SUP Pony Pasture - Richmond, Va

Mother Nature has been extra generous this month!

She gave us yet ANOTHER gorgeous Saturday for SUPing Virginia's waterways.

This weekend we decided to check out one of Richmond's hubs for water activities; Pony Pasture off of Riverside Dr.

This area of the James River is great for canoeing, kayaking, swimming, tubing and in certain areas; whitewater rafting.

We walked downriver a bit to get a good feel for what would be in store for us and decided we'd rather just figure it out on the water!  Adventure is great!

The plan (or non-plan I should say) was to put in at Pony Pasture, go as far downriver as possible with our ShuBu's and then turn around and paddle back up-river for a good work-out.

Several kayakers put in as we pumped our boards up, one of them saying to the other "Wow, now I feel lazy that we get to sit down in our kayaks."

It's so fun for us to see or hear the reactions of people when they see us pumping up our boards, paddling on our boards or deflating our boards.

We get a LOT of questions and comments when we're out on the water too and are only too happy to talk about the sport and the boards.

Once our boards were pumped and ready, we got onto the water and immediately had to navigate through some very rocky waters (picture below: my board stuck on a massive rock).

Once we got around that first phase of rocks, we hit our first bout of rapids.

Jody wore a helmet for this portion since we're only just learning how to SUP through rapids!

I took the rapids nice and easy on my bum since I had my camera with me and did not have a helmet, nonetheless...it was so much FUN!

After the first round of rapids we hit a wonderfully calm and flat area where we could just cruise awhile.

Catfish swam beneath us, ducks kept their eyes on us, turtles sun-bathed around us....it was the most gorgeous day to be standing on water....

Further downriver we found a fantastic sandbar and started practicing walking up and down the boards, tricks, etc. all without fear of falling on rocks.

Pictured above, Jody is trying to perfect a front tail spin that Chesapeake Boardsport's Macky Hall taught him in Mathews County.  I have no idea if that is actually what it's called but you essentially walk to the front of the board, turn to face the back of the board and spin the board around 360 and then return to the back of the board.

Pictured above is me practicing quick (finless) turns and my new trick the "sumo-quake" (not pictured).  =)


After we played on the flat water we continued downriver until we could see (and hear) a second phase of rapids.

Because we got on the water without a game plan, we knew if we went through this second bout of rapids we wouldn't be able to get the boards back upriver. 

We parked the boards on the rocks just before the rapids and had some water and pop-tarts while we considered what to do next.

We had seen another area to get out of the water that opened up to a trail shortly after the first phase of rapids and decided when we paddled back upriver we would get out there.  But this second round would mean going further downriver and trying to find a ride back to Pony Pasture.

We continued lounging on the rocks, taking in the view of Powhite Parkway bridge and decided we'd turn back and paddle upriver this time, but that next time we'd park a car further downriver so we could have a longer (and more rapid) expedition.

The paddle back upriver was (as usual) much more difficult than we anticipated.  I keep forgetting that when you take the middle fin off of the board you don't keep true to the direction you want to be going in very well.  The plus side to that however, is you get a major work-out that you feel for the next two days.

We finally managed to get back to solid ground and deflated the boards.

Once everything was deflated and gathered up we packed on our Shubu's and trekked back to the car, already planning our next expedition.

Overall a GREAT area to paddle and try some smaller rapids, but only if you have an inflatable Stand Up Paddleboard; the rocks alone would destroy anything else.

ShuBu's rock!  =)