If you’ve happened upon this site in the past, you’ve probably seen our features from Bryan and Camille Smith at Black Dog Paddle. They were the first company locally to offer instruction in stand up paddleboarding, including yoga classes on SUPs.

Ben Moore SUPs the James. Credit: Rich Young.

Now East Coast Board Sports has started offering classes, as well. And, as of last week, Riverside Outfitters was in on the action. RO, though, is the only group, at least for now, that offers guided whitewater trips. I hit the water with RO owner Matt Perry and SUP pros Dave Fary and Ben Moore this past week for my first SUP experience. I wrote about our Pony Pasture-to-Reedy Creek paddle in my column in today’s T-D.

I won’t ruin the suspense, but let me just say it was an absolute blast.