The WavePoolMag desert update focuses on developments in the evolving surf park oasis east of Los Angeles. After the pandemic, more drought and economic woes, progress on the four surf parks has changed. Coral Mountain is no longer on the map. Palm Springs Surf Club appears to be the next launch with DSRT Surf and Thermal the following year. Full details below.

The Coachella Valley has had its ups and downs as the wave pool projects slated to be built go through the processes it takes to reach final completion. Out of the four projects, the Palm Springs Surf Club, Coral Mountain, Desert Surf and the Thermal Beach Club, three are still on the books to be completed.

The Coral Mountain private development that would have housed the Kelly Slater technology similar to the pool in Lemoore, California went down to defeat. This was largely do to the opposition from surrounding developments who were well financed and organized. They viewed this new culture as invading their quite golf lifestyle and feared loud music, bull horns and glaring lighting. It did not help that California has been experiencing a drought that helped fuel the fire and eventually led to the La Quinta city Council voting down the project.

But we still have three wave pool projects approved, one in the construction stage with two others yet to announce a start date.

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The Thermal Beach Club will be a residential development that will build 326 dwelling including a 22-acre lagoon with wave making technology for surfing and a water recreation and 34,000 square feet clubhouse buildings restaurant and bar. The developers stated that they intend to allow local schools to utilize the wave pool in a way to give back to the community. This project has been fully approved by Riverside County and is expected to start construction in 2023 but as of this writing a start day has yet to be announced.

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Desert Wave Ventures DSRT Surf Resort will be in the city of Palm Desert and will utilize the Wave Garden technology. This project will be open to the public and will be located next to the city’s Desert Willow Golf Resort. It will include a luxury hotel and residential villas with a spa and fitness center. The development will have a surf academy for lessons, rentals and all things surf related. Desert Wave Ventures, a forward-thinking company, have addressed the water shortage by implementing a unique “Surf for Turf” to offset the surf lagoon water by converting 20 acres of turf on the golf course to drought tolerant landscaping. Construction is expected to begin sometime in 2023.

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The Palm Spring Surf Club took over the old Wet’n’Wild water park in Palm Springs. The old park already had a pool space available for them to build in and test their equipment before actually starting on the larger pool. The old pool was eventually replaced with a larger one with a completely different bottom to help form perfect waves. There is a lot of footage of the test pool and many world class surfers got a taste of what will be a unique surfing experience. This project is currently under construction and will be the first to open in the Coachella Valley. An opening date has yet to be announced but this author is excited as everyone to have a working wave pool in his community.

Written by Dave Hilts Coachella Valley Surf Club