Hi. I’ve been riverboarding since 2003 and have traveled extensively around the southeast US to do it on various rivers. Riverboarding is a whitewater sport that is like ocean bodyboarding down a river, but on a beefier, more buoyant board . Riders wear fins, pads, and a wetsuit in addition to the standard whitewater gear of a PFD and helmet.
On this particular adventure trip down the New river gorge, I got to catch it at about 10 feet on the Fayette Station gauge which is getting close to the level that commercial raft outfitters have to stop running trips on the river ( 11 feet is the cut off ). I’ve gotten to experience the river at levels from 1 feet to 16 feet and each levels has it’s own amazing features. On this trip, I shuttled with some raft guides from a local boy scout camp who were doing their annual training in advance of their summer camp season.
I had a blast running all of the rapids and then got a special treat at the last rapid on the section, Fayette Station rapid. While the line is usually on river right, at levels between 9 and 12 feet another wave train develops on river left which includes Million Dollar Wave. I was stoked to finally get to experience this wave.
