Okahina Wave, the French company behind its unique “semi-natural”, circular wave technology, is on a mission to complete funding and construction for a public opening in northern hemisphere Summer 2025.

And while the first large scale project is located midway between Paris and Bordeaux in the South-West of France, the company said that we can expect to see additional projects in the United States, Spain, Switzerland, The Middle East and Brazil in the near future. 

Okahina made optimistic claims that a first commercial facility would be open by 2020. That project located at French theme park Futuroscope, has yet to materialize. When asked why commercial sites heavily promoted only a few short years ago have yet to be delivered, Okahina answered back that the process had been severely slowed down by government agencies.

Four years is a long delay. What happened?

Speaking to wavepoolmag.com, inventor of Okahina Wave technology, Laurent Hequily, was extremely enthusiastic about seeing his design become a commercial reality after his team, including Chief Technical Officer, Erle Dumontier, overcame the complexity of French bureaucracy to get final approval. 

“Europe and France in particular, are subject to extremely rigid and strict rules and norms, especially concerning the environment,” said Hequily. “It has taken us a bit of time, but we finally received the green light in March. We needed to satisfy the environmental concerns and prove that there is no biodiversity risk. The claim is to even have positive impacts in some cases, helping to restore the bio-chemical balance of sometimes already damaged ecosystems” 

Dumontier weighs in, and agrees that the process was long and tedious but in essence it has actually strengthened the resolve of the product – which in its “floating atoll form” offers a wild shift away from the construction style of most other wave pools (ie large scale earth moving/civil engineering, pouring loads of concrete, water wastage, energy consumption, carbon emissions and more)

 “France is number one, top in the world, for administration and complicating processes,” he said. “But in the process of passing all the authorization to start construction and implementation of our technology, and while it was at some points an administrative nightmare, it has forced us to lift our game and prove our environmental responsibility claims… When other technologies have been blocked by environmental activists (France, Switzerland, Spain, California, Hawaii, Germany, Brazil…)., we believe our solution will be far more appealing for expansion into other countries. We have turned this challenge into a strength.”

The immediate focus now is finalising the capital requirements which will allow for construction to begin, and Dumontier says they are moving forward at pace potentially offering up 20-plus second rides for frothers of all ages and abilities within 12 months from now and then 45-plus seconds rides a year later.

“Absolutely we are ready to start building,” he said. “We are just finalizing our last financing round which is 80 percent complete. And upon its completion, which we are predicting will be at the end of next month, we will be on track to open to the public in Summer 2025.” 

“But the way I see it, we have the second mover’s advantage. You know, what we have seen, is the first generation of wave pools… which forced us to be different… it created an obligation for Okahina to be a game changer. We would like to think that we could make the other technologies obsolete in many ways including our uniquely lessened environmental impact.”

Laurent Hequily

The company added that the next two projects are currently at 75% financing round stage, supported by a European infrastructure fund.

And with the market growing substantially in the past few years, with numerous technologies opening public facilities and proving commercial viability, naturally there would be fear that new entries have missed the opportunity to catch and ride the booming industry wave. Not so, says Hequily, in fact he feels the delay caused by the approvals process and the negative impact of COVID, resulting in Okahina’s “late to market” position, is an advantage. 

“Well, with the circumstances of the past few years, we had no choice in when we could launch,” he said. “But the way I see it, we have the second mover’s advantage. You know, what we have seen, is the first generation of wave pools… which forced us to be different… it created an obligation for Okahina to be a game changer. We would like to think that we could make the other technologies obsolete in many ways including our uniquely lessened environmental impact.

“It has taken us nearly 10 years to get to where we are, but that is pretty much on par with most of the other technologies. We are happy to be finally in a position to prove our concept can be commercially capable and environmentally sound.”

The Okahina Wave technology utilizes a circular wave created by an electrically powered, semi-immerged, satellite rotating generator to produce a lift effect under the water’s surface. Unlike other technologies on the market, the mechanism is completely removable and housed in a floating atoll-like structure. The system can be installed in any existing sheltered body of water large enough to accommodate it, with various sizes available to provide different ride lengths. Owners say that these features of the floating atoll and a low energy consumption wave generator make the Okahina system more cost-effective to construct and operate.

Future sites for Okahina include Okahina Futuroscope 2025, which will be 40m in a small atoll size and is currently in the manufacturing and construction stage. Okahina Libourne 2026 is planned to be 80m in a medium-large atoll size and is in the design stage. Okahina Paris 2027 is set to be 110m in a large atoll size and is currently in the planning stage. Additionally, two Okahina sites in Florida and California are also planned for 2027, both at 110m in a large atoll size and in the planning stage. Okahina says they are in the process of establishing its future US headquarters in Texas and seeking local partners for this endeavor.

The Guide to Circular Wave Pool Designs