# River surfing. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 25, 2017, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/river-surfing/778120 "2017-01-25T05:30:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/river-surfing/778120/1 "2017-01-25T05:30:42Z")
[Here’s YouTube of it, with geese.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQfSx6zEey0) [Here’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWiOLb6EcsA&t=76s)some guys surfing just yards from the actual beach; you get the idea. My question is this: Is there any river in the world that makes a tube that you can surf in? [Like This.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBklS2vYEPo) I’d be happy to allow even man made structures. And Yeah, I already know about those surf machines on cruise ships. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/river-surfing/778120/2 "2017-01-25T05:52:26Z")
Holy Shit,I just noticed the title at around the seven second mark. :smack: Still, the question stands 'Does anyone know of places where this occurs? / ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/river-surfing/778120/3 "2017-01-25T07:29:54Z")
It looks like it ought to be just about possible with this one in China: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAGABdvv5u8) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/river-surfing/778120/4 "2017-01-25T07:38:49Z")
Ah, here you go - from about 2 minutes in on this one: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/N7RjGGizGDc/hqdefault.jpg "Seven Ghosts Ep2 - The "Bono" - Amazing Tidal Bore Surfing") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7RjGGizGDc) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/river-surfing/778120/5 "2017-01-25T08:03:48Z")
Tame by comparison, but it can happen on the [Severn Bore](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKA39LQOIck) and (sort of) on the [Eisbach in Munich](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-hT7gWUyVk) ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/river-surfing/778120/6 "2017-01-25T08:17:19Z")
I;ll be gobsmacked. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/river-surfing/778120/7 "2017-01-25T11:41:14Z")
And one on The Qiantang river in the city of Hangzhou China: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cAGABdvv5u8) ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2017, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/river-surfing/778120/8 "2017-01-25T14:11:34Z")
Looks like the pororoca waves on the Amazon may do this. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/uyNcqrSaPVo/hqdefault.jpg "POROROCA - A magia da selva!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyNcqrSaPVo) ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/river-surfing/778120/9 "2017-01-26T11:29:06Z")
> [@chacoguy](#): > > My question is this: Is there any river in the world that makes a tube that you can surf in? [Like This.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBklS2vYEPo) > > I’d be happy to allow even man made structures. The tidal bores sometimes make tubes, presumably where the shape of the river floor is a bit steeper and more like a beach… , but its a one shot deal that day, you just guess the right place to be at or you miss out, and you might only see the full size tube once that year . man made structures … well you could replicate the profile of good surfing bays in a river to turn the tidal bore into a good tube … but no one has done it. Well it would be a high maintenance thing even if you did it once. The geese video is in a normal river flow, and there is no wave to get a tube from as simply as using shallows… The water just bumps up as a sheet rather then as a swell. To create the tube there would have to be a concave structure facing the water flow… that would focus the water back upstream to create the top of the tube… Imagine a wall built with a C profile with water flowing into its open side C \<\<\< water flow \<\<\<\< . You need the water level to be just right … It would be serious engineering for a thing that might only be useful a week a year. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2017, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/river-surfing/778120/10 "2017-01-26T11:55:02Z")
> [@Isilder](#): > > man made structures … well you could replicate the profile of good surfing bays in a river to turn the tidal bore into a good tube … but no one has done it. Well it would be a high maintenance thing even if you did it once. I’m not clear on what the Op meant by man made structures - whether this refers to modificaton of rivers that have a natural tide bore, or whether it also includes non-oceanic surfing in entirely artificial surf pools with huge-ass wave machines in them (the latter do exist - quite terrifying to see the way they create huge swells that turn into big waves. I guess there must be some big hydraulics behind the scenes - there’s an example [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWiMSsq6x-M) - doesn’t form much of a tube, but I’m not sure it’s been cranked to maximum capacity in that video. ---
**Author:** ![cornflakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/river-surfing/778120/11 "2017-01-27T05:56:55Z")
I think that tubes are formed when the water gets shallow, slowing the speed of the wave. The top kind of topples over. Tidal bores can cause this. I can’t think of any surfing waves in a river that actually curls, though [Buseater in the Ottawa River gets close](https://www.google.com/search?q=buseater+ottawa+river&espv=2&biw=1440&bih=770&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj089D0z-HRAhWmxYMKHVvTAfUQ_AUIBygC), as do others. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/river-surfing/778120/12 "2017-01-27T11:13:39Z")
Yep [this one](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ggq0ZTuPB3c) comes very close. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2017, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/river-surfing/778120/13 "2017-01-27T20:33:12Z")
That definitely qualifies, I wonder how they did that.