Monsoon season has started in the southwest but we are not seeing it yet in the Denver area. Rain forecasts earlier this week for Wed/Thur seemed to have dissipated. Forecast for the monsoon season this year have also shifted downward and is not expected to be as strong as the past two years’ monsoon season. This leaves things to water calls and delivery of water from a rather full Chatfield….
In other words, we are at the whims of the water managers if any significant release of flow will happen in the next few days…. We will update you as soon as the official Chatfield release announcements are made so you don’t have to sweat watching the gauges the entire day.
Not much local surf right now. You might want to walk down to Dave’ Wave and take a look at the new sandbars that have set up behind the wave. Kind of crumbly now but could be surfed with longboards and large inflatables.
Should be a good contingency of Metro-Denver surfers at Scout Wednesday, as the wave did drop a bit in flow from last weekend but seems to have bounced back up this AM….
The Scout Wave dedicated live cam has returned to a pan, tilt, zoom (PTZ) cam that rotates views of Salida and briefly will focus in on the Scout Wave: https://www.coloradowebcam.net/camera/salida-co-spiral-dr-summit-tenderfoot-mt-ptz-webcam?q=node/595&img_folder=salidatower3&nid=279&width=1280&height=960
LINKS TO WATCH:
Dave’s Wave gauge (about 3 hours off since the closest gauge is way down river. So look at prior day’s gauge amount and adjust your mind…. i.e 3pm Friday should likely be noon Sat current conditions… Need at least 200cfs to surf Dave’s on a longboard or inflatable): https://dwr.state.co.us/Tools/StationsLite/PLAHENCO?params=DISCHRG1
Chatfield gauge (takes 2-3 hours to impact RRP; click on raw/all values then table view for 15 min updates to flow levels): https://dwr.state.co.us/Tools/StationsLite/PLACHACO?params=DISCHRG
RRP gauge (click on raw/all values then table view for 15 min updates to flow levels) flow below 130cfs or so means it is too low for Sixx: https://dwr.state.co.us/Tools/StationsLite/PLAUNICO?params=DISCHRG
Sixx Pole Cam: https://www.senserasystems.com/public/embed/3M7824646H83
Scout Wave gauge (1,200cfs or lower is surfable): https://dwr.state.co.us/Tools/StationsLite/ARKSALCO?params=DISCHRG
Scout Live Web Cam: (click on the start for the mountain trail and will briefly give you streaming look at the Scout Wave but you have to wait for the PTZ to cycle every 5 to 10 minutes for a brief glimpse of the wave): https://www.coloradowebcam.net/camera/salida-co-spiral-dr-summit-tenderfoot-mt-ptz-webcam?q=node/595&img_folder=salidatower3&nid=279&width=1280&height=960
PLACES TO SURF:
Dave’s Wave. Scout Wave. Montrose.
RIVER SURFING TIP: A repeat tip.. When the line-up gets more than say five (5) people, shorten your ride times to about a minute or less. When the line gets larger, people will start to grumble if you hog the wave on your turns!
SURF TRIVIA: Cheyne Horan, four-time runner up to the world surfing championships, is famous for a unique fin. Describe the fin Cheyne Horan is known for.
PRIOR SURF TRIVIA ANSWER: The “knubster” fin is the short rounded fin used instead of a thruster (third back fin). The set up of two regular twin fins with a knubster fin gives you the quick skateboard turn feel of the twin but stability of a thruster set up…. The GOAT, Kelly Slater, discovered (not invented) the knubster fin as a good set-up for his quad fins instead of a fifth fin and he surfed it in competition. Soon afterwards, FCS and Futures fin companies started selling the knubster fins to the masses.
LBK
Be courteous to your fellow surfers both at the river waves and on social media.
The Denver Surf Report 