Rip Board

Instructor and owner Shane Bolling took a trip to the country of New Zealand where he found the locals taking to the rapids on small body boards. Shane grew up in Colorado and knew such a thing would be popular on their rapids so after learning the basics he took the sport back to the US and ended up founding Rip Boarding.
The waters of Golden, CO are the current home for Shane’s rip boarding instruction. The best time of year to learn how to rip board is in the later part of spring when the snow from the winter in the Rockies is melting into the river and making the rapids. This time frame runs from Memorial Weekend into the end of June. Shane keeps track of the ‘cc’ levels of the river to make sure things are just right so that you can get on the best waves.
Of course you are going to have to share the rapids with other water loving enthusiasts. Rip Boarding entails donning a helmet, wet suit, life jacket, knee pads, shin guards and flipper fins and taking to the rapids on the small «rip board». Shane will lead you and your group (when I went it was just a friend and me) from the starting point of Clear Creek Whitewater Park and into the water. The water is FREEZING so thank god for the wet suit! You will do some practice moves to learn the basics of how to paddle and turn in the shallow, calm waters off the park. Once it comes time to hit the water Shane will drive you down in his truck to the better more active part of the river where you will take off! If you want to stay with Shane you can or you can go out on your own. I wanted to learn more on my own so after initial instruction I rode down the rapids by myself.
Keep in mind you will be riding the rapids like a body boarder meaning you will be keeping your chest and head low to the board. The water moves very rapidly this time of year with nice, white peak rapids and small water falls. There are a lot of sharp rocks so be careful! Rocks and kayakers are your biggest worry. Shane tries to stay ahead of you to signal when there are big rocks and he tries to get the kayakers out of the way when you are coming down the fast rapids on your rip boards as they have much more control than you do. Sometimes though it is really hard to maneuver so you just have to be careful. You are probably going to go underwater for a bit on some of the bigger rapids so if you are scared of water this is not for you. If you learn how to maneuver your board correctly you can take a really nice ride down the river.
There is one section of the river where Shane will stop and teach you how to surf on some of the biggest rapids which means you catch the rapid on your board and hold steady on the water for as long as you can (much like rafters do in a raft). This was hands down my most favorite part of the instruction! I was able to naturally surf the rapid the first time I tried which was a really exciting thing. Shane was very impressed and he had a water proof camera where he took pictures and video. Shane will be filming parts of the journey for you. You can request for him to send it to you after the trip so ask him about this.
The river runs into the Coors plant to make Coors beer and the views are really beautiful from the river. Shane is a great instructor and he provides all the equipment as part of the fee. You can select to do 2 or 4 hours with him. One couple I met right before our instruction has been rip boarding with Shane for years. I am absolutely going to time my next trip next year to Colorado for the same time of year so that I can go back and learn more rip boarding experiences with Shane. He is worth it!