Published on June 25th, 2014 | by Jacob Kelly Quinlan

Boise River Park Surf & Kayak Rally

The Monday following the Payette River Games, the surf athletes headed down to the Boise River Park to check out the much talked about wave shaper. For the international athletes, this was another chance to show the crowd some of their skills. We were fortunate enough to meet up with Ben Nielsen from the McLaughlin Whitewater Design Group, the ones responsible for building the wave and Ryan Richard the Boise Wave Technician who operates the fully adjustable feature.

Chris Crash Peterson

The city employes Ryan to be on site to adjust the feature to fit the river user. Ryan says they get most surfers and kayakers but also see some SUPs and other river users too. The feature was said to be under used when first developed but Ryan is known for using the functioning to dial in an incredible wave for a surfer or kayak. The crazy thing is he can do it as fast as the next river user enters the wave.

The feature can be adjusted instantly to fit the river user

The purpose of the rally was to talk about wave building, the next phase of the Boise project and highlight the impact a wave like this can have on a community. We stopped in to see Victor at Corridor surf shop and he couldn’t say enough good things about the wave and the community. Talking with other locals, they are stoked on how the wave is still a very positive atmosphere and cool place to be.

The athletes from the Payette River Games draw a crowd in Boise

The rally was a perfect close to the games, a fun little session to get us all stoked for next year’s games.

Stoke and Flow,
Jacob Kelly

Impressions of the Boise River Rally


Brought to you by

Jacob Kelly Quinlan

A founding member of the Surf Anywhere Project, Jacob loves exploring new waves, meeting stoked river surfers, and hopes to make it easier to surf anywhere in the world. Beyond that, Jacob's passion is community and is a pioneer of river surfing culture.



  • http://www.idahoriversports.com/ Idaho River Sports

    It was great seeing all of the energy from the river surfers and, in particular, Elijah Mack. Thanks to all who attended and we look forward to some great future events.

    • http://riverbreak.com/ Riverbreak Magazine

      Already excited seeing Boise hosting more river surf comps and events in future … STOKED!

  • Stephen

    Great article. Some of the information is a bit inaccurate and/or jazzed up (re: the feature has never been underused, the adjustments happen on a daily or semi-weekly basis, not in a split second, and there has been issues dialing the wave in), but a nice profile for the wave and city of Boise.

    • Jacob Kelly

      Hi Steven, in response to you comments I posted two video links in the comments section. You may have to select “See More” to view both…

      :)

  • Jacob Kelly

    Hi Stephen,
    Thanks for reading and commenting!

    I posted an extended un-cut version of the interview to answer your questions

    Re: split second adjustments:
    http://youtu.be/Eon9asHWI6Y?t=2m32s

    Re: feature underused:
    http://youtu.be/Eon9asHWI6Y?t=3m51s

    Hopefully this version answers any questions you may have.
    Stoked!
    Jacob

  • http://www.idahoriversports.com/ Idaho River Sports

    Here’s a fun video Marshall, Anne, Tobe and the V-SQRD Creative crew put together for us about the Boise River Park Rally that highlights the scope of the urban paddling & surf center we’re building. More to come for sure. 14 hours of video to go through! http://youtu.be/yZdxPgZEGUQ

    • http://riverbreak.com/ Riverbreak Magazine

      Thanks for the vid — looks fabulous! Boise will become one of the epicenters of river surfing soon … the wave shaper is something that a lot of people will look at, when designing new river parks!

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