Ambassadors
Eric Swartz
Hometown
Zephyr Cove, Nevada
Favorite Hala board
Atcha 96
How many years have you been SUPing?
14 years regularly, though my family first got me on a board in 1973!
Tell us a little bit about yourself
Growing up canoeing rivers in Michigan and playing on the lakes instilled in me a deep love of the water at an early age. I started guiding multi-day river trips in canoes in college. I moved out west to Lake Tahoe after college and began paddleboarding on the lake regularly and whitewater rafting in the area. In 2010 I saw someone with a paddleboard on the river and was intrigued. I immediately bought a used inflatable surfboard and started paddling on the mellow sections of the Truckee and South Fork American Rivers.
In 2012 I took it on the Grand Canyon and paddled some of the flat water with it. In 2016 I SUP’ed about half of the Grand Canyon while rowing the big stuff. The next year I got my first Hala board, a Radito, and paddled the entire Grand Canyon on it. Since then I have run the Canyon four more times on both the Rado and most recently an Atcha 96. Though I often swim rapids it is a grand adventure. I hope to someday run the entire river clean :)
Over the past 3 years I have run the Green River through the Gates of Lodore and Dinosaur, Cataract Canyon, the Rogue, the Main and Middle Forks of the Salmon, Flaming Gorge, the Owyhee, the John Day, the Carson, the Truckee, South Fork American, and Middle Fork American to name a few. Also many lakes, including a circumnavigation of Lake Tahoe. Always up to exploring new territory and pushing myself to discover new ways of paddling.