Urbnsurf Melbourne recently went into more detail about the three different surf zones in their upcoming two-hectare Wavegarden Cove facility. The Melbourne breaks will be divided up into beginner, intermediate and advanced.

Company CEO Andrew Ross also offered some numbers for upcoming surf sessions saying there will be max 18 surfers on the each side of the central Cove pier in the advanced takeoff zone. This ratio translates to 12-15 full-length rides per hour for each surfer.

Beginner Waves

Insides offers gentle, knee-high, rolling whitewater waves, perfect for first-timers who want to get up and riding (fast), and for beginner surfers looking to build up their balance and confidence.

Intermediate Waves

Intermediate waves are located in the middle of the lagoon and offer waist-high, green-faced waves, breaking both right and left. “The waves will allow intermediate surfers to progress and practice turns, cutbacks and other manoeuvres” says Urbnsurf. “They’ll also be the spots to muck around and have fun on a softboard, bodyboard

Advanced Waves

Expert section is located right out the back and produces the largest, longest and most challenging waves. With a maximum capacity of 18 surfers per hour on the Right, and 18 on the Left, each surfer will score at least 12-15 flawless, world-class waves per session. “Once you kick out, a gentle current will carry you back out to the take-off spot, to go again. And again. And again.”

Check the full ‘surf zones’ clip on Urbnsurf’s website

General Information about The Cove

A large, inverted diamond-shaped facility pushes out waves by either compressed air or paddles (industry secret, we actually don’t know). While the engineering specifics are closely-guarded, Wavegarden goes on record to say that the wave-generating system is controlled by “sophisticated software.”

The software settings at the Cove generate everything from slabs to easy beginner rollers. Wavegarden states that “at the push of a button, the size, shape, power and frequency of the waves can be adjusted to suit all user groups.”

They boast further that the software can transform conditions in an instant. Knee-high dribblers can be replaced with Cove slabs capable of hitting a max height of 2.4 meters (7 feet, 10 inches.)

The right and left Reefs at the end of the pool are expert zones. When the machine spits out waves a right and a left peel away from adjacent walls toward a central pier. The Cove footage we see is all from the small Wavegarden test pool in Spain. In the largest pools (yet to be built), the waves from this Reef section will peel for a much greater distance.

The corresponding Bays are the area designed for beginners and newbies. These waves are the remnants of the Reef waves. And it’s these sections of the Wavegarden Cove that offer the sloping open-face reforms that make perfecting beginner surf skills easier.

The Cove wave pools come in small, medium and large options, depending on the size and expense of the project. For scale, the Wavegarden clips we see are done at their R&D facility which is the one half the width and one-third the length of the full-size pool.

The wave’s length is determined by the number of modules (extensions added out from the wave generator) to each pool,” the company added. “To extend the length of ride additional modules can be installed. Even in small facilities, the wave-riding experience can last around 10-15 seconds.”

Wavegarden adds that the extensions can be customized to match whatever shape the project demands. Thus, the Cove design can fit into square spaces or round spaces.

For comparison, American Wave Machines’ PerfectSwell tech at BSR Surf Resort offers 10-second rides. Kelly’s wave pool hits the 45-second mark. So it’s easy to extrapolate that a full-size Cove will near a 20-25 second ride.