On Wednesday July 31 Australian news outlets reported that a surfer was pulled unconscious from the water at Sydney’s wave pool.

URBNSURF lifeguards attended an unconscious 70-year-old male at the Wavegarden Cove pool shortly before noon and performed CPR according to reports. Local emergency responders then showed up at the surf park and took the man to Concord Hospital in a critical condition. He died later.

“URBNSURF has temporarily closed its Sydney Olympic Park facility after a guest suffered what is believed to be a medical episode on site,” an URBNSURF spokesperson said. “The URBNSURF team responded to provide support and care for the guest before paramedics arrived.”

How the person became unconscious is unknown with many speculating the surfer had a heart attack or other medical episode. Police are investigating the incident but the death has not been deemed suspicious. A report will be forthcoming in the next few days.

In a statement to local news URBNSURF said their main priority is the health, safety and well-being of guests and staff. “Our thoughts are with them at this time.” 

URBNSURF temporarily closed its Sydney Olympic Park facility after a guest suffered a suspected medical episode on site.

The guest was transported to hospital following onsite care by our team but has since passed away.

Our heartfelt thoughts are with his family and loved ones. He was a beloved member of the URBNSURF bodyboarding community.

Out of care and respect for all involved, the facility was closed on Thursday 1st August. The park reopened on Friday 2nd August.

Our main priority is the health, safety and wellbeing of our guests and staff and we are providing appropriate support.

– Statement from URBNSURF

URBNSURF Sydney, in partnership with Simba, offers free helmets to surfers, as does URBNSURF Melbourne. The companies noted a rise in helmet usage among guests, though wearing them is optional. Sydney is URBNSURF’s second location after Melbourne, making it the only operator of two surf parks.

Wave pool surfing deaths are incredibly rare. Facilities don’t publicize incidents but they have occured. The most well-known tragedy is Fabrizio Stabile who contracted a brain-eating bacteria at a Texas wave pool.

Deaths in ocean surfing are on the rise as more people take up the sport. Last year pro surfer Mikala Jones severed an artery while surfing in Indonesia. Recently Tamayo Perry died after a shark attack on Oahu.

Surf Park Management’s Skip Taylor said the tragic event will have repercussions beyond Sydney.

“Overall, we are a very safe industry but with any action sport, injuries will happen and we know that all of our fellow surf park operators and every wave technology company is working diligently to minimize this risk,” said Taylor. “Our Surf Park Management team was so saddened to hear the news of this tragic accident in Sydney and is sending condolences to the surferʻs family and friends.”

WavePoolMag opened dialogue on how best to address safety concerns in the nascent industry. While there is an accepted level of risk to surfing in the ocean, because surf parks are private entities, there is a higher safety standard than can be employed at your local beach.

Wave manufacturers such as Wavegarden, Endless Surf, Kelly Slater Wave Company, and Surf Loch are among those participating in the development of surf park standards. This collaboration emphasizes the importance of manufacturers, operators, insurance risk professionals, and lawyers all working together to prioritize safety. WavePoolMag covered the specific issue of risk in a recent Friday Sessions post (viewable at the bottom of this post.) You can also watch the developing conversation on surf park safety standards here.

“From a business perspective, this is especially tough in our nascent industry as the insurance sector doesn’t have the depth of history to have long term risk calculations like they have in the world of ski, golf, waterpark etc,” added Taylor. “I expect this will likely affect all surf park operators with higher than needed premiums in the short term. As we sought insurance coverage for facilities we have worked with, the history of BSR would inevitably come to light and now with this incident, it will be part of the insurance underwriters evaluation of risk.”

“We know the ski industry has historically used a factor of 1 death per 1-Million skier visits based on that industries historical data back it up. Surf Parks are still so new to the insurance industry and incidents like this can have more of a knee-jerk reaction during our developmental stage of the surf park industry.”