What ever happened to Surf Lakes? Video proof they’re alive, kicking and planning
The world loves Surf Lakes. The company burst on to the scene pre-covid and launched a million wave pool fantasies from both the surfing and developer worlds. “So many wave options” said the surfers. “So much beachfront!” shrieked developers. And while the Yeppoon facility currently makes a push to come online as a surf resort destination, the company behind the world’s most famous plunger, pushes on.
Investment
Surf Lakes has been making a push for investments lately and if you’ve ever “liked” anything wave pool-related on Instagram then chances are that your feed has received a Surf Lakes ad suggesting that you become a financial supporter.
“Why invest in Surf Lakes? We are the only wave tech you can invest in! The rest are privately held. So, if you believe in the product and want to support the only start-up in the space, comment ‘waves’ for more info…” the posts read on Instagram.
Design Changes
The company has updated their plunger design. It no longer resembles a post-apocalyptic dradle, but now a steely ball-bearing case sitting atop a giant spool lifted from the movie Dune. Several new renders, including surf park designs for Yeppoon and Tampa Bay show the new design in customized settings.
WavePoolMag visited the Yeppoon test site and spoke with Kit Sidwell, the main engineer for the company, who walked us through the design and hinted at some key changes including the tower and the pressurized steam to power it (they will put a muffler on the system, yes, like on a car to quiet it down.)
Throughput
All of the above information has been floating around and available the past few years. What recently captured our attention (and launched this recap article) was an explainer video showing how the estimated 200 surfers per hour will cycle through the Surf Lakes wave pool technology. As one of the largest capacity designs on the market, that particular question has been raised several times since the company’s debut in 2018.
In the clip we see 200 little dots representing everyone who will be in the surf basin including reef surfers, learners, lifeguards and instructors. As the plunger moves up and down through a four meter stroke oscillation, the dots neatly rotate through the surf zones. Note that the design now has four main surf zones rather than five as they had originally promoted.
Webinars
The company has also been busy hosting webinars drilling down on all the technology’s benefits and uniqueness in the surf park space including multiple skill levels using the lake simultaneously. In the above clip Surf Lakes Founders Aaron Trevis and Reuben Buchanan cover several points, including the future of surfing, a timeline of the surf park industry, unit economics, a comparison of capital expenditure values, and the advantages of their system.
The Surf Lakes standard sized pool has a price tag of $50million while the Surf Lakes XL (like the one in Yeppoon) is priced at $65million.
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