Name Min Ideal Max Map Boat Difficulty Beta
    SOS Wave 2.5 3.2 Playboat V "Wave just above the horseshoe hole, catch it from the eddy river left above the drop."
    Horseshoe Wave 2.5 2.8 2.9 Playboat II+/III- "Wave after the horseshoe drop, just after the end of the large island. To get here carry over up odeck, ferry across to the eddy below the fingers, the wave is at the top of this eddy."
    Humbler Wave 3.65 3.8 Playboat IV "Large wave after horseshoe on the left. Walk laps on the rock at odeck, seal launch above the wave, below the horseshoe drop and ferry out on to the wave. There is no eddy service, you'll have to hike up odeck every time. The wave is a bit flushy, but once you start cartwheeling it could be a few ends before it lets you out, which it always will."
    Humbler Wave 4.1 4.4 Longboat IV "Large wave after horseshoe on the left. Fast and steep longboat wave. There is eddy service but you must be quick to catch it, and paddle hard out of the eddy onto the wave."
    Bloody Good 2.57 2.9 3.3 Playboat III+ "Location not exact, varies between different sources. Some say it's a pour over hole below the main horseshoe drop around the location of the humbler wave. Some say it's the pour over hole just above the left point at horseshoe (Class V)."
    Showcase 6.4 6.8 8 RPM Style V "A wave/hole somewhere either just above the 1st slide, probably parallel to where they park the canal boat."
    Rocha Motel 6.3 7 Playboat IV+ "The rock at odeck is split into two islands at this level. The Rocha Motel is the large hole in the channel between the two islands. It's a really big hole."
    Odeck 1 3.6 3.7 3.8 Longboat III "The wave just above the normal odeck wave. From the river left eddy attain to river right, then paddle up and ferry back river left to get on this wave. Or catch it on your way down from the falls."
    Odeck 3 Wave 3.3 3.6 RPM Style III "The wave below the odeck 2 wave. At the lower levels it often has a foampile. Higher levels and it's a green wave."
    Odeck 3 Hole 2.7 2.8 3 Playboat III "A small pour over hole, the sides are great for cartwheels."
    S Turn 3.6 3.6 3.9 Playboat III "The hole in the center of sturn. Good powerful hole, can throw lots of moves here. Attain up the boils river right for eddy service."
    Dave's Wave 6.1 6.5 6.6 Playboat III+ "The waves river right of the back channel, paddle up from sandy beach to get here. Nice bouncy waves. The top wave is usually the best."
    Shoulder Snapper 6.7 6.9 Playboat III+ "The hole river left in the last drop of the backchannel. The sides of the hole can be played at 6.6ft, but the middle is shallow and trashy."
    Sweetie Pie 7.0 7.5 8.2 Longboat III "The wave river left in the last drop of the backchannel. There is eddy service."
    Dead Cow 8.0 8.7 Playboat III "Awesome playboat hole at the top of the back channel with huge eddy service."
    Dead Cow 8.6 9.3 Longboat III "Awesome playboat hole at the top of the back channel with huge eddy service."
    MD Chute 2.5 3.7 4.0 Playboat II+ "Small playhole."
    Center Hole 5.2 5.3 5.5 Playboat III "Awesome playhole, good for all hole moves."
    Center Wave 5.5 5.9 6.0 Playboat III "Fun wave, same location as center hole."
    Center Wave 6.0 6.3 RPM Style III "Fun wave, same location as center hole."
    Center Wave 6.4 6.9 Longboat III "Fun wave, same location as center hole."
    Center Wave 7.0 7.4 14+ ft boats III "Fun wave, same location as center hole."
    Center Chute Ledge (Upper) 4.1 4.4 4.8 Playboat II+/III- "Small playhole, good for cartwheels and loops. At the top of center chute river left."
    Center Chute Ledge (Upper) 4.9 5.4 Slalom III "Wave for slalom boats."
    VA Chute 2.7 3.9 4.2 Playboat II- "Small wave."
    Corner Hole 6.8 7.1 7.5 Playboat III+ "Powerful hole where rocks below MD chute normally are. Attain up from anglers. There is eddy service."
    Corner Wave 7.5 8.5 Playboat III+ "Wave where rocks below MD chute normally are."
    Corner Wave 8.5 8.9 Slalom III+ "Wave where rocks below MD chute normally are."
    Butt Hole 7.7 8.8 Playboat III+ "The hole just below where the canal has a small overflow trickle. River left. There is eddy service. Shallow untill 8ft, and starts to get greenish at 8.5 ft."
    Zambezi Wave 7.6 8.6 RPM Style V+ "The wave formed by the rock at the bottom of the eddy you sit in to surf odeck. Ferrying out to this wave is a challenge, or run the thunderdome channel and catch it on your way down. It's about 8ft tall, no eddy service, but you can walk laps river left for the ferry. From 7.6 ft up to about 7.9 ft there is a foam pile on this wave, making it much easier to catch. At 7.6-7.8 ft is is possible to ferry on to the wave from the eddy but it is extremely challenging. Above 8ft this wave is super green and fast. You'll need to paddle hard to get on it."
    Rodeo Zone 5.3 6.4 Playboat IV "The wave is far river right at portage. There is eddy service. Between 5.6 and 5.3 this is basically a pourover that is deep enough to ender creek boats and throw ends in a slice boat. It only becomes a good playwave at 5.6 ft."
    Portage Hole 3.9 4.1 Playboat III "The hole against the river left shore at portage. Good for hole moves."
    Skull Island 6.0 6.3 7.6 Longboat III "Smooth longboat wave just parallel to the front of skull island in the main channel. Attain up the back of skull island for laps."
    Skull Island 11 12 Longboat V+ "Huge wave with a big foampile, looks like a pillow off skull island. Fantastic spot. No eddy service. If you swim here it would be bad, lots of whirlpools and trees at these levels."
    Pump House Wave 4.9 5.9 Longboat III "Smooth glassy wave far river left next to the pump house on the brookmont dam. Best in a slalom boat. I've caught it in an RPM at 5.1ft."
    Super Dave 6.6 6.7 Playboat III+ "River right in the backchannel, between sandy beach and where the back channel splits from the main channel. Comes in when daves starts to wash out, its a bigger version of Daves."
    Perfect Wave 4.8 4.9 Playboat II "The wave formed by a small dam in the farthest river left channel of the Potomac. Park at swains lock, paddle up the canal until you go under a concrete bridge, then put in the Potomac and paddle down the farthest river left channel to the wave. It's parallel to a large concrete intake structure. It's a channel wide (100 yards) perfect smooth glassy wave. Ideal level 4.85, it's a bit too green at 4.9 to carve a modern playboat on."
    Perfect Wave 5.6 6 Longboat II "Same wave, just for longboats. Consider attaining up instead of hiking."
    Rocky 3.9 4.2 4.8 Longboat III "One of the best longboat waves in the world."
    Wet Bottom Hole 2.5 4 4.2 Playboat III "The hole river right at wet bottom. Can be good for cartwheels. Good eddy service."
    Wet Bottom Wave 2.8 3.8 Longboat II+/III- "A glassy green longboat wave. It's just river left of the wet bottom hole in the river right channel at wet bottom. Do the normal wet bottom attain to below the center island at wet bottom and ferry out to above this wave and drop on for laps."
    Elbow Wave 7.2 8.6 RPM Style III "The wave river right as the gorge makes a left turn."
    Offut Island Waves 4.2 4.9 5.4 Playboat II+ "Series of three waves in the farthest river left channel at Offut island. Either paddle down from anglers and attain/ hike back up, or park at the first parking lot on the left (more like a gravel pull out) after the brickyard-MacArthur light and hike down the trail across the bridge, turn right after the bridge and after ~100 meters take a left and hike down to the river, you'll have to attain up a short ways to get to the waves."
    Portage Rapid Waves 2.5 2.9 RPM Style II "The wave train in the middle of the river at portage. These waves used to be better, they aren't that good now."
    Tight Quarters Wave 4.5 6 Playboat V+ "A wave where the pour over hole in tight quarters normally is, right above where the tight quarters channel rejoins the fish ladder (just above the backcanyon). At 4.5 ft it is still a sticky looking pourover, but could be ok for loops. Still looks like a sticky hole at 5.2 ft. Barley any time to roll up before gong over the backchannel."
    The Pimp Hand 4.2 4.4 Playboat III+ "Hole river right below odeck, at the top of fishermans eddy. Powerful hole, good for hole moves."
    Thunderdome Wave 6.4 7.2 RPM Style V "Large wave just after the cliff ends below the MD side overlook. You will need a fast playboat/ rpm style boat to catch it. Very large bouncy wave. At 6.5 ft it is very possible to get a modern playboat on this wave, but it's hard.. This is the stakeout wave of the Potomac. It is surfable on the fly much higher than 7ft, it finally washes out too much to surfable in the low 9 ft range, any level below that and its good on the fly. The stated range only refers to the eddy service. If thunderdome is in scout from the overlook and you will find several big waves. This wave is always trashy and boily, surfs of more than 10 seconds are impressive and rare. Boats like rippers, with bow rocker will help a lot."
    Schwartz Wave 3.5 3.7 RPM Style III "In the MD side channel of little falls, just parallel to where the island begins."
    Gil's Hole (Upper) 4.9 5.2 5.4 Playboat III "A diagonal wave hole that's very smooth with a nice foampile. At the top of the farthest right channel. No eddy service sadly. there are a few ways to walk up that are more or less easy."
    Gil's Hole (Lower) 4.8 5.2 Playboat III "Small easy wave hole in the middle back channel. In the center left, right after the first rapid."
    Dark Side Hole 3 4 Playboat III+ "Nice juicy hole that can give you some cartwheels/ practice getting surfed. At 3.7-4 ft it serves up some good enders in longboats. Its hard to get out facing river left, easy to get out facing river right. This hole is tide dependent."
    Beltway Wave 9 10 Playboat III "A wave river right above the beltway, beware there are some live trees the river goes through around this wave."
    Beltway Wave 10 12 Longboat III "A wave river right above the beltway, beware there are some live trees the river goes through around this wave."
    Stubblefield Wave 3.9 4.1 RPM Style II+ "One alright-ish wave river right in the middle of stubblefield. There is eddy service river right."
    Annies 2.7 3.0 Playboat III+ "Location uncertain, my best guess is: pour over hole on the river right side of the odeck 2 wave. Fun hole to boof, but not a very good playspot. Another guess is the small green wave river left above rocky."
    Bonus Tracks Wave 4.6 5.0 Playboat III "The wave formed by the rocks just below the observation deck at the takeout for little falls. Occasionally a bit trashy, but often a big bouncy wave."
    Center Chute Ledge (Lower) 4.2 4.33 Playboat III "Hole in the middle of center chute. Use the center chute ledge hole to make the elevator move and ferry out to this hole. No eddy service, you'll have to make the elevator move every time. (location isn't precise, but the hole is somewhere in the middle of center chute slightly downstream of the center chute ledge.)"
    Small Green Wave 2.7 3.31 RPM Style II- "The small green wave river left above rocky. It's been occasionally referred to as Annies but the name isn't concrete."
    Chuck's Wave 4.6 4.9 RPM Style III Chuck Thornton: "There's a great surfing wave in the middle of Center Chute. I'd say in the high 4s. I've never heard a name for it. Good for RPM, slalom (not playboat). It's just downstream of your marker for 'Center Chute ledge smaller hole?'"
    Odeck 2 3.3 3.5 3.9 RPM Style III "The normal odeck wave, parallel to the end of the rock outcropping river left."
    George Washing Machine 2 5 Playboat II- Stevo: "A hole good for side surfing. The lower it gets the stickier the hole is, I have never seen it be low enough to not be a hole. The only issue is the rock that makes the feature is pretty shallow so the lower it is the more important it is to lean downstream."
    George Washing Machine 5 8 RPM Style II- Stevo: "A wave."
    Island Wave 9.6 11 Playboat IV+ "Awesome wave at the bottom of the island that separates MD from center chute. The island is underwater at these levels, and there are some holes in there, along with trees so be careful. There is fantastic eddy service for this wave. It's big, got a great foamliple, and has potential to throw some big tricks."
    Madiera Wall Wave 9.6 10.3 Longboat IV "The waves against the river right shore. There are two right after each other that are good, but the first is more stable."
    Madiera Wall Wave 9.0 10.3 Playboat III+ "The waves against the river right shore. There are two right after each other that are good, but the first is more stable and with a better foampile."
    Aqueduct Wave 9.8 10.5 Playboat V "This one takes some balls. It's a stakeout sized wave where the concrete overlook thing at little falls normally is. It's a very large wave, don't take it lightly. Swimming here is likely deadly. Rumor is there is a huge hole here when this wave is too low, but I have been here at every level and this just isn't the case. It is a ledge hole in the 8's but totally boofable. Starts to wave out around 9ft. Best idea would probably do 2 laps, first one to paddle past and look to make sure its good, 2nd to actually surf it. On the fly surfing only, but it's not like little falls laps take long at this level."
    Timbucktoo Wave 9.5 10.5 Playboat IV+ "Wave hole just below the brookmont dam far river right. No eddy service. Run the fish ladder on the dam to get here, everywhere else on the dam is a crazy huge hole. This is a pretty good quality wave hole, good for both wave and hole tricks."
    Bridge Channel Hole 5.1 6.4 Playboat IV "Good hole river left in the run out of the bridge channel, probably one of the better holes on the Potomac. It's on the left at the beginning of the rapid after the last drop on the bridge channel. At 5.2 its deep enough to ender a creek boat. Roll up fast the river goes through some small shrubs on the left and a shallow rapid right after the hole, but there is eddy service."
    Rubble Dam Wave 10.2 11.5 Slalom IV+ "Wave made by the dam below the main brookmont dam. Fast, big and glassy with a bit of break on the sides. Can throw ends in a slalom boat here."
    Barrel Wave 6.3 6.8 Playboat III- "Cool wave that barrels from river right to left, 6.6ft is ideal for an RPM style boat. Its a small feature but easy enough to use the barrel to stay in. No good eddy service, but its a fun spot to hit on the way down from the center chute wave. Its far river right above the skull island. At levels lower than 6.3 ft it is still surf-able as a really small hole down to about 5.9ft (guess)."
    Little Falls Dam Wave 14 15 Slalom V+ "Legendary huge longboat wave made by the little falls dam at super flood conditions. You better be good at dodging trees, because at these levels even on the way down there will be a lot. Come here too low and this is a death trap hole."
    1st Slide 4.45 4.8 Playboat V+ "Surfing the first slide is a challenging move. No eddy service, you'll have to paddle hard to drop enough speed down the slide to stay on this thing. The boils afterwards are huge, and if you go down the tight quarters or fishladder your odds of dying are large. The middle is deep but be-where of the sides; the concrete that normally confines the slide makes the sides of this wave shallow at any level, hitting your head could be fatal. It looks good lower, but I've always flushed through when I tried in the 6ft range, I don't think the foampile has enough power to hold a boat until 7ft. The levels where this could be good needs a lot of exploratory work. In the upper 4's there is eddy service river right but the wave would be way more shallow. Looks wave like at 7ft and hole like at 8ft."
    1st Slide 7 8 Playboat V+ "Surfing the first slide is a challenging move. No eddy service, you'll have to paddle hard to drop enough speed down the slide to stay on this thing. The boils afterwards are huge, and if you go down the tight quarters or fishladder your odds of dying are large. The middle is deep but be-where of the sides; the concrete that normally confines the slide makes the sides of this wave shallow at any level, hitting your head could be fatal. It looks good lower, but I've always flushed through when I tried in the 6ft range, I don't think the foampile has enough power to hold a boat until 7ft. The levels where this could be good needs a lot of exploratory work. In the upper 4's there is eddy service river right but the wave would be way more shallow. Looks wave like at 7ft and hole like at 8ft."
    Rocky 2nd Wave 4.2 4.4 RPM Style III "2nd rocky wave, crashes a bit more than the 1st wave and is steeper."
    Beaver Slide Wave 3.8 4.2 Playboat II+ "Top wave of the beaver slide rapid. Have to attain up river left of the beaver slide to get to the wave, but its a nice small consistent wave with a small foam-pile."
    Yellow Falls Hole 4.6 4.75 Playboat III+ "Really nice wide hole river left in yellow falls, its up against the shore. The middle and river right of the hole are shallow but the far river left side is plenty deep enough for loops. There is good eddy service river left, and if you wash down its easy to attain back to the eddy. At 4.65ft this was one of the better holes on the Potomac. Possibly also known as the high rent wave, or don't ask don't tell, but I'm not exactly sure."
    Yellow Falls Wave 4.75 5.3 Playboat III+ "Nice wave with a good foam pile. Not a huge wave but really nice none the less."
    Astronaut Wave 5.7 6.2 Playboat IV+ "The wave below where the left point of horseshoe normally is, also downstream of the humbler wave. Slightly upstream of the channel that splits off to the Rocha Motel. A very tall almost totally green wave. Super bouncy, no eddy service. The only real way to get there is to make the hairy ferry in a playboat in the upper 5's (which isn't happening unless you are a god) or to run the thunderdome and catch an eddy river right to take out on the island above where the thunderdome wave is. This is also not an easy ferry but is doable in a playboat at levels this wave is in. Then carry over the island and put in above the wave and catch it for a one and done session. Can also make a ferry above the island but below the alpha wave. Doable at 5.7, maybe not so doable at higher levels."
    Point 59 8.3 8.7 Playboat IV "River right of the island that begins the divide between the dead cow channel and the main channel. On the fly only, no eddy service. There can be a big hole here at lower levels (Low 8's). There is a bit of a foampile."
    Diamond Wave 9.5 10 Playboat V+ "Awesome looking wave made by the piece of concrete next to the snake island. Not sure on exact levels, you'll have to figure this out for yourself. Not exactly sure how to get to this wave. In the mid 8's ft this is a huge hole, but you can get here by ferrying below the rubble dam. When the wave is actually in this may not be doable. Perhaps surf the rubble dam over to the island. The hole created by the brookmont dam just above this wave is deadly, so watch out. Perhaps it is possible to get out on the top of the island above the brookmont dam but if you screw this up you will die. There are also trees on the island complicating this. It is likely you will be able to catch the eddy behind snake island and hike back up for laps, but it will be a small eddy."
    Perfect Wave B 5.7 5.9 Playboat II+ "Get here by paddling up the canal from swains. Get in the river after the large concrete bridge. Ferry past the island all the way to river right of the main channel. The wave is best about 10 yards away from the river right shore (halfway between shore and the first green break.) You can surf it essentially anywhere in the channel, but it is only good for tricks ~10 yards from shore.The hole is kind of shallow, so throw your tricks on the back of the foampile. Better for lighter people and shorter boats, however I have seen people loop here. No eddy service but the hike back up takes less than one minute, and if you tie a rope to a tree and let it dangle in the water from shore you can pull yourself up the rope to surf the wave again without hiking."
    Around the Corner 9.3 9.8 RPM Style III+ "The wave river left at the jump rock. Essentially it is the first wave of the jumps. Just a guess that this is the around the corner wave, but there are really no other features this could be."
    Last Supper 6.9 7.7 8.2 Playboat V+ "Hole river left just above the first slide. It looks nice, but it is big and in a very scary spot. No eddy service per say, but there is a big backwash behind the hole, so if you roll fast you can probably paddle back up to the hole."
    S Turn 2 4.8 5.5 Longboat IV- "River left against the island. Catch the big eddy river left and paddle up the boils against the island. It's hard but doable in an RPM, which is the slowest boat that could catch this wave. Fast wave that's pretty fun, watch out for the big boils once you blow off the wave, go for a stern squirt."
    Lil Rocky 3.2 3.3 Playboat II+/III- Chuck Thornton: "A sweet little wave on river left, right at the cliff wall, just above the main Rocky top wave. The wave is about 6' wide with a nice trough. Rewind and 4fun fit nicely, and stayed on the wave with little effort for extended gentle surfs. Good eddy service along the cliff wall drops you right onto the wave for easy access and repeat rides."
    Violetts Wave 2 6 Playboat III- Stevo: "I Imagine it gets washed out above 6. You can't surf it, it's more of a jet ferry. It's hard to stay on because it's so small. It goes as low as the Potomac goes, I've been there at 2.8 and it's still a wave. The only issue is 20 yards down river it is shallow and after that there are typically strainers."
    Bikini Wax 2.6 2.9 RPM Style II+/III- Cheddar: "At LF on river right at the good wave train mid way through there is a great glassy wave that forms between 2.60 to 2.90. I have surfed it in an RPM style and my full slice. To catch it you eddy river right towards the top of the rapid, spot it, and ferry in."