Riverboarding: Like Kayaking, but Crazier

Here’s another sport that, despite common sense, had to happen. The boards were there, the rapids were there, and the insane people were well, everywhere. It was just a matter of time before the insane people started riding the boogie boards down the rapids. Then the boogie boards evolved to river boards, which are actually designed to be ridden down rapids, and the insane people were given the kind of encouragement that everyone would have been better off without. Too late now. As this piece in the New York Times reports, several thousand river boarders now get their kicks cascading down swollen mountain streams, mainly in the American West, on short foam and plastic boards. The paper warns that the sport, which originated in New Zealand, is heading east fast, and may arrive in full force this summer. The good news, the Times suggests, is that river boarding allegedly allowed one lost middle-aged soul to avert a mid-life crisis.