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France to kick off new pool construction near Hossegor

Written by Bryan Dickerson

The small town of Castets, 40 minutes northeast of the famed sandbanks of Hossegor, will be home to France’s newest wave pool. The project, dubbed Wavelandes Atlantic, secured 32 acres of land from the town for roughly $850,000. Officials said they will be using Wavegarden’s Cove technology.

Computer sketch ups in the Presslib article announcing the project show a system that, while it resembles a Cove, lacks the main wave-generating engine component mounted on their central pier. Other inconsistencies are statements that the tech will produce 900 waves per hour, every press release mentioning Cove technology boasts 1,000 waves per hour. The Wavegarden project location map does not show a location in Castets.

Still, officials are claiming a Cove for the project which will cover the equivalent of almost four football fields and have room for 90 surfers at a time in six different surf zones. As it’s a larger Cove the waves can be cranked up to six-feet high.

The founder of the project is business visionary Norbert Ducrot, a former heavy from within the Airbus group. Plans also call for yoga, cross-fit, climbing walls, a skatepark and other activities. Wavelandes hopes to attract 180,000 visitors per year and create nearly 200 jobs.

The impetus for building such a large wave pool comes from France’s quest for Olympic gold in surfing. The French Surfing Federation spoke highly of the future site as a training ground for their athletes in preparation for the Paris 2024 games.

“French surfers compete at the elite international level,” said Charles Bride, General Secretary of the French Surfing Federation. “For this reason, this project is indispensable to the success of French surfing and our chances of winning medals.”

The project looks good to go but has one more approval hurdle upcoming this October. If all goes according to plan, the expedited building schedule would complete the project by 2020.

This area of France, known as Les Landes, is home to the country’s timber industry. Planted in the 18th century to stabilize swampland, the surrounding area is the largest man-made woodland in Western Europe.

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