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Sand Bar

LBLL

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Just sitting on the patio watching boat after boat drilling the sandbar at the entrance to the gorge.
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Racer56

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I don't understand why the Army Corp doesn't dredge the shit out of this area and do an annual maintenance dredge when the water is lowered in January. All of the government agencies in Havasu are always preaching and ticketing for safety, yet the most traveled part of the river is kept dangerous.
 

DWC

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Would love to say I’ve never been there. Got caught on a cold, windy morning heading from Nautical back to Pirates. Shut it down and trimmed up and then walked it out for what seemed like 100 yards.
 

throttle

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I know that area.... I even threw a blade there once. It’s a bad area to be a sitting duck in when others are trimming it up to let it fly right by you.


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Rbcconst

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Would love to say I’ve never been there. Got caught on a cold, windy morning heading from Nautical back to Pirates. Shut it down and trimmed up and then walked it out for what seemed like 100 yards.

Did the same thing!! Mucky black mud between my toes lol.


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LBLL

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We Watched an orange, red, yellow deck /open now boat go all the way to the right and go from 40 to 0 in one second. Vessel assist is sitting out there pulling boats off all day. One guy actually pulled up and asked the vessel assist guy the path and he guided them through which I thought was pretty cool of him.


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CobraDave

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Are you talking about the mouth entrance heading up river or actually the gorge entrance near the no wake?


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USMC2010

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I don't know why everyone thinks wide right is still usable. Every aerial picture I have seen lately shows it is too much of a risk.
 

LBLL

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Right side S turn still works but full tilt. Any hesitation and you’re screwed. I have a video of an orange DCB running straight down the middle no problem.



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TCHB

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I rode my jet ski thru the area last week and it looked like most of the area we use in our boats was about 12 inches deep. Lots of scag marks in the bottom. Not sure how I will take our boat up the gorge.
 

RCDave

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Are the conditions different this year vs the last few? Never had an issue going either near the reed island or in the no wake bouy section
 

TCHB

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Are the conditions different this year vs the last few? Never had an issue going either near the reed island or in the no wake bouy section


I would have to say the water on Monday at the gorge opening was very shallow. Yes less water depth than previous years.
From the lake to reed area was tricky. Maybe water level will go up.
 

RCDave

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I would have to say the water on Monday at the gorge opening was very shallow. Yes less water depth than previous years.
From the lake to reed area was tricky. Maybe water level will go up.
Thanks. Glad I have an outboard tunnel with a jack plate. Drafts less water than most
 

DWC

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The silt from Topock must have settled at the mouth...

I thought the level was raised prior to Desert Storm. IG feeds are full of 35’+ DCB’s. Guessing they have the line down perfect or are trimming it high and staying on top.
 

wsuwrhr

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No money in doing any of that.....

I don't understand why the Army Corp doesn't dredge the shit out of this area and do an annual maintenance dredge when the water is lowered in January. All of the government agencies in Havasu are always preaching and ticketing for safety, yet the most traveled part of the river is kept dangerous.
 

Ziggy

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Why is it, going up river everyone is zig zagin to not get stuck , but on the way back , u jus blow through without any care .... ?
I have my theory why. [emoji202]

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It is 100 times easier to see the line going down river. I always have a little trouble seeing the grass island at river mouth when heading north, it blends in with entire background .
 

hallett21

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Watched VA and sea tow working three boats when we went up river yesterday.


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FreeBird236

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We need a new areal photo showing the entrance. It seems to change every year and after big storms.


It may have changed a little, right now I think the biggest factor is the water is so damn low. At least the schedule shows it will be up for D.S..
 

SJP

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The water is lower now on the charts. Down close to over 1.5 feet over the past two weeks. This isn’t helping things combined with changing conditions and people just not knowing where they are going. :D
 

Dirtbag

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448 feet seems to be the sweet spot
 

fishing fool

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Why is it, going up river everyone is zig zagin to not get stuck , but on the way back , u jus blow through without any care .... ?
I have my theory why. [emoji202]

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The real reason is....... going up river the boat is loaded with fuel, beer, soda and lots of food. On the way back the boat is lighter and sits much higher in the water and there is no issue then.
 

Racer56

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Why doesn't the coast guard have the dredged channel marked with buoys like they do with every other body of water in North America?
 

LargeOrangeFont

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Lots of people don't know the line to take. More and more new boaters every year.

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Yep. With the water low the margin for error is really narrow . It is 2 near 90 degree turns right now to get up through there 100% safely.

If going up river, this is the path -

Drive up to around 200 yards before the No Wake passage on the left. Make a near 90 degree turn to the right and drive across the front of the reed island, about 150-200 yards in front of it, then make another 90 degree left turn about 150-200 feet after you pass the reed island and head up river and you'll be OK.

I was following a buddy back down river on Saturday and he let off because he did not make a hard enough turn as he came out beyond the reed island (he turned about 45 degrees instead of close to 90) I let off as well and could not get going again without churning up a bunch of mud.. I had to hop out and push the boat about 50 feet.

No harm done, just took a little paint off the skeg.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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Why doesn't the coast guard have the dredged channel marked with buoys like they do with every other body of water in North America?

They do on the no wake side. A Sea tow guy we stopped to talk to said that side is really low too.
 

Singleton

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Why doesn't the coast guard have the dredged channel marked with buoys like they do with every other body of water in North America?

The CA side dredged channel is not under CC authority. Those buoys were placed by the Lake Havasu Marine Association and LHMA is supposed to maintain them and work with the ACOE when dredging needs to occur. Same process has to be followed, very similar to the process Topock had to go through to dredge.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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The water is lower now on the charts. Down close to over 1.5 feet over the past two weeks. This isn’t helping things combined with changing conditions and people just not knowing where they are going. :D

DS weekend will be a shitshow in this area if the water level does not come up LOL.
 

LargeOrangeFont

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The CA side dredged channel is not under CC authority. Those buoys were placed by the Lake Havasu Marine Association and LHMA is supposed to maintain them and work with the ACOE when dredging needs to occur. Same process has to be followed, very similar to the process Topock had to go through to dredge.

If you look on a map, the no wake side, and the actual fast path up are both on the CA side. If you are on the AZ side, you are no longer boating, you are beaching.
 

OldSchoolBoats

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Yep. With the water low the margin for error is really narrow . It is 2 near 90 degree turns right now to get up through there 100% safely.

If going up river, this is the path -

Drive up to around 200 yards before the No Wake passage on the left. Make a near 90 degree turn to the right and drive across the front of the reed island, about 150-200 yards in front of it, then make another 90 degree left turn about 150-200 feet after you pass the reed island and head up river and you'll be OK.

I was following a buddy back down river on Saturday and he let off because he did not make a hard enough turn as he came out beyond the reed island (he turned about 45 degrees instead of close to 90) I let off as well and could not get going again without churning up a bunch of mud.. I had to hop out and push the boat about 50 feet.

No harm done, just took a little paint off the skeg.

That is the exact line I take every time.
 

RiverDave

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The dredged path in the California side is anything but dredged anymore. I got my boat stuck while I was dead in the middle of the channel. That whole area is less than knew deep. It’s a little deeper towards the AZ side but still..
 

Racer56

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The CA side dredged channel is not under CC authority. Those buoys were placed by the Lake Havasu Marine Association and LHMA is supposed to maintain them and work with the ACOE when dredging needs to occur. Same process has to be followed, very similar to the process Topock had to go through to dredge.

Why doesn't LHMA mark the high speed channel?
 

SOCALCRICKETT

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Water level is low, i came through az side of reed island at full trim, full throttle in the bass boat and still bumped sand. In the bass boat i never worry since it drafts so little and take the same line everytime. Being that i nocked the paint off the skeg, tells me water is 10-12" in spots

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LargeOrangeFont

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That is the exact line I take every time.

When the water is higher you can be less aggressive with those turns... which is why my friend felt it drag a little and let off in front of me. I've never been through there with the water as low as it was last week.
 

wsuwrhr

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Scary. UCH drafts a good part of 24-30" at rest. No idea what that works out to on plane but there aintnochanceinhell that $1500 prop will traverse 10-12" deep water. The strut would prolly hit at that depth.
 
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