The world’s first ever tandem whitewater surf took place in Glenwood Springs yesterday when two-time tandem surfing world champion Kalani Vierra lifted Jen Koki into a series of three poses on the Colorado River. On their fifth attempt on the raging river, the duo succeeded in performing classic tandem moves such as the cradle, swan and "fake arm to arm" before flushing off the wave in the whitewater park.

Kayakers and other surfers in the river and on its banks screamed and applauded while cars honked their horns as they passed over the bridge above this one-year-old whitewater park as Vierra held Koki in his arms, then lifted her to his shoulders and over his head. “It really blew people’s minds,” Vierra said. Many of the onlookers had never seen or heard of tandem surfing before so Koki said she was swarmed with questions about the sport from people who she described as “really stoked.”

For her part, Koki said it was an honor to tandem surf with someone she had watched and admired for years especially while achieving a world first.

Vierra and Koki were in nearby Vail, CO,  this past week as part of a contingent of teammates from stand up paddle manufacturer C4 Waterman taking part in the inaugural stand up paddling (SUP) sprint and surfcross events at the prestigious Teva Mountain Games, dubbed the Olympics of mountain sports. When organizers of Teva Mountain Games cancelled all river events Sunday due to a high flow advisory, the duo took the unexpected free time to travel to Glenwood Springs to attempt to tandem surf at the whitewater park where the river was flowing at the highest levels so far this season, around 19,000 cfs (cubic feet per second).

Vierra and Koki both came to the Rockies with plenty of surf and stand up surfing competition credentials but neither had ever surfed on a whitewater river. Against a field of whitewater kayakers turned stand up paddlers who were far more acclimated to fast-running, ice-cold, high-altitude, snowmelt-fed rivers, Koki and Vierra who are most familiar with the warm ocean waters around their native Hawaiian homes quickly adapted to the new environment. Koki took third behind C4 Waterman teammates Jenny MacArthur and Nicole Duke of Colorado while Vierra placed ninth as C4 Waterman men locked down six of the top ten finishes during Teva Mountain Games’ inaugural three-mile downriver SUP Sprint event held Saturday on Gore Creek.

C4 Waterman co-founder Todd Bradley who brought a team of his top athletes to Vail in the company’s ongoing efforts to introduce stand up paddling inland said establishing a world first was the last thing he expected his team to be doing in Colorado but had no doubt in Vierra and Koki’s ability to do so. “It was hard enough just getting onto that wave alone, let alone while simultaneously holding someone above your head and dodging debris including massive tree stumps and logs flowing down the flood-swollen waters."