Riverboards find a niche in both fun and rescue ops

Riverboarding (verb): a boardsport where the participant lies prone on a board, wearing fins on the feet for propulsion and steering.

So says Wikipedia. But for entrepreneurs Darryl Brown and Rick Leitner, riverboarding is a way of life, both in and out of the water.

A self-admitted extreme sports junkie, Brown, who works as the director for cardiology and respiratory services at Boulder Community Hospital, first discovered riverboarding while on a water skiing vacation with his neighbor Rick Leitner in 2003.

“Both of us had heard about riverboarding, but we didn’t know much about it, and we didn’t have much whitewater experience,” he said. “I started doing research on the internet, and we figured it would be a great way to get into some whitewater action in Colorado.”

The two decided to take the plunge and make their own riverboard.

“We didn’t have any preconceptions of how they were supposed to be made, so we literally started our own design from the ground up,” he said. “When spring came, we couldn’t wait to get out on it. We started out slow — and it was a blast.”

Throughout the spring of 2004 the two entrepreneurs fine-tuned their board, adding enhancements to the prototype until they were satisfied with the end result.

“When we got it to where it was performing beautifully, we realized that we were on to something,” he said. “That’s when we formed the company and started in our production run.”

By combining Brown’s business and marketing expertise with the manufacturing talents of Leitner, who helps develop circuit boards for the aerospace industry, Rocky Mountain RiverBoards was born.

Today, Rocky Mountain RiverBoards is one of only four riverboard manufacturers in the U.S. While this may conjure up images of a streamlined factory with an assembly line, the company is actually about as grassroots as a business can be.

Throughout the winter months, Brown and Leitner manufacture and stock the boards — all from their garage workshop in Lafayette.

The two entrepreneurs still do everything themselves, from taking the orders to carving out and assembling the boards, which are made from high floatation durable ABS rigid plastic and foam.

“Basically with both of us working, it takes about two hours to make a board — but there’s a lot of sweat equity in this,” said Brown, who sold 47 riverboards last year. “We want to continue to make the boards ourselves, and we can handle two more years of doubling our sales, before we have to hire staff.

“We don’t want to farm it out or send production overseas, because that’s not how we want this business to grow,” he added. “We prefer natural growth, instead of making a mint of money and seeing the boards botched up by someone else.”

Sales at Rocky Mountain RiverBoards have virtually doubled each year. And with six different styles available this year, ranging in price from $225-$475, Brown said that more riverboards have sold so far in the first quarter of 2008 than during the entire first half of last year.

The greatest percentage of sales, Brown said, comes through the company website, www.rockymountainriverboards.com. However, the riverboards are also sold through five dealerships, including two in Colorado. Orders come in from as far afield as Germany, Brazil and even Indonesia.

And, of course, a great deal of marketing is by word of mouth — thanks to the burgeoning popularity of the sport.

“The first year, people saw our boards on the river and said, ‘What the heck is that?’ But now, they see them and say, ‘Hey, cool, riverboards!’” Brown said.

And while riverboarding enthusiasts account for most of the sales, Brown said that his product has a uniquely practical aspect as well. Rocky Mountain RiverBoards also specializes in the manufacture of rescue riverboards, which are designed especially for search and rescue efforts, and are sold at a discounted price to emergency rescue organizations.

“Rescue boards are wider on the front so there’s more room to put the rescued person,” Brown said. “And they’re also a lot lighter, so you can carry them to the water’s edge and get them in the river quick. There’s also a rescue hook, because there are times when rescue crews need to pull victims out.”

Rocky Mountain RiverBoards has just released a new rescue board designed for ice-rescue operations, with two forward-mounted rescue hooks as well as an additional hook mounted in the rear, for roping and extraction maneuvers.

In addition to supplying search and rescue riverboards for Boulder Emergency and Arvada Search and Rescue, the company also supplies rescue riverboards for two Summit County operations — the Lake Dillon Fire Protection District and the Summit County Water Rescue Team.

Brown said that his search and rescue boards are enhanced with new improvements every season, thanks to the feedback he receives from regional search and rescue teams.

“The whitewater rescue market is still completely untapped and unknown,” Brown said. “We’d like to eventually get our riverboards out to rescue groups nationwide.”

In the meantime, Brown and Leitner are looking forward to the spring thaw on one of their three “home” rivers — the Poudre, the Arkansas and Clear Creek — so they can get back to the good life and, according to the company’s mission slogan, “enjoy the extreme face-first rush of white water riverboarding.” And this summer, Brown predicts that the sport will be more popular than ever.

“The investment in riverboarding gear is less than in kayaking or rafting, and you can store a riverboard in the back of any economy car,” Brown said. “It’s only necessary to have basic protective gear — a helmet, a swiftwater-approved flotation device, shin guards and fins and a wetsuit.

“After that, all you need is a Rocky Mountain RiverBoard — and a little bit of courage,” he said.