Come look into the not-to-distant future with us as we book a session at a new Endless Surf wave pool. With six announced new surf spots planned to open in the next two years, we are wondering what the user experience will look like.

The white glove booking treatment

First off is the system’s Surf Concierge, which works like a hotel hospitality agent who sees to all your surf needs. Surfers can go online, fill out a profile, complete safety forms and book their sessions either for that day or for an upcoming session. Next, you can select your wave preferences: Barrel, Turns waves, or even some Combo waves. Session payments are secured and any pre-discounts are applied.

“Surfers can choose their time slots, select amenities like lockers and pre-booked meals if available,” explained Chutter. “It’s like an all-inclusive stay where all the guest’s needs have been anticipated and are ready to go. So you can just show up and surf with no worries.”

When you make your choices, you create a profile and the system learns all about you and your likes to help build out a personalized surf experience from there.

”The Endless Surf Software Suite creates the perfect experience for surfers,” said Paul Chutter President of Endless Surf “It’s like a virtual assistant. You will still have staff on hand, but it makes it easier to do on the fly adjustments to the session”

Paul Chutter, President of Endless Surf

Next up is the surf. We know that BSR sends through three-wave sets of rights in one direction, then sends through three lefts in the other direction shortly after. Surfers at a WaveGarden Cove book sessions for either the right or the left and surf the same wave setting throughout the booking. Endless Surf sends out a variety of waves catered to the preferences of the surfers in the pool.

This is done through the second component, the Swell Studio, which the surf pool operator uses to make customized waves to cater to who is surfing in the pool.

Paddle out and take your place in the lineup

The Endless Surf wave pool has different surf zones. The areas aren’t assigned, so you aren’t limited to only one side of the surf park.

“Within our unique heart-shaped pool we have three surf zones,” said Paul Chutter “We have The Peak, The Inside and The Shore which correspond to advanced, intermediate, and beginner areas.

From an operations standpoint, with the pool at capacity with 75 surfers, the waves being pumped out (and their cadence) will reflect who is in the lineup at any given time. Have a group of pros in the pool and the waves will fire off fast and furious. But have a mixed-level group and the wave intensity will stagger.

Swell Studio receives these pre-selected wave orders through Surf Concierge and accurately identifies the surfers in the pool through their RFID wristbands. One surfer’s ideal session could look like an order of three mellow turning waves to warm-up followed by a growing intensity of height and hollowness and then wind down to a long peeler to ride into the shore. This perfect session is created by the back of house operator (the Swell Shaper if we really want to put a name to him/her), who runs the pool through the Swell Studio interface and can build wave lists to satisfy the preferences of those in the pool.

Too many leg burning barrels? Things can change…

Paul Chutter continues “In reality, operators know that we aren’t all as good as in our imaginations and they need to flex sessions to reflect the reality of those in the pool, which may not match their booking confidence. This can mean moving an intermediate surfer from the Peak to the Inside zone. Or it could be changing up the set sequence live during the session to adapt to those in the pool. Most places will have staff on site to make these changes seamless and even take ‘in session’ wave requests to instruct the Swell Shaper to tone it down or amp it up – whatever the situation requires.”

Flexibility within the Swell Studio means no two sessions need ever be the same. Imagine you were lucky enough to have a private buy out. You could train on a repeated air section until you nail it; or build your own playlist of wonky waves.

As the Endless Surf systems comes online around the globe, one of the biggest game-changers to the wave pool surfing experience will be this customization through Surf Concierge and the Swell Studio, making truly personalized experiences possible.