Palm Spring Surf Club eyes (late) 2020 opening
Cheyne Magnusson and Kalani Robb’s transformation of a decades-old wave pool into a surf-able beast took one step closer to becoming a reality. The Palm Springs powers-that-be on Wednesday approved the crew’s plan to update the Wet ’n’ Wild Water Park wave pool and environs.
The decaying facility was purchased quietly last year by Pono Acquisition Partners LLC. Publicly, Cheyne and Kalani have been lighting up the Insta-sphere with quick clips and hints at what’s to come.
The Palm Springs Surf Club will cost an estimated $50million to retrofit and cover 21-acres on South Gene Autry Trail road. Artist renderings show several smaller pools, a club house, restaurant, shops, lazy river and more.
But the power behind the yet-to-be-announced-wave-making system is the big question. Cheyne Magnusson spent hours in the Texas heat tweaking and refining the American Wave Machines technology at the BSR Surf Ranch. He synced the timing of the machine to produce their famous air section and created the various skill-level settings. It’s speculated he’ll be using a technology of his own invention.
But there are other techs out there. One, SwellMFG boasts they can drop their tech into existing swimmer-specific facilities to upgrade wave pools for surfing.
“Water drop and air blower systems are found in most existing wave pools,” says Swell MFG on their website. “We can drop our system right in front of, or remove (current systems), updating existing wave pools and bringing them up-to-date with high volume waves and reduced operational cost.”
PS Surf Club has not divulged their tech yet, but promised WavePoolMag full details when they are ready to announce.
The desert area east of Los Angeles and north of San Diego has been a hotbed of wave pool speculation. Some suggestions are that as many as four pools for surfing could be built in the next few years.
Moving the project through last night was the Palm Springs Planning Commission who voted 5-0 in
Eric Munoz, the chief development officer for Palm Springs Surf Club told the Desert Sun that by removing two of the existing water rides, the park will use less water than its previous occupants. He added they will also recycle and refilter water and use drought-resistant plants and landscaping.
“I’m excited,” Oscar Salazar, a member of the East Valley Board Riders club told KESQ News. “It’s going to bring new opportunities to the valley in my opinion and make it a lot easier for us to access waves instead of going to LA or something like that.”
The wave pool is expected to open at the end of 2020.
The Palm Springs Surf Club
• The Lowdown: Top secret and under wraps wave pool by Cheyne Magnusson and Kalani Robb. Pono Partners LLC updated Palm Springs press agents on the plans in May.
• WavePool Construction Progress: Planning stages
• Accessibility: Not yet built or even open to the public, but
• Type of wave(s): Knowing Cheyne’s penchant for ramps and wedges, expect something similar to Waco.
• Wave Generating Technology: Totally new invention from Cheyne Magnusson and crew or another new technology.
• Wave’s Technical Information: The pool is a tad smaller than the BSR Surf Ranch and will use the existing outline of the previous Riptide Reef pool at Wet’n’Wild
• Hours of operation/Seasonal Hours: Year-round.
• Price Breakdown: None yet
• Waves per hour: unknown
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