New Salida company takes shape; Badfish Riverboards

Badfish Riverboard from on Vimeo.

This spring, when you see surfers ripping the Ark river holes, go introduce yourself, it may be Mike Harvey or Zack Hughes, two locals who have created a stir within the stand up paddle industry by creating a line of highly unique boards designed for traditional surfing —on mountain rivers. Thank’s to CKS for posting this great piece, and all the best to Mike and Zack from the Citizen Team!

Q:When was the first time that you actually river surfed one of your own creations? What wave was it? How’d it go?

Zack: For the first river surfboard creation, I chopped the ends off a surfboard, glued some foam to the deck, mounted some foot straps on it and sunk to the bottom before I ever left the eddy. A few years went by then I made some home insulation boards and we surfed them in Salida, Canon City and Pueblo. The original boards always bogged down a bit as they were under volume for river waves. 
Mike: Zack built me the first Chubby stick last winter at my request. He was making regular surfboards for the river and had made a shape that worked pretty well. I was getting into SUP and saw the potential for a non-surfer, kayaker like me to be able to surf on my feet with a pretty minimal surfing background. I asked Zack to make me a super short SUP that was based on the shapes he thought were working the best in the river. He came up with the Chubby Stick. My first session on it was in April of 2010 on the Scout Wave in Salida (a wave I had just designed and built with the idea that it would be a good stand up wave), it was cold, the water was low and I could not come out of the water I was having so much fun. I called Zack right away and told him that I wanted to partner with him on Badfish. I was sold instantly.

Q:How long have you been building your own river boards? What made you want to design your own?

A:I started building boards at night in my garage about 4-5 years ago. The first prototypes were made from blue board home insulation foam, we wanted to surf in the river for the last few years but just could not find a board that consistently was able to ride the smaller waves that are more common during the season in Colorado. It was great for a few weeks when the water was high but I wanted to be surfing in July at 700cfs when it was 90 degrees out. The Chubby Stick made this a reality.

Q:Is the BadFish a surf board or SUP?

A(Mike): The Badfish Chubby Stick is a river surf board. The goal was to find a board that would surf the “normal” conditions found on whitewater rivers all over the place, not just 3 weeks a year in places like Jackson and Glenwood. There are aspects of SUP boards, shortboards and kayaks in the Chubby Stick design. Using a paddle to surf a Chubby Stick makes the board work better and for someone that is already a kayaker the paddle really just makes sense. However for non-kayakers we have found that the paddle can create a lot of extra things to think about when you are learning to river surf and so some people prefer to learn without the paddle. Ultimately it is my opinion that using a SUP paddle makes your rides more fun, the paddle allows you to stay on the wave and perform powerful cutbacks.

Q:What types of waves are these boards good for?

A(Mike):I have been amazed at how many different waves are fun on the Chubby Stick. Some weren’t even waves. I have ridden spots in Gunnison and in a whitewater park in Springfield, Ohio that most kayakers would have called holes. The Chubby Stick makes features that most kayakers would not bother with, more fun. One of our goals over the next year will be to get Badfish boards to a variety of spots to show people how much fun they can have on their local river with the right tool. That being said since I have been to nearly every whitewater park in the US, I can say for sure that every one of those parks has a feature you can ride on a Chubby Stick. I surfed some waves on a river that was running 150cfs 2 weeks ago and had a great time.

Q:Where do you want to take this company in the future (or just general long term vision for river surfing)? Are you just focusing on park and surf? Any downriver ambitions?

A(Mike):We have the best tool for river surfing. There are a lot of companies doing incredible things with SUP, but if you want to surf a river our board is the best option. So for now we are going to concentrate on what we do best. That being said Zack is a innovator first and foremost so long term Badfish will be a place for Zack and I to express our creativity and come up with cool products for the environment in which we live, Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.

Q:Where do you see the future of surfing ( standing up ) in the rivers……?

A(Mike):It is so new that the future for now is just about turning people on to how much fun they can have surfing in their backyard. I am typing this right now in Maui and one of the really cool things I have discovered is what a great training tool surfing the Chubby Stick on the river is for surfing in the ocean. I have done a little surfing before but I am so much more dialed in now that I am able to surf the river all summer long.

Q:Can you elaborate on the success you are seeing now with new users of you river surf boards?

A(Mike):People are loving SUP, anyone that is near the water can see that. It is really fun watching people try the Chubby Stick for the first time. It is so much easier than people assume. One time this past summer I gave the board to a classic eddy flower who wanted nothing to do with the wave in her kayak. 2-3hrs later I could barely pry the board away from her. For some people that are a little apprehensive about flipping over in their kayak the Chubby Stick is less threatening.

Q:How are the boards constructed?

A(Mike): Right now every Badfish board is hand shaped by Zack Hughes in Salida. Really nothing works as well for surfing as a hand shaped board. The boards are tough, we have seen very little damage to our prototype boards despite not being the least bit careful with them to try and really put them to the test. That was one of our earliest concerns was that the boards would not hold up to the river…they do. That being said we are working on something new…stay tuned.

Q:What is badfish doing different, what makes the chubby stick unique?

A(Zack):The first thing that makes the Chubby Stick different is the increased volume, the board is over 5 inches thick which allows you to plane and stay on smaller features. the volume does not come for free as it can make the board unstable as well. That’s were the rail on the chubby stick comes into play, it allows the board to have an aggressive rail down low where it meets the current but maintain the needed volume in the center of the board. The rail also has crazy secondary stability when leaned over on edge. next is the bow of the Chubby. We realized after many days in small river waves that the round classic long board bow can present some problems. As you cut back and forth on tight river wave you can actually trip over the side of the nose of the board, the round bow catches in the current and limits the amount of carving, the chubby stick bow does not bit as you aggressively cut back and forth. Our boards have a unique tear drop type of shape with a narrow tail for responsive turning and a wider front end for a solid SUP paddling position, Finally the fin placement on the boards are back where you need them, the chubby is designed to be driven with your foot at the back of the board, directly over the fins, you can have a quad setup for ultimate ripping or go with the thruster for more forgiving carving.

Q:How many boards are you making per year?

A(Mike):As many as people want! Seriously Zack is cranking out boards right now for people however we are not some surfboard company stamping out epoxy boards in China. Every board is hand shaped by our master shaper. You even get your name on the bottom of the board so that everyone knows you have a one of kind river surfing tool.

Q:When is the last time that you kayaked?

A(Mike):I still like to paddle my wildwater (downriver racing kayak) 2-3 times/week. I love the workout and it is super fun to cut through pools and rapids in a 14 foot composite boat. I play boated maybe 5 times this year and did not go creeking once. I love whitewater paddling but for the last 17 years I have paddled an average of 100 days/year and I needed something new to keep the stoke alive. I still love running rivers with my family in our raft but river surfing has been a fun new challenge. Most people don’t realize it in the Ark Valley and Zack is too modest to talk about it but he was truly a early rock star of freestyle kayaking. Zack used to be right in there with all the old pros like Clay Wright, Dan Gavere and Mark Lyle. He was a rodeo star and literally had a bidding war going after the ‘96 FIBark contest between all the kayak companies. Zack used to guide NOC kayak trips on Class 4/5 creeks and rivers in Honduras.

Q:Do you think that rive parks will continue to have waves modified, or new features created that cater to river surfing?

A(Mike):The short answer is any park I am involved in because a good surfing spot will be fun for everyone else too. Really though you can surf almost any feature short of a total pour-over on a Chubby Stick.