Chatfield decreased to 80cfs at 11:30am Saturday, August 19, 2023. Sixx was surfed Friday at low flow but the Chatty drop to 80cfs will essentially take the surf out of Sixx, Chiclets, and Beavers and 16th to a point. Though the desperate surfers might hit Beavers anyway (it was surfed early Saturday) or Dave’s Wave since it is always an afternoon option to longboard later in the day.
The metro-Denver river surfing season is coming to a close. A strong El Niño stifled our monsoons this year as compared to the last two years. Hurricane Hillary will be impacting southern California the next couple of days but the track will likely not result in any moisture headed toward Colorado. We can hope for some rain and water releases but last week the water district was releasing flows just below the surfable level. Look for a continued trend of the same water releases from Chatty as we trail off into September and fall season, thus ending out what has been the best river surfing season ever in Metro-Denver and the rest of the state.
PLACES TO SURF: See table below.
| Beavers | Possibly Surfable | Entry is from downriver where the iron rail fence ends. |
| 16th Street | Possibly Surfable | Longboards |
| Dave’s Wave | Surfable | High tide is very late in the afternoon and need longboards |
| Bingo Wave | Not Surfable | Need a high volume board or inflatable board |
| Scout Wave | Surfable | Look for good surf thru 9/5/2023 w/ project water likely ending the next day dropping flow to native release of about 350cfs+/-. Crowds continue. Need a backup CGA PFD but no tickets have been written yet for non-compliant vests. |
| Cañon City Wave | Surfable | Need a battleship sized board to surf this crumbly wave. Here is the live streaming cam for it: https://www.youtube.com/live/X_iECBFS7gY?feature=share |
| Montrose | Surfable | Appears to be good per vids on the socials. Though is a 5 hour drive from Denver. |
RIVER SURFING NEWS: Scout pfd controversy blew up on the dreaded FB this week. Hopefully cooler heads will prevail instead of infighting and maybe the issue can be worked out as these pfd rules impact river surfing Colorado statewide and sets an example for other states as well.
BV’s Pocket Wave 2.0 public update meeting was held Thursday 8/17 and we will do a separate write-up on that.
RIVER SURFING TIP: Two tips this time.
First, over the past couple of weeks at Scout, quick release leashes have been pulled right at the edge of the wave at the eddy line. Ironically they were knee/calf quick releases. If you insist on surfing Scout with a quick release (and no they are not needed at Scout): practice, practice, practice, and make sure the gear is in order (clasp or pin works by testing it often, and check that the pieces are still attached such as the ball or pull ring).
Second and will say this again… Balance out the wait line on both sides of the river wave by taking balanced/ratio turns up. There is no windfall advantage when one side has less surfers lined up. Not cool to be told, “just come over to the short side if you think it is unfair”. That attitude causes bad vibe and will get the abusers dropped in on no matter what surf spot be it Scout, Sixx, Bend, Boise, Eisbach, etc.. Oh and if you are on the crowded side; be aware, gauge the drop ratio, and get up to it to drop. For example, 2:1 ratio starts to happen, be ready to drop in, and don’t give up your #2 spot to the short side since that also is a vibe killer.
SURF TRIVIA: What (in the nomenclature of a surf fin) is “rake“?
PRIOR SURF TRIVIA ANSWER: The Hawaiian term “He’e Pu’e Wai” translate to mean River Surfing.
LINKS TO KNOW:
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
Dave’s Wave gauge (is 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
Scout Wave gauge (1,200cfs or lower is surfable): https://dwr.state.co.us/Tools/StationsLite/ARKSALCO?params=DISCHRG
Scout Live Web Cam: This webcam gets wonky at times and so does the webpage for it. At times it is focused full time on Scout but other times it cycles different views and briefly on the wave: https://www.coloradowebcam.net/webcamlocations/salida-webcams
Cañon City Wave Live Pole Cam: https://www.youtube.com/live/X_iECBFS7gY?feature=share
LBK
River surfing is cool and the vibe is friendly and helpful, let’s keep it that way even when discussing pfd’s and when the queue is crowded.
The Denver Surf Report 