By John Grace

The RV smelled and looked unusually clean. Woody was commenting on how Friday night had become nearly as busy as Saturday night at Gauley Festival. Piano Bob was howling in the distance. These are the memories I was having as I pulled open the RV door after storing the final pieces of equipment from the nights LVM premiere. It was about 12:30 AM, I was done for the day and ready to go to sleep.

“I’ve raised $40 and Will is going to get the other $10 by streaking the festival”  Shrager grumbles as I stepped out of the RV. The comment I made earlier about taking a Versa Board down the Upper Gauley for $50 was about to come back to haunt me. After a hilarious demonstration of party streaking, Shrager handed me $50. Uh oh.

Before I get too far into this story let it be known I am in no way a great stand up paddler. I have taken a Versa Board down the lower Green (class 2) a half dozen times and been in the surf on a Laird another half dozen times. I can surf, brace pretty well and pull it through the water, but in no way would I consider myself an expert stand up paddler. What I do have on my side is 20 years of whitewater experience, a good understanding of water and 50+ runs down the Upper Gauley.

The big day started, oddly enough, with a trip to Wal-Mart. One thing I knew about SUP is that when the going gets tough, kneel down. $4.99 later I had a pair of old school volleyball knee pads and it was off to the put in.

With a strong support team including, Nate Elliot, Glenn Laplant, Woody Callaway, Riley Cathcart, and a host of others already waiting we set off. The first few rapids were mellow and I began testing various techniques through the wave trains and holes. I quickly realized that punching holes was really not an option standing up. Although the Versa Board is a great craft I think the upper G is a bit more demanding than what the thing was actually designed for. I did figure out a golden technique for making it through big holes though. It consisted of getting into a low four point stance and grabbing the rails at the same time. It is a technique I call the “power duck dive”. This allowed me to hold the paddle, board and myself upright all at the same time when plowing into holes. Once this technique was figured out the plan really came together. It went something like this: Plan A If the rapid has little consequences try and stand up the whole way. Plan B if the rapid has consequences kneel down and canoe paddle to safety. Plan C if you hit a big hole “power duck dive it”. Plan D don’t let go of the board if you fall off and scramble back on. Thankfully I never had to go beyond plan D.

I was nervous at Initiation simply because of the rapid’s reputation. A quick canoe paddle and I was through. Everything was going well, standing up most of the way, with only one fall while messing around on an eddyline in class 3. It was time for the first big rapid and to see what was really going to happen when I hit class 5. Charging down the center line with Riley close by for safety we greased Initiation. Standing back up in time to enjoy the boils below the surfing wave I felt good.

From here I stood up through more and more rapids with only quick “power duck dives” to get through holes. Seemingly right around the corner was Pillow Rock.

During Gauley Fest Pillow Rock is a full on show. From the countless raft flips, kayak beatdowns and swimming canoeist there is always action. After a quick scout I knew it was my turn to be the show. My goal was to stand up all the way to the pillow and splat it on my 12 foot long Versa Board. From there I knew I would swim but felt it safe enough. Man how sick that would have been. What actually happened was I stood up for about 50 feet and was knocked immediately to my knees. I rode it out all the way to the pillow where I was promptly ejected from the board, but not before I got a wave in to the crowd. Everyone cheered and I acted stoked but in reality was already thinking about lost paddle.

Lost Paddle was my biggest concern. It was the lack of large pools and high number of sieves that had me worried and I knew that if I did lose my board the swim would suck! I decided at the top to not even try and stand up through this rapid and once again try to canoe my way to safety. It went amazingly well. With one quick fall off and get back on at second drop Lost Paddle was greasy smooth. Although fatigue was setting in spirits were high with only Iron Ring and Sweets left to go.

Iron Ring was my worst line of the day. I tried to stand up but fell off at the first big wave/hole and swam pretty much the whole drop. I didn’t hit any rocks and managed to self rescue, but it was still lame.

By this point I was really tired. Anyone who has ever tried to SUP on moving current or in the surf knows how much balancing work is involved. Every muscle from your hands to your feet are working. I’m always compelled by the physics of how pulling on the paddle can transfer energy through the paddle shaft, into the arms, down the shoulders, through the core, eventually through the feet, finally forcing the board to move. It truly is a full body workout and I was feeling it!

Sweets here we come. With a big crowd watching we rolled into sweets without stopping. I decided to just take it down the meat and try to ride it out. It almost worked. I made it thorough the hole but flipped to my off paddle side at the last minute. Lots of cheer and good vibes greeted me as I floated slowly back to the surface. It was over, only a quick class 3 paddle out and I could collect my 50 bones.

People have asked if I consider the run a success, would recommend SUP on the Upper G, or would I do it again. With 9 swims and never losing my board I was personally psyched, it’s up in the air as to whether that is a success. In regards to recommending someone take a SUP down the Upper G the short answer no. It was one of the more dangerous things I have done on the river. The long answer leans toward yes, but only under certain conditions. Make sure you have a solid team of safety. At any given point I had a minimum of five people ready for a rescue, all of them seasoned watermen. Make sure you know whitewater and especially the Upper Gauley River very intimately. As well make sure you have a good plan b, c and d. It is a serious challenge and I don’t want to understate the difficulty. Finally would I do it again? One things for sure it’s going to cost a lot more than $50 next time!