Black
6. Route 3 Wave
| Difficulty | II |
| Length | 0.065 mi |
| Avg Gradient | n/a |
| Gauge | Black River at Watertown Ny |
| Flow Rate as of 1 hour | 4630 cfsabove recommended |
| Reach Info Last Updated | April 8, 2021 |
River Description
Update: A rock has once again become lodged upstream of the wave. Until further notice the wave is no longer surfable.
This is a popular after-work park-n-playspot for locals who don't have time to run the whole Black. The other great park and play is at Hole Brothers.
This is also the site of a controversial proposal to alter the riverbed in order to provide a hole/wave that'll be attractive to high-level playdogs and international competitions. Some paddlers are concerned that messing with the riverbed might ruin a good thing; others believe that improving the playspot will give a jumpstart to efforts to improve water quality all over this historically abused, urbanized stream.
There are two putins to this p-n-p (the coordinates for which are listed below, as the putin and takeout): either park at Waterworks Park on Huntington St., hike down a longish trail and paddle upstream to the wave, or park off Rte. 3 (off Huntington St., just South of where Rte. 3 crosses the river), walk across the rocky dam runout and paddle downstream a short bit to your play. (See the map.)
Watertown Area Reaches:
Black River (Rt. 3 Wave) Black River (Watertown to Brownville)
...River Features
Take Out
Put In
Trip Reports
Log in to add a reportDan's estimate may be a bit high for those looking to throw moves. The wave will begin to hold you at around 2500, but the wave doesn't seem to be retentive enough for freestyle moves until 1800 or so. When you are on the wave there are boils that appear just left of center which seem to be killing the foam pile. Hopefully whatever small rock has washed in upstream will clear back out this fall, till then Hole Brother's is the place to be.
The wave is intact from the spring high water. Though the AW range of good levels is a bit off. I would wait until the river drops below 3000 before you even think about making the drive. Today the river is between 2500-2700 and the crash is just beginning to form. I went out last week at around 2200 and it was near perfect for wave surfing.
I surfed route three last week at 1900 and it was awesome, nice shoulder easy access and a sweet foam pile in the middle the wave is back
As of 7/4/08 the rock is still there. Can someone in Watertown area give us an update, and pester the town to pull that rock out of there!
Just an FYI... I was at the route 3 wave yesterday 6/21/08. Apparently a table sized rock has lodged itself just upstream of the wave completely distorting it. The town is apparently trying to remove it but the wave is pretty much un-surfable at this time. Dang floods...
Soaking up the last bit of summer.
A little C-1 action from the 2004 US Team Trials.
From the Bridge above the wave
HoleBro was crowded so we checked out the rumors that 3wave was ruined by a rock this spring. Yeah, sure it wasn't the same feature, but the second wave was still good and the new shallow hole proved entertaining.
This angle shows the changed 3Wave feature due to troublesome rock. Hole is shallow and bouncy, but Adrian never let that get in his way.