test

New tricks in a wave pool: wall ride at Surf Snowdonia

Watch as Wavegarden’s original Lagoon technology becomes a skatepark of sorts as professional wakeboarder Nico von Lerchenfeld grabs a cable and gets towed through the pond to land some new tricks in a wave pool. In this case, it’s the world’s first wall ride.

The German virtuoso ollies a wave from out the back and slides off the main wall of the former aluminum mine site to complete the world’s first wall ride in a wave pool.

The concept of executing a wall ride in a wave pool is a new one and illustrates that just about anything can be constructed in a pool to enhance the ride. The main limits are creativity and fear of loosing large amounts of blood from injury.

But think of where new tricks in a wave pool could go; picture a cable park with floating obstacles to slide and grind. Now imagine a wave running through those very same obstacles. Amazing. It boggles the mind and increases liability insurance worries at the same time.

Volcom has hedged toward with their aquatic half-pipe while the folks at Stab mag undertook the tremendous production responsibilities of placing a floating swimming dock in the middle of a tropical peak in Bali.

“It would just kill you if it hit you, yeah?” Noa Deane told Stab. “What’s it weigh? Half a tonne? When it wears a wave on the head it kicks like a snake.”

The blurring of surf/snow/wake/skate lines has been brewing for a while.

In 2008 a few bros floated a plastic traffic barrier into the lineup and went at it, trying some rail slides. But the un-anchored behemoth became more of a liability than a gnar-maker.

And yes it is dangerous. Lerchenfeld did suffer an injury while nailing new tricks in a wave pool.

“When I saw the full movie for the first time, I got goose bumps,” said Lerchenfeld. “I’m so proud that we managed it, even though so much went wrong. First my crash, where I hurt myself. Then my son got sick and had to go to the hospital. Finally, the norovirus got me and almost the entire Team Playground crew.”

Despite the horrors that ensued Lerchenfeld remained cheery. “I’m so stoked about what we have done in Surf Snowdonia in Wales, what nobody else did before. It is a real wakeboard world premiere.”

As the clip closes there’s a rave-worthy night session as the 2-plus minute clip nears the end. In addition we get to see Surf Snowdonia’s resident pro Jo Dennison ripping a few lefts to give some perspective to the high-flying antics of Nico surfing on an a wakeboard.

But the whole episode opens up an incredible future of possibilities: What obstacle would you throw in a wave pool to spice up the session?

Trackback from your site.


Endless Surf 2023A