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A raft
A river with some type A or B hydraulic jumps
Understanding what happens in a surf
Types of surfs
How to catch a surf
what to do when you get surfed unintentionally
In this lesson, Trevor is discussing how to surf hydraulic jumps. Learning how to effectively surf is one of the gateway skills to class IV and V rafting. By mastering this skill you can achieve more efficient ferries across currents, prepare yourself for unexpected carnage, and just have a lot of fun on the river. Surfing effectively requires you to practice regularly and be mindful about the moves you are making in your practice sessions.
Learning to surf a raft is an essential class IV and V skill because many situations on more difficult rivers require you to surf to pull the correct move. While you can still paddle class IV whitewater without being good at surfing you will make much more elegant moves and waste less energy getting where you want to go if you can surf well.
Sometimes you can gain the brief moment that you need to boat scout downstream features before entering the rapid simply by surfing a small feature. If you can’t see past a rock blocking your vision, you may be able to pop out into a tiny surf for a moment to help you judge where you need to be before continuing down the rapid.
Surfing your raft allows you to more efficiently cut across strong currents when you’re peeling out of eddies. You will find this especially useful in big water settings where large waves form. Being able to peel out onto a large wave by surfing across the face can mean the difference between flipping while you’re crossing an eddy fence or gently gliding out into the current.
Many times, in more difficult rapids you may find the current racing into a dangerous spot in the river with no obvious way around that spot. Surfing your boat in a small wave can open up a world of possibilities to safely move around that feature by simply surfing across the main current into a safer secondary channel.
Surfing is a ton of fun! Some of the best parts of a rafting trip are hitting that one crazy surf hole and going for a ride. This is especially important if you are guiding commercially and you’re hoping to make some tips. The crazy surf hole is the part of the trip that people often remember the most about the river trip and if you’re working for tips this is generally always an instant tip maker.
When we’re talking about surfing a raft, we want to understand the terminology required to master this skill. If you haven’t watched the hydraulic jumps and eddy catching lessons you will want to make sure you fully understand those concepts before you start charging into the local surf hole. The first bit of terminology we want to understand is the difference between catching a surfing and getting surfed.
Catching a surf – This is a purposeful act where you are intending to drive your raft into a hydraulic jump. Properly catching a surf requires control and technique to accomplish. The results of catching a surf are expected and you’re generally doing it for fun or because the rapid requires that you make this move even if it is just a momentary surf. When you catch a surf, the consequences are known and the risk is acceptable.
Getting Surfed – The act of getting surfed is often but not always unplanned. Getting surfed is best described by a loss of control or a completely uncontrolled surf. Losing control like this is generally unexpected or unintended. In this situation the consequences are unknown or possibly unacceptable and most boaters find this to be an unpleasant experience.
There are generally types of surfing positions that your raft will assume regardless of which side of the raft is up. It is good to note though that often times the hull dynamics of a raft are not well suited to the boat being upside down so it will often flush out of the feature if the boat has flipped.
Bow Surfing – This position is best characterized by the bow or the front of the raft pointing at the hydraulic jump or perpendicular to the critical flow. Experienced rafters will try to maintain bow surfs to maximize their time on a wave and keep the raft in control while they’re surfing. The advantage of bow surfing is that you know what the surf is going to do to you since you can see it happening in front of you.
Stern Surfing – This position is best characterized by the stern or the back of the raft pointing at the hydraulic jump or perpendicular to the critical flow. This is similar to bow surfing however; it can be difficult to see what the boat is about to do since you have to turn around and potentially unlock your hips from a bracing position. Some rafters will try to stern surf if they are boat scouting downstream or if they want to see the downstream consequences to quickly locate a zone of safety.
Side Surfing – this is where the boat is parallel to the hydraulic jump and we most often see this as the result of loss of control in a surf. Side surfing can be purposeful if you are trying to surf especially on a hot day, however because the river is trying to suck the paddlers on onside out while violently tossing the paddlers on the other side into the air, it is typically much harder to control a side surfing boat.
Get stable - Grab a handle or assume a bracing position to make sure you don’t get thrown out of the boat.
Mentally prepare to side surf and look at what the boat is doing or about to do.
Get your paddle out of the curtain - Many injuries and swims happen because paddlers put their paddles into the water flowing into the hydraulic jump.
Lower your center of gravity - There’s no shame in getting down especially if you have inexperienced paddlers. Lowing your center of gravity can prevent you from being thrown violently from the raft.
Cross brace if you are on the high side - If you find yourself on the side of the boat that is away from the hydraulic jump, you can always take your inside foot and place it across the boat on the tube getting sucked into the hydraulic jump. This can even help you gain a good footing for when you want to dig the boat out of the feature.
Pick your swim and look for zones of safety - You want to be looking downstream to where the eddies are and where your fellow boaters are positioned to rescue you. Make sure you know what side of the river you need to get to if you swim.
Pick a good hole - You want to look for type A and type B hydraulic jumps. These jumps generally work the best since it is the safest type of jump for swimmers. If there is a type C element to the hole then make sure it is smaller than a person. Type D jumps are generally poor for surfing as they do not have much water falling back into the critical flow. Natural hydraulic jumps are almost always non-uniform so you may see all 4 types of jumps in a feature you want to surf. Just be sure you are looking for type A and B jumps to surf.
Start from an eddy - Dropping into a surf while you are moving downstream generally does not work well since you will have a ton of downstream momentum, we call this catching the surf on the fly. Trying to catch a surf on the fly rarely works unless you are a fantastic boater. Generally, you will waste a lot of energy blowing through the hydraulic jump or trying to reduce your momentum and it will ultimately just end up exhausting your crew.
Look at the current boxing in the hole - Fun surf waves are generally well known on most rivers and have strong downstream currents boxing in the edges of the surf spot. When you arrive in the eddy near a surf wave you will need to judge how much paddle power you need to cross that current and you may not get it on the first try. if you get flushed downstream it’s ok to back off from the hole and let the current take you downstream then try it again. This will help reduce fatigue by making sure you aren’t needlessly charging upstream into a feature.
Align your stern with the critical flow - A good tip for most easy surf waves it to start with the very back tip of your raft even or a bit upstream of the hydraulic jump. By positioning your raft this way, you will have enough time to slide across the current boxing in the surf spot and grab the tailwater that is flowing back into the feature below the drop structure.
Don’t assume the first hit has you - Often times we see paddlers stop paddling after the bow of their boat first impacts the super critical flow moving into the hydraulic jump. Usually, the super critical flow and the boat have so much relative momentum slamming into each other that the raft will get immediately ejected out of the critical flow rather than grabbing it. Catching the surf requires you to slowly enter the critical flow so that you don’t bounce off of the hydraulic pressure caused by the super critical flow.
Select an aggressive ferry angle - One of the biggest problems we see that people having when they’re trying to catch a surf is that they are utilizing too steep of a ferry angle. As a general rule we like to take a ferry angle of 30 degrees or less upstream into the current. When you increase that angle beyond 45 degrees, we tend to see a lot of rafts getting caught by the bow and getting flushed down river.
Getting out of a surf when you are locked in and violently side surfing can be a huge ordeal if you are unprepared. The main thing you want to remember first is that you need to get stable and keep your wits about you. Having a good sphere of awareness as well as having a few tricks up your sleeve can go a long way to helping you get out of a nasty surf.
Look for the outflow of the feature - You need to start by asking yourself a few questions:
Where is the water going?
What side of the hole is flushing out?
Is there a hole in the wall?
Just because you are stuck in a big surf doesn’t mean that the scouting principals of CORC do not apply. You need to understand what that hydraulic jump is doing before you can come up with a plan to get yourself out of it.
Spot your safety - Make sure you are looking for downstream zones of safety like recovery pools and eddies that you can swim to. You also want to identify where your safety boat is or other boaters standing by to aid with a rescue. If you have an inexperienced crew, make sure to prep the other people in your boat as to what to do, where to go, and who to look for. Use colors of rafts, PFDs, and Helmets when identifying those people to your crew (say: swim to the yellow boat or look for the guy in the red jacked and white helmet). this will give inexperienced paddlers a task to focus on to help them with their own rescue.
Get on the high side - Move over to the side of the raft that is not getting sucked into the hydraulic jump. Most people will instinctively do this, but getting on this side of the boat can often be enough to pop the raft out on its own. Don’t use the high side command with this, because paddlers may become disoriented as to where they are and what to do especially if they are inexperienced. Use the get right or get left command or if you are on the side away from the hydraulic jump already just tell them to come over to your side of the boat.
High brace - Performing a high brace into the outflow to create drag can help pull the boat away from the hydraulic jump. Sometimes in a surging surf where the raft is being pulled in then spat out of the critical flow wit until the raft bounces out of the critical flow on to the sub critical flow. You will often see a boil zone that the raft is floating on top of and some outflowing water beyond this. Grab that outflowing water and it may be enough to get you out of the surf.
Paddle towards the outflow - Sometimes you may need to get everyone on the side of the boat away from the critical flow and paddle either forwards or backwards. Since you took the time to evaluate the outflowing water then you will want to paddle the boat towards that flow. It may spin the boat or get a bit chaotic, but if you are able to grab the outflowing water it will usually suck you downstream.
Get a rope - if all else fails you can high brace to help stabilize the boat and get a team on the shore over to the side of the river that has the most outflow. From there have one paddler get low and stable and catch a throw rope. From there the paddler receiving the rope can grab a handle, a perimeter line, or attach the rope to the boat. Then the shore team can pull the boat towards the outflow of the hydraulic jump to get the raft out of the surf.
Surfing is another tool in your arsenal to use when you’re out on the water, but it requires practice, and inexperienced raft surfers can easily get into trouble. If you do intend to surf make sure you have downstream safety set. This works best with another raft that can paddle out and pick up people and equipment getting flushed downstream. The next best thing is to have someone ready downstream with a throw bag. You never want to practice surfing alone, because there is the possibility of getting separated from the boat, but more importantly there is the possibility of getting a boat stuck in a surf, a person stuck in the hydraulic jump, and a high risk of injury if you don’t know how to properly execute the surf. As always seek qualified hands on instruction before you attempt to practice surfing. Don’t take this lesson as proper preparation as it is intended for entertainment purposes.
