He takes playboating seriously

John Scelba, 43, of Stillwater, NJ, is about to become a two-time Guinness World Record holder. His standing record, for the longest stern stall, is in the books. His current attempt at a new record, which would blow the previous title for longest bow stall out of the water (sorry), is under review. There’s personal glory in holding not one but two worldwide superlatives, of course. But Scelba, an environmental project manager, also wants to elevate the “niche within a niche within a niche” of flatwater freestyle kayaking, or messing around in a kayak just about anywhere – pool, lake or river.

How’d you get into kayaking?

I’ve been on the water most of my life. I grew up basically next to the Delaware River [in Northern NJ], so we were always going out there. And then, sometime in college [Wilkes University in Wilkes-Barre, PA], a friend of mine had a kayak, a recreational kayak, and I started messing around with that. Back then I fished, so I went and got my own kayak, figuring that I could get to places that normally weren’t really accessible.

Then slowly that turned into river running with the kayak. Then suddenly we’re getting whitewater boats and getting swiftwater rescue trained and running waterfalls and stuff. And it kind of just progressed from there. I started whitewater in about 2009. I was one of those guys, it was more like point A to point B, you know? We put in on the river, and the point of the day was to get to the takeout and be done – be happy we survived, sort of thing.

But over time, I started to do more surfing and playing in the eddies and on eddy lines and things like that. Around Covid, it kind of took over for me, where that became more of a focus, because travel was restricted and everything. Just getting out to your local spot, you’d be grateful for that. So I got into smaller boats and started doing freestyle a lot more. I’d go to my local lakes and go out to the Delaware and the Mongaup River, and just play and have a good time, enjoy what you have kind of thing.

What sparked the idea of going for a world record?

A few years ago, I had some friends saying that there’s a world record for some of the stuff that I was doing, like the stern stall thing. It’s this trick where you hold the boat vertically with your back end in the water, and you just kind of brace and balance like that. I was already doing it for over 10 minutes, just playing around. A friend had mentioned that was better than the world record. So a couple years later I ended up actually applying and going through with it. I did beat that record [in 2024]. So I currently hold the stern stall record: 30 minutes and 14 seconds. That beat the prior record, which was only 9 minutes and 59 seconds – tripled it, basically. And in that attempt, there were time constraints and we kind of chose 30 minutes is when we would stop. But I do plan to break that again. I was actually kind of hoping that somebody else would beat it so that I could, you know, beat them, and there might be a little bit of a back and forth kind of a thing, but that hasn’t happened yet. So I may do that next year.

Did you have to train? It looked pretty low-key watching the video of you setting the bow stall record, but it can’t be that easy.

I think the tricky part for a lot of people is just the skill of getting into that position, being able to hold it in balance like that. I’ll be honest, once you get there, it’s not really all that hard. I’ve had people say, ‘I can go for an hour and a half.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s fine, break the record.’ So I’m not sure what stops other people from breaking the record – the stern stall record, because I do think that that’s relatively easy. I was surprised that it was only 10 minutes when I did it, to be honest with you.

That said, yes, I did have to do some training. And a lot of that was just me out having fun in the river and playing. If you were to talk to anybody who knows me out on the river, I don’t stop, you know? I’m going all the time, trying to find things to do, and so once I knew that there was a record, I did a little bit of practicing doing the move, how long can I hold it for kind of thing. To this day, I still have never maxed out. I’ve gone about 90 minutes, and I never couldn’t do it anymore. It was always a choice to come down. So the next time I do it, I want to try to max it out. I want to go as long as I possibly can.

For the bow stall record, the one I did more recently, that hasn’t been officially approved yet – it’s pending Guinness review right now. But for that one, I did a lot more training. The bow stall was significantly more difficult. I spent probably a year working on that, even a year and a half. I was having problems with my legs going numb. I’d get to about 10 to 15 minutes, and my legs would just go numb to the point that they would hurt and I wouldn’t be able to walk afterward for a while. I’d have to sit there for 10 or 15 minutes to get the feeling back.

Is there pressure being put on your legs while you’re in the bow stall position?

Yes. You’re kind of standing up, but on your tippy toes. So I’m standing like that in a weird position for the length of time. I don’t know if it’s a pinched nerve or what, but I know that the guy who did it before me, guy from the UK, his name is Liam Robson, he actually said that his legs went numb as well. So I don’t think that’s unique to me. He did it for 24 minutes. I beat his to make it 30 minutes and 34 seconds.

How did you overcome the numb legs problem?

I tried to take some pressure off my legs by losing weight. At the time, I was probably almost 250 pounds. I dropped 40 pounds and I do think that helped; also getting in better shape. I started lifting weights and doing calisthenics, riding my exercise bike and just eating better, doing a lot of sit-ups and ab crunches and things like that. I would say that the hardest part is on your legs though. It’s interesting that you’re in a kayak, but yeah, it’s the hardest on your legs – and your back. Yeah, that one was harder; very, very, very much harder. I’d say the stern stall was a cake walk in comparison.

Why did you feel like setting a record was something you wanted to work to do?

Well there’s personal glory and all that, of course. But also, I did want to bring attention to freestyle kayaking, and in particular, flatwater freestyle kayaking. It’s a niche within a niche within a niche. Just trying to get the word out that there’s more we can do and more we can take advantage of, especially in areas where whitewater isn’t as accessible. Some people live in the mountains and that’s great, but some people don’t, and it’s hard to get to quality whitewater. So this is a way to have exposure in urban areas or places where the water quality is not so good, you can go to a pool, or if there is good water quality, go to a lake. You don’t need rapids to go out and have fun.

In looking up your record, I encountered a new word: playboating. I like that. My husband and I go out on the Delaware, and he’s always messing around in the eddies. And I’m like, hurry up. But he’s having the time of his life; he’s playboating, I guess. Tell me about playboating.

When I first started, I was more of a survival boater, point A to point B. But playboating kind of maximizes your time on the water, where instead of just running down a feature, you’re picking it apart into smaller pieces and really skill building. So if you’d like to progress in the world of whitewater, that’s one thing I always suggest, is to try to break down a rapid into smaller parts. Because if you can do it on this river that’s a little bit easier, that’s those skills you’re going to need to break down a more difficult rapid on a bigger river – break it down and catch all the eddies and make difficult moves. It starts with doing these kinds of things on easier rivers, where it’s less consequential. I think that’s more beginner friendly, or at least accessible for people coming into the sport. I feel like in this YouTube and social media age, there’s this big push to go straight to class five. People want to go run the big thing, because that’s what they see. I guess this is just my different take on it, that we can really have a great time, but without going to straight to the big stuff.

What next?

I’m gonna be honest – with the bow? I don’t want to do it again. If somebody beats it, hats off. Good for you. Because, yeah, that took a lot. I’m not sure I want to put my legs through it again. There’s a little bit of concern about nerve damage, you know? That’s why I had to keep practicing limited. Once I started getting numb, I would come down voluntarily, because I didn’t want to do this repeatedly, and create a situation where I’d have a problem later in life.

I guess nobody knows the long-term effects of staying in that position for that long.

Exactly. So I didn’t want to be the guinea pig.

You want to be the Guinness holder, not the guinea pig.

[Laughs]. Exactly.

After setting the records, how did your body feel? Were you sore?

For the bow stall, yes, I was pretty sore for about four or five days, my back muscles and my legs. I couldn’t walk for about 10 minutes afterward, couldn’t even move my legs. It’s funny. There were some pictures where I’m just laying on the floor celebrating. But that was anticipated. I’d actually talked to everyone about that. I said, ‘I’m probably not gonna be able to walk.’ So they actually pulled me out of the pool in my boat, which I didn’t know they were gonna do that. They pulled me right out, up onto the edge while I was still in my boat, and then I got out. But yeah, I was pretty sore. Even for the stern stall, I was pretty sore for that too. I had a hard time putting my sock on my left foot after that one, I remember.

How does it feel to be a world record holder?

It feels great. It’s something nobody can ever take away from me. Sure someone can beat it, but I got to experience that and have that in my life. That said, there’s really no fame with it either. I mean, I guess a few more people maybe acknowledge me out on the river.