Bungee Surfing Fights Upstream Battle

A new sport that uses bungee cords to shoot surfboarders up rivers at up to 30 mph has attracted enthusiasts around the world-but it remains illegal in the city of its birth. WSJ's Tim Aeppel reports.
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[@k9er233]

We used to do something similar to this back in the 70's in Northern Calif. We called it "River Surfing". We did not have bungees back then, but we would tie a 50 to 100 foot length of truck rope to a strong springy willow branch (or multiple branches bound together) on the bank above a rapid with standing waves. We built our boards out of plywood, with sand sprinkled on the top for extra grip before we clear-coated or painted the board. We attached the rope to somewhere in the first third of the bottom of the board depending on board shape, then ran a short rope with a dowel on it for our "ski-rope" type handle. For beginners, we used a tapered shape, a lot like the boogie boards of today, and for extra advanced tricks like 360's we would tie on a round board attached near the middle. The round board was hard to use, but allowed for some gnarly tricks if you could handle it. The natural springiness of the willow branches and the rigid truck rope together worked like a bungee cord, and allowed the surfer to lean way back almost horizontal until the pressure from the current had bent the willow as far as it could go, then you would bend your knees and shift your weight forward to rocket up on top of the water and shoot forward. If you were good at it , had a super springy strong willow and a big standing wave, you could jump clear out of the water. A good wide standing wave could be surfed side to side, sometimes completely back and forth across the river depending on the flow. You could surf backwards as well if your balance was good enough. For safety, we would station somebody at the willow with a good sharp dive knife, to cut the rope if anything went wrong, and would station at least two "rescue swimmers" downstream with a throw rope tied to a life vest just in case. Unfortunately, a few kids built theirs with the wrong kind of handle rope, a "Y" style like some of the water ski ropes had, and when they fell off the board, they could get a foot caught in the "Y" and end up dragging in the current with their head downstream (which is why we built ours with a "T" style handle, so this could not happen). After a couple of drownings the county outlawed the sport, and our fun was over, even with our safety crew and a better handle rope design, it was deemed too dangerous and was outlawed. Great fun on a hot summer day while it lasted. Of course, our folks never knew what we were doing. ;-)

[@deangoddley2061]

I have done this in 1986, was able to perform tricks , hand stans, and swivles, buy notching the board on eather side and having a loop rope around the eye hole of board so youu cam stand. Arlington wash👍

[@tanyaflynn5714]

We used to make ours out of garage door springs or cut up inner tubes on the kern river in California back in the 80's

[@brassbandmission1643]

I was doing this in 1996 in Eugene Oregon.

[@evancurry1279]

Where can i buy one

[@Kwoolsey1]

These still for sale

[@pavlosslavinskyi4871]

Where ?

[@Eryktion]

This is a really strange form of bungeesurfing with the rope attached to the board.
Watch my Video if you wanna see my completely different approach of bungeesurfing:
ruclips.net/video/gcK6oOvW8cI/видео.html

[@Robert-lw2tt]

The rope is not permanently attached. It comes loose when the bungee is done pulling. We ride with just a handle also, but kids and women have trouble with this.