If you’ve ever tried paddling a prone paddleboard, you know it’s one of the best water workouts in existence, and it pretty much activates every muscle you’d ever use for surfing–and a few you wouldn’t. Prone surf races have been part of the waterman fabric since the dawn of playing in the ocean. And Jack Bark–son of shaper Joe Bark and a craftsman himself–is helping the pursuit through a bit of a renaissance (after his father basically helped keep the sport alive on the West Coast).
Check out Jack and the Bark team as they re-imagine the use of prone boards during a recent trip to Hood River. They charge whitewater on the Deschutes, surf downwind bump on the Columbia River and shred a wave kicked up by an actual river boat carrying tourists between Oregon and Washington. Those little cutbacks are pretty rad, too.