September 28, 2020  |  News

New Jersey PerfectSwell wave pool to open October 8th

News

The PerfectSwell wave pool at Far Far A Bay has had a rough run. Originally slated to open November 27th at the American Dream mall in New Jersey, construction delays postponed the opening until Spring 2020. Then, the grand opening debuted with the arrival of COVID-19. This week the official “in” to the wave pool Skudin Surf announced that surfing

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September 28, 2020  |  Latest, News

A naked look at surfing through the art of DrewToonz

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Surf art is a weird beast. Like a minotaur, half-bull and half-human, it’s often two very separate things that don’t really belong together. The genre of surf art is dominated by two different animals. One is the airbrush flowy Wyland daydream species seen in tropical vacation galleries across the Pacific. And the other is the cartoonish splendor of Andy Davis,

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September 28, 2020  |  News

Why wave pool construction is a difficult, moody beast

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In the creation of dream waves it's the engineers who get all the glory. These creative minds tethering their stardust visions via slide rules and math are the rock stars of the wave pool movement. But Aaron Trevis, Josema Ordriozola, Bruce McFarland, Clément Ginestet, Adam Fincham and others need a solid backing band to bring these dreams to life. This

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September 24, 2020  |  Latest, News

Fort Pierce project aims to break the Florida wave pool curse

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This week a 200-acre community development received unanimous approval from the Fort Pierce City Commission. At the center of the new Willow Lakes project will be a massive 56-module Wavegarden Cove facility as large as the one in South Korea. If all goes according to plan, the American Surf Parks development will be the first next-generation wave pool to open

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September 22, 2020  |  News

Feature: The many layers to Surf Lakes’ stone-in-a-pond concept

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The test pool in Yeppoon is known by a lot of names: The Mad Max Wave, The Plunger Wave, Apocalypse Wave, That Giant Donut Thing …Surf Lakes makes a huge visceral impression. Arguably more than any wave technology out there at the moment. While concrete and software-synced air-powered swimming pools become the Dave Mathews Band of the surf park landscape,

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September 21, 2020  |  News

First Look: Mesa Arizona wavepool design and layout

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The world got another glimpse of the new SwellMFG wave-making technology this week through just-released architectural drawings and an Instagram post. The new sketches are the first schematics of the tech which will power the Cannon Beach development east of central Phoenix.Up to this point, we've only seen video clips of perfect little peelers from SwellMFG with no idea of

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September 21, 2020  |  News

BSR tweaks settings to give USA Olympic team Japan-esque conditions

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The BSR Surf Resort hosted a special Olympic training camp for the US Surf Team as they prepare for the Tokyo Olympics. USA Surfing team members Carissa Moore, Lakey Peterson, Courtney Conlogue, Kevin Schulz and Christiaan “Otter” Bailey feasted on a buffet of BSR Surf Resort waves and expertise for gaining competitive advantage for surfing’s debut at the 2021 Games.

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September 18, 2020  |  News

Adaptive surfing & surf therapy progress spikes

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Adaptive surfing and surf therapy programs are gaining momentum in the world’s wave pools. Last Spring WavePoolMag spoke with Adaptive Surf Champion Mark 'Mono' Stewart. He said that the whole mojo behind the adaptive surf tour goes beyond the gloss of a corporate blanket. Instead, the system is supported by smaller groups like Ampsurf, Stance and the ISA. The tour’s

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September 14, 2020  |  News, Television

Video: Shakira surfs a wave pool

News, Television

Kelly Slater doesn’t own the celebrity-wave-pool-guest niche. Wavegarden encroached on the King’s turf this month as pop superstar Shakira hit the R&D facility in the Basque Country of Spain. The Queen of Latin Music has a long, successful career and topped the American charts with “Hips Don’t Lie,” a duo featuring Haitian rapper Wyclef Jean. The song spent five weeks

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September 10, 2020  |  News

New standing wave near Seattle is 50-feet across

News

After several years of detailed planning and construction, the city of Chelan in the Pacific Northwest of the USA is the birthplace to the very first citywave installation in North America. The Slidewaters water park and Munich-based wave pool manufacturer are powering the standing wave with 100% by renewable energy. The new installation marks more than twice the size of

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September 10, 2020  |  Latest, News

Vietnam to get huge wave pool from makers Endless Surf

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Vietnam is changing, recent years have seen rapid growth of tourism infrastructure and significant real estate expansion. International investors have recognized the large potential of this culture-rich, tropical destination and look to support the government's bold economic development plan for a brand-new administrative region. East of Ho Chi Minh City, a new area dubbed Vietnam's Silicon Valley is emerging, spanning districts 2,9

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September 9, 2020  |  Latest, News, Television

New Jersey wave pool resided in world’s most dangerous theme park

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New Jersey's Action Park - often referred to as the "world's most dangerous amusement park" operated from 1978 to 1996 and inspired many harried stories and urban legends. “Class Action Park,” “Accident Park” and “Traction Park” are some of the names ascribed to the loosely run theme park. The wave pool was known as the “Grave Pool.” The park became

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September 9, 2020  |  News, Television

COVID Clips: Urbnsurf tempts with expert setting video

News, Television

Coronavirus restrictions are still in place in the Australian state of Victoria. Consequently, Urbnsurf Melbourne remains closed. “We’ve been reviewing the new roadmap toward COVID Normal with government authorities and industry bodies, and will be issuing an update soon,” said Urbnsurf. The company added that they appreciate everyone’s ongoing support and that they’ll be back “pumping perfect waves” as soon

Coronavirus restrictions are still in place in the Australian state of Victoria. Consequently, Urbnsurf Melbourne remains closed. “We’ve been reviewing ...Continue ›

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September 8, 2020  |  Latest, News

Tom Lochtefeld – The Godfather of modern surf parks

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Tom Lochtefeld is the OG wave pool geek and a core surfer. For the past 30 plus years, he’s found ways to have fun and surf outside of the ocean. He fixed a cable to the rear-wheel-drive system of a Dodge truck to make a foil wave (a concept that began in 1987!) For this and many other reasons we

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September 8, 2020  |  News

New pool-core hardgoods go soft on the outside

News

3DFins released their new high-performance “Go Hard/Soft” fin series aimed at the entry-level and wave pool surfboard markets. The hard-in-the-center but soft-on-the-outside fin received an Australian Good Design award this week. As far as we know, it’s the first product in the hardgoods accessory category designed specifically with wave pools in mind.3DFins would be the stand-alone victors in this micro-niche

3DFins released their new high-performance “Go Hard/Soft” fin series aimed at the entry-level and wave pool surfboard markets. The hard-in-the-center ...Continue ›

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September 3, 2020  |  Latest, News, User Guide

All design roads lead to the Surf Ranch – Firewire’s ‘No Brainer’

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Dan Mann designs boards for Firewire and is responsible for some of the brand’s most popular models. He recently made a board for Kelly Slater specifically to go in one-foot mush. However, a board that Kelly rides in one-foot mush is going to be very, very different from what 95% of the surfing world rides in such conditions. Surreptitiously, Kelly,

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September 2, 2020  |  News, Television

Video: Mellow joy and multi-craft use at Surf Lakes

News, Television

Surf Lakes just launched an acoustic counter clip to the pumping biggest-tubes-ever-in-a-wave-pool we saw last week. The big water clip featured slab hunters Ben Player, Dingo Morrison, Coby Perkovich and others. This clip, just posted on the Surf Lakes YouTube channel, shows the pond in Yeppoon being ridden by all manner of craft and surfer set to mellow acoustic guitar

Surf Lakes just launched an acoustic counter clip to the pumping biggest-tubes-ever-in-a-wave-pool we saw last week. The big water clip ...Continue ›

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August 31, 2020  |  Latest, News

Meet the Taylor Steele of wave pool videos…

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Chris Monroe is excitable. Which is refreshing in an era of surf edits blanched with rights-free music and predictable quick cuts. Mr. Monroe narrates the action as it happens. Which, isn’t really necessary. The viewer can see exactly what is going on. It would be annoying, but when Chris throws out an “oh my gosh look at that” or an

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August 28, 2020  |  News

Adaptive surfing pushes further into wave pools

News

The Wave Bristol announced this week they will host the 2020 Korev Lager English Adaptive Surfing Open, an event showcasing both local and international surfers. “We are now on the Fourth English Adaptive Open, an event which has grown exponentially over the last four years and is well recognised by International Athletes,” said Surfing England. “We are proud of all

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August 27, 2020  |  Latest, News

Guide to the major standing wave pool technologies

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The river surfing scene is credited with launching the standing wave pool boom. Riders don’t have to paddle into standing waves, they can simply acid drop or butt-slide in from the coping. Surfers stay in the same place, never traveling away from where they dropped in. Consequently, the vibe is different, with riders cheering each other on from just a

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August 26, 2020  |  News

Firsthand: What’s it like to ride the biggest wave pool surf ever?

News

Measuring wave height is very subjective. Estimations vary on whether you look at the face or the back of the wave and whether you come from Hawaii or Florida. How brave you are feeling that day also comes into play. Surf Lakes, home to that big, lovable steampunk plunger named Bob, went extra this week and pushed out what we’re

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August 26, 2020  |  News

How do I build a surf park? Insights from Endless Surf’s Paul Chutter

News

We get a lot of requests at WavePoolMag from hopeful surf park developers. Via our social channels, the messages usually start “Me and my friends are thinking of building a wave pool.” Then they provide reasons why and exclamations of “It’s gonna be so rad!” The queries usually end with “So, like, how do we get started and what do

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August 25, 2020  |  News

Healing properties of surfing at work in Bristol wave pool

News

Can a wave pool help slough off those layers of sad and make you happy, like, within-your-bones happy? For many of us, a session in the surf is a reset button that puts us in a positive headspace. Many of us also see it as a way to reaffirm the bigger picture too. Surf pioneer Tom Blake referred to the

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August 24, 2020  |  News, Television

Surf Lakes adjusts their slab wave

News, Television

The waves fired back up at the Surf Lakes R&D facility in Yeppoon with more testing and photo ops. In the most recent round of trials surfers Mark, Jay and Jonah Occhilupo, took to Occy’s Peak. Longboarders Luca Doble and Charlotte Lethbridge surfed the improved beachbreak. One big takeaway from recent improvements is that the plunger has now reached a

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August 20, 2020  |  Latest, News

First images of Okahina Wave technology revealed

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The wave pool world has long been stunned by the unique properties of the Okahina Wave system. Artist renderings show a circular system spitting out endless rides. Many have pointed out that you can make anything look surf-able in an art mock-up. The recent video of Okahina Wave’s proof-of-concept only raises more questions.In the clip by news outlet Paris Match

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