Do you really need a river surf helmet? Yes but here is why.
In river surfing, the board hunts your head. Unfortunately no helmet will protect you 100%; well, except for one or two helmets that you will likely not use but may change your mind.
Scientific Testing of river surfing helmets.
Currently there are two universities testing helmets that are commonly used by river surfers, The Outside Lab @ CU Denver and the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab. The latter has a nice web page rating water helmets you can browse- https://www.helmet.beam.vt.edu/whitewater-helmet-ratings.html. There is also a possibility we might eventually get the various river surfing helmet we use in Colorado tested at The Outside Lab @ CU Denver.
RIVER SURFING HELMETS OPTIONS REVIEWS–
First, it is strongly suggested you dawn a helmet while river surfing. And even if you do use a helmet, you still need to protect your face in the secondary wave after coming off the river wave and when surfacing, by putting your hand(s) up.
Once again, river surfing borrows from from other sports for equipment such as helmets that does the job but with varying degrees of success.
We have listed out below some categories of helmets and some certain ocean surfing helmet brands/models for you to consider the pros and cons for river surfing helmet usage.
Bicycle Helmets:
- Pros: Cheap and easy to purchase
- Cons: Bike helmets are made with foam that takes on one hit and deteriorates. Also, lacks surf style to the upmost degree!!
Skateboard Helmets:
- Pros: Inexpensive, easy to find, comes in a soft foam version (soft foam is not rated for skateboarding). Skateboard style helmets are cool looking in the river but not really surf style.
- Cons: Pulls up on head while being dragged by the river current under water.
Snowboard Helmets:
- Pros: Similar to skateboard helmet but often has better adjustments to tighten the helmet on your cranium for less helmet chin drag under the water.
- Cons: Expensive and the one hit foam construction that possibly will deteriorate over time.
Rock Climbing Helmets:
- Pros: Inexpensive and easy to find in Colorado
- Cons: Need to see if comfortable for your head shape as you need to crank it down to stay on your head under the water without much chin strap lift.
Cheap SUP/Kayak Helmet:
- Pros: Easy to find and built for water use. Inexpensive.
- Cons: Not the most comfortable helmet.
Quality Kayak Helmet:
- Pros: Comfortable fit, adjustable, worth the couple bucks more than the inexpensive kayak helmets. Easy to find in Colorado.
- Cons: None really except would never see one in ocean surfing because would not work for “duck diving” waves. Though my quality kayak helmet allowed for a board hit to my head needing stitches just under the brim as it instantly slipped upwards during the impact.
Full-faced kayak helmets:
- Pros: Probably the safest helmet you can find for river surfing.
- Cons: None… but only a few river surfers are using full-faced. Needs to be branded for river surfing.
Gath Jedi:
- Pros: Legit surf helmet company. Their safest model. Works real well for river surfing.
- Cons: Not cheap at around $200. Hard to find for fit testing. Earp pieces have been known to fall off in the river if not installed properly.
Gath Eva Hat:
- Pros: Awesome surf helmet with safer forehead protection than the popular Gath Neo Hat.
- Cons: Very hard to find in the US. Fitness and comfort is unknown.
Gath RV Surf Helmet:
- Pros: Retractable visor…. Would this help prevent flush drowning?!?!? Needs testing!!!
- Cons: Not tested in river. Real hard to find in US. Received zero stars from Virginia Tech Helmet Lab.
Gath Neo Hat:
- Pros: Stealthiest comfortable surf helmet. Works well in under water river currents. Good ocean helmet. Easier to find in the US but still not an easy find.
- Cons: Neoprene forehead for comfort leaves the forehead exposed to hits. Received one stars by Virginia Tech Helmet Lab.
Decathlon Surf Helmet:
- Pros: Inexpensive surf helmet with thick neoprene rubber. Keeps head warm. Adjustable. Goes over wetsuit hood as well or the bare head. Does not lift off head under the water in the currents. Looks like a wetsuit hoody when worn.
- Cons: Online only and sells out fast. Durability is unknown but seems solid.
Simaba Surf Helmet:
- Pros: Sleek helmet that surf professionals are using now. Form fitting around head, forehead, ears, and lower jaw. Proven to work well in the river by bad ass ripping bodyboarder Andres at Wave Sixx and Scout.
- Cons: NOT RECOMMENDED $200 and has design flaw with unneeded hole in the back that easily caused the helmet to break in back of my car when seat back fell on it. Simba amazingly would not replace it. I fixed the helmet but is now not reliable. Very thin helmet…. People will also trip out on the gladiator style look, but those are people who are not in touch with modern surf trends if they do…. Hard to find in US for fitting. Though, Birds Surf Shed iconic surf shop in San Diego has them and can talk you through fitting.
Rugby Helmet:
- Pros: Looks cool. Low profile. Inexpensive
- Cons: Hard to find.
Hybrid Surf Helmet:
- Pros: Oakley just jumped in with a surf helmet using modern helmet material similar to bike helmets but with style. A number of surf pros were wearing the Oakley helmet during the 2024 Olympics at Tahiti’s big wave Teahupo’o on a very shallow reef. Virginia Tech Helmet Lab gave it 3 out of 4 stars.
- Cons: Not available until Nov 2024 (limited sales) and worldwide sales in 2025. Unknown price point.
Full Cage Hockey Helmet:
- Pros: OG river surfer Dave Schambach (namesake for Dave’s Wave as the first to surf it) took to wearing a full cage hockey helmet after a hard hit to his face by his board while river surfing Benni’s.
- Cons: Not so stylish…. But you got to do what you got to do when you almost get knocked out river surfing and want to get back on a board.
Comments for this river surf helmet article will be remain open so be cool… And remember, even when wearing a helmet, hand(s) up when surfacing because that board is looking for your face as well as your head even when wearing a helmet!
LBK
** Review updates 8/5/24***
The Denver Surf Report 
Great article! I have seen and performed CPR on someone who hit their head in the river, aspirated water, and died. He was very experienced and so were the people he was with. Doesn’t take much time at all.
Everyone should absolutely be able to make their own risk assessment and do as they see fit but please consider the consequences it will have to the progression of river surfing when an incident happens.
You should also add Sweet Protection Helmets to your list. They are the highest level of protection you can buy for water sports. https://www.sweetprotection.com/en-se/helmets/paddlesport/
I’m using a rock climbing helmet on the river! Specifically the Black Diamond Half Dome. It looks sleek, is light and dries fast, and offers great protection including the ability to tighten it! I grabbed mine during a sale at REI for just under $50.
Saw LBK at Benni’s the other day and he suggested I share here with the squad!
Two head hits below helmet line over the past weeks at Scout Wave in Salida and a Boise, ID surfer took a hit to the head recently without a helmet.
Last week at Scout, a surfer took a hit just under the back of the helmet. Description was the surfer saw a flash and later said, “this is must be one way you can die surfing the river”. Luckily no cut to the head but ding repair was needed to the board..
Then yesterday, I took the board to the right side of my forehead under the front of my Scrappy Kayak helmet on my second run at Scout kicking out the back surfer style but not doing my regular pump the back of the wave thus, even with two hands on the rails, the secondary wave smacked the board up into my forehead. Bled like a stuck pig the entire day despite waterproof bandaging and tape. Stitches were needed later that evening (hope no infection comes of it).
No helmet it perfect but no helmet (aka not wearing a helmet) ups the chances of a head hit. Your choice if to surf with a helmet or not. But in at least my hit, I was saying to myself, damn that was close to a “lights-out” hit as I was stunned briefly trying to keep my wits about staying conscious as I luckily was able to paddle to an easy eddy out spot.
I say it again and again; river surfing needs to do a better job in making proper gear available to surf river waves instead of using other sports gear!!!!
Possibly my Decathlon Neoprene Surf Helmet would have done a better job than my Scrappy that just shifted up as the hit was made. (By the way, I temporarily lost my Decathlon and was using my back-up kayak type Scrappy helmet). Also, I think the Simba would have possibly done a better job than my Scrappy. Either way, river surfing needs to have choices on gear to buy to make a better “self risk tolerance decision” when river surfing.
Be safe and watch out for each other even when the line-up is crowded as sh#@ and you are next up. Don’t think anybody noticed my head hit until I walked back up with blood coming down my face. Had I been knocked out, I wouldn’t be typing up any more of the Denver Surf Reports from 8 foot under the ground.
LBK
Amazing reviews! Thanks Surf Report crew!
I’ll add that I recently picked up an Outdoor Master “cheap kayak” helmet on Amazon for under $30 and it is 1000x “better” than my cheap NRS WW helmet.
The shel doesn’t feel as durable as the NRS or my Bern snow helmet, so we will see in terms of long-term durability but it’s held up to at least one board to the dome and getting tossed around the truck.
The gel-covered eva foam padding is extremely comfortable and features MIPs style adjustment to dial in the fit. My favorite feature is the removable ear pieces that drastically reduce chance of swimmers ear. Runs a little large but that lets me toss a trucker hat underneath for a little bit of sun protection.
S-foam helmet crash test video. S-foam is soft and bendable but instantly hardens when hit. Interesting concept for a helmet but needs actual lab testing though Manera wakefoil accessory has a vid of their s-foam helmet being tested using modeling clay on a manikin head that gives visual feedback but not force impact trauma to the brain feedback…. https://youtu.be/MJWgD8G0PSw?si=g80u20ulqI-rUuoh