Wavepool Wednesday

Not many times in a sports history does it have the chance for a revolutionary change. Skateboarding had its revolution when the kick tail was first invented and flat land tricks became archaic. Snowboarding had its revolution when the materials and basic design of the board/bindings evolved. Surfing has mostly advanced with the addition of the 3rd fin which is still the most used fin set up in the world today. All three of these revolutions had to do with the actual equipment the riders used.


What if you could change the environment in which you participated your sport in?

Skaters have the natural terrain of the concrete jungle with live in and skateparks, Snowboarders have the mountains and snow machines, but what do surfers have? We have the ocean but its always different. There are so many variables that come in to play with the waves that its hard to surf without traveling all over the world finding the waves. No wave you surf is ever the same twice.

However, a new revolution is happening in surfing now that could bring the waves to us! A wave pool is a surf-park in essence where you could change the wave the same way you can modify obstacles in a skate park or a terrain park. Also it would provide a consistency with waves that doesn't exist anywhere in the world.

Now your probably thinking I'm talking about the idea of a standing wave which have been around for a while now and are more of a mix vert skating on water. The wave house

I'm talking about actual standing waves the same kind that exist in the ocean! Disney has one known as Typhoon Lagoon but its a small gutless wave that doesn't provide much fun and this is the trend for the wave pools that exist today. Typhoon Lagoon

It seems like creating a realistic wave pool is the next key to unlocking surfing's full potential. Beyond this it could spread surfing to parts of the globe that are landlocked creating a wider audience for the sport.
There are a couple waves that exist now but nothing like the type of technology that is surfacing now.

Kelly Slater has a very secretive wave project that he is working on. He definetly knows good waves and decribes the motivation behind the need for a wave pool.
There isn't much but check his webiste here.

The most promising technology is the Wavegarden in the basque country in Spain. They have created the tech to produce a waist high wave in teh middle of a field that barrels the whole way! This is in incredible and on the website it says they should have shoulder high wave by the summer. This could be extremely revolutionary and I cant wait to see the advancements that come with it this year.
Sign me up for one when they become available to the public!

Wavegarden (Short) from wavegarden on Vimeo.

Check their full website out here they have some epic stuff happening

Stay Strange friends
Talk to you in the future!