Back in 1976 a few crazy French Rafting
Guides started running rapids on burlap sacks full of Life Jackets. They soon discovered how much fun it was and decided to
develop a board especially for doing it. River Boarding is known by the French and to most of the world as ‘hydrospeed’
although these are normally called a ’sledge’ here in New Zealand.In 1986 a young Kiwi Raft Guide by the name
of Ged Hay decided to go down the Mighty Shotover on a body board. After all it was over 2 hours to the nearest coast and
surfing spots! Finding the Shotover a bit shallow and bony (i.e. Ripping his wet suit to pieces) he decided to try the much
deeper Kawarau river instead. Over the following years he showed many friends, fellow raft guides, and a few strangers, how
to river board, by navigating a body board down the Kawarau river, and also how to surf standing river waves.(One of these
strangers he showed, Jon Imhoff, set up the worlds first commercial River Boarding company back in 1989.)See New Zealand-
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