Stand Up Paddleboarding - lakes, bikinis, beaches, waves, selfies, yoga...that’s about the gist of it right?. For many folks that may be true, but here in the Highlands of Scotland there is a small niche of the sport that is truly exciting and boundary pushing - Whitewater. We are blessed with an abundance of the wet stuff falling from the sky year round and this finds its way into our plethora of varied rivers to create a SUP playground unlike many places on earth.

The niche discipline of Whitewater SUP is still pretty small and has until recently been pioneered to such Whitewater legends as Dan Gavere and Corran Addison, steeped in Kayaking and Canoeing tradition. They have pushed the designs of SUP boards to the limit in order to find out what works for the punishing environments they can find themselves in. Boards tend to be inflatable or plastic (glass, rigid boards can be destroyed easily in this unforgiving environment) and take many design features (planing hulls for example) from Kayaking. There may be required extra safety equipment such as pads and throwlines, again taken from the Kayaking world.

It was an experienced Whitewater Kayaker that I first discovered Whitewater SUP, and the first thing that I found out that it is hard!. I swam a lot, and continue to swim loads to this day. However that is the nature of the beast and the ease of getting back on a SUP compared to a Kayak negates this fact (and it is a fact!). The fact it was a tough challenge is what appealed to me as I found myself excited and challenged on river sections that had become easy in my Kayak. A fresh love for the local rivers unfurled itself. Paddling a SUP down a rapid is very different to a kayak; the extra height gives you a different perspective, you can see further and inspect a section without stopping. This gives the rapids a new look and feeling to them. A good knowledge of Whitewater, its features and safety is key as is going on the river with good people around you who you can trust in. For Whitewater Kayakers/Canoeists this will hopefully be fairly second nature but for folks coming from a purely SUP background then get in touch with a SUP Comany offering Whitewater courses or tours.

Being such a new SUP category, the likelihood of other SUP’ers having paddled your river or section is not that high, especially here in the Highlands, so the kudos of having a first SUP descent is there to add to the stoke of the trip itself!!.