?' 'Are you lost?' "

Now he's getting, "Where can I rent one of those?"

A year after taking off in Southern Oregon lakes and starring in extreme whitewater shows, stand-up paddleboards are becoming the watercraft du jour for a more pedestrian crowd enjoying suitable stretches of the upper Rogue on their feet instead of their behinds.

"We've seen them on the lakes, and now we're seeing them on the river, and it used to be just us," says Pete Newport, a 21-year SUP veteran and owner of Sawyer Oars and Paddles in Talent, Ore. "We're probably another season away before it really takes off. But it's here. It's exciting."

Rafting liveries and sporting-goods stores are offering SUPs for daily rentals for around $40 and steering paddlers to waters like the seven-mile stretch of the Rogue from Rogue Elk Park to Shady Cove, and the water-playing public is responding.

Some outdoor stores and programs are now offering SUP seminars, and Baracker is now a licensed SUP guide offering tutorials and guided floats on stretches of the river best suited to a paddler's individual skills.

Casual weekend rafters with a decent sense for navigating the upper Rogue can find these surprisingly stable boards easy to become ...more