Published on May 28th, 2018 | by Alex Mauer
River Surfing Buena Vista and Florence
The water in Colorado has been at an all time low. Every single winter I curse the snow and cant wait for spring. Spring brings the melting water and Surf. The lack of water has me missing the heavy snow. But I have been charging and taking advantage of the waves that are in and trying to surf as much as possible while the water lasts. Both surf spots are on the Arkansas river.
Florence has been a go to spot for most the front range locals in Colorado. The drive is really simple and the wave is easy to find. The wave can be surfed as low as 400 CFS. The prime flow for shortboarding is 1,000-1,200 CFS. It is in the Desert so the weather is typically pretty warm. The water temp is cool but feels perfect with the warm air temps.
Staircase wave is Buena Vista is an iconic wave in the SUP surfing world. This wave is pretty soft on a shortboard so it is going to require a board with some volume even at the higher flows. I had a lot of luck on it with my inflatable surfboard. Prime surfing flow on this wave is anything above 1,400 CFS. The altitude is 9,000 FT above sea level so be prepared to suck wind in between every ride.
One thing that I am lucky to have for the lower flows is my inflatable surfboard. The thing surfs rail to rail amazing and has a ton of volume so it can pretty much surf anything! Look for my next vlog I will be surfing my inflatable surfboard in Golden Colorado!
Brought to you by
Alex Mauer When I was 12 my dad gave me a boogie board. He told me to go play in the river next to his apartment. I have been playing in the water and helping pioneer the river surfing scene in Colorado ever since. I have a bucket list of waves I want to surf around the world! I love to play in the water and will try and surf anything! Surfing is surfing no matter what you are riding, short board, long board, SUP, boogie board, pool toys, lunch trays ... you name it I will try and surf it!
