The water levels have been up just enough to provide my husband and I with some fantastic SUPing conditions this week!
We decided to throw our ShuBu's in the car and head out past Patrick Henry High School in Ashland where there's a little river called South Anna river that winds around some farmlands, a golf course, private homes and untouched wooded areas.
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We parked at a boat landing just past Patrick Henry High that had a wide grassy area perfect for blowing up our boards.
The first challenge we encountered as we got on the water was getting comfortable with the strength of the current.
We both paddled upstream for a few minutes to find our rhythem and once comfortable, turned our boards around to face challenge #2, a small dam about 20 feet down river from the boat landing.
Because I had my camera with me (as usual) and a bag of other items (Blackberry, snack, keys, first aid kit, etc.) I didn't want to take any chances of falling in and possibly flipping my board. So I stayed on my butt going over the dam. I have to say, I was really impressed with how the ShuBu handled it! Because we'd removed the middle fins from our boards we were being turned whichever way the river wanted...but in turn that allowed us to maintain better balance. Our boards were never trying to go against the river. We just went with the flow. Literally.
Once we cleared the dam we paddled under the bridge we'd driven in on (I would have loved to see any reactions of motorists looking down to see two stand up paddle boarders gliding along the river).
Scores of birds and bugs could be heard as we quietly paddled along.
Turtles popped up here and there.
The sun was shining.
It was perfect.
Various obstacles presented themselves to us on our journey, including fallen trees, spider webs, rocks and a few more bouts of rapids.
It felt like white-water-rafting only standing up!
It.was.awesome.
I apologize for not having pictures of that...but I was nervous enough as it was to have the camera sitting in a dry bag attached to my board.
At some point during our trip we happened upon a rope swing.
Had the water not been a bit too cold, I would have completely taken advantage of it!
The obstacles (like the fallen tree trunk pictured above) continued throughout our journey which was very much enjoyed by my husband and I.
We didn't see another soul on the water (apart from a fantastically good-looking blue heron) throughout the entire 3 hours it took us to paddle (downstream) from Patrick Henry High to Blunts Bridge.
Once we reached Blunts Bridge we docked on some farm land and phoned my mother-in-law to come pick us up and drive us back to the boat landing.
Having boards that can be deflated is SOOOOOOO easy if you're relying on someone else to give you a ride! =)
All in all, a FANTASTIC paddle!
Good for beginners but also good for a work-out (especially when you take off the middle fin).
I highly recommend giving South Anna River a try if you have a Stand Up Paddleboard and love some free-styling flatwater.
1 comment:
where is this place?
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