Whitewater SUPs are nothing new. They even make different styles designed specifically for river running, river surfing, and all-around whitewater play. The Riverskate is a new kind of whitewater SUP that’s designed to behave in an entirely new way.
According to the outfit, it’s inspired by the squirt boat, a low-volume whitewater kayak that’s capable of dipping right below the river’s surface, allowing it to perform an entirely new set of maneuvers, such as dipping its tail on the water for performing sudden turns. If you’re looking for a new stand-up paddleboarding experience on the river, this may be the thing you’re looking to bring to your next adventure.
The Riverskate looks slightly different than your standard SUP. Instead of pointed or rounded ends, it has flat cutoff tips at the front and rear, essentially removing the nose and tail found on other SUPs. In its place, they put raised sections along the sides, which they call grab wings. According to the outfit, those patent-pending wings redistribute the volume traditionally found on the nose and tail towards the center rails, creating a lower-volume board that’s much more stable than your standard SUP. Aside from those benefits, the wings also help with proper body positioning, since paddlers can brace their feet (or knees, if they’re kneeling) against them. The outfit claims this makes it an excellent learning tool for novice riders still working on their fundamentals.
With its wider effective engagement point, predictable secondary stability catch, and redistributed bouyancy, paddlers are allowed to submerge the stern safely while riding. This allows you to perform unique vertical maneuvers like cartwheels, tail dips, bow stalls, and stern stalls, all while letting you surf steeper waves, giving experienced paddlers a new way to train and explore their favorite river trails. The SUP, by the way, comes with a set of screw inserts that will allow you to add foot hooks in custom areas, ensuring you can maintain control exactly the way you prefer, even when performing large drops.
The Riverskate is an inflatable SUP, by the way, so it’s very lightweight, coming in at just 22 pounds for the 120-liter model and 24 pounds for the 150-liter model. The smaller one is designed to support paddlers up to 160 pounds, while the larger one can handle weights of up to 215, so even bigger dudes (just not extremely big dudes) can get in on the fun. If you need something even bigger, they’re currently preparing a third size, which will be much larger than those two, as well as an upcoming new model that is longer and faster than the original design.
Each SUP is made with a double-layer dropstitch PVC with an EVA traction pad, so it holds up just as well as any modern SUP. Since it’s inflatable, you should also be able to collapse it into a compact pile, making it very convenient to bring to your local rapids, as well as store in the garage once you go back home.
The Riverskate is available now, priced at $999 for the 120L and $1,149 for the 150L.
