May 7, 2023  |  News

Employee of the month May 2023: Jina Kim of Wave Park

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Jina Kim has watched the South Korean surfing scene explode. In the past 10 years, it went from a handful of expats and coastal rule breakers to a full-on government-recognised sport. Throughout all the evolution Jina has been there, adapting, evolving, and riding waves, and charting a professional surf career in a country without any professional surfers. Challenging? Yes. Boring?

Jina Kim has watched the South Korean surfing scene explode. In the past 10 years, it went from a handful ...Continue ›

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January 30, 2023  |  News

Going Big: How the East’s largest human-made surf spot came to be in this exact, undoubtedly surreal location

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Surfing is young in South Korea. It's only been in the past ten years that interest has flourished. When considering cultural norms and geography, it makes sense. The peninsula country is surrounded by less-than-ideal swell-generating seas. In late 2022 WavePoolMag set out to surf the world's largest Wavegarden Cove here. The surf park sits in Siheung-si in an unremarkable industrial

Surfing is young in South Korea. It's only been in the past ten years that interest has flourished. When considering ...Continue ›

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June 8, 2022  |  News

In Korea a wave pool and startup surf league anchor a fledgling surf scene

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Surfing is contagious. Just shy of the 20th century, Hawaiian Royalty gave demonstrations in California while a couple of decades later Duke Kahanamoku wowed crowds in Australia. Both locations immediately embraced the sport and it flourished. Fast forward a century and you can now find groups of like-minded surfing devotees gathered together in boardriders clubs. But the Duke never gave

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May 31, 2021  |  News, Television

Television: South Korea’s surfers train at Wave Park

News, Television

What kind of training ritual do South Korea’s surfers go through at Wave Park? In our latest episode of “Found Footage” we weave synthesisers and a random 1970s sci-fi clip into a thoroughly confusing, but ultimately entertaining clip of South Korea’s up-and-coming surfers training at the Wave Park wave pool in Siheung-si. Video by Watermelon Surf Photography with music by

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May 28, 2021  |  Latest

Surfing and shooting Korea’s natural and unnatural waves with Moon-Ho Jung

Latest

Shortly before Wave Park South Korea opened and Wavegarden had a tight lid on all digital assets, we discovered a trove of wonderfully stripped-down clips by Moon Ho Jung that showcased the wave’s potential. What we soon realized is that Korea has a core surfing scene. It’s one that went from just a handful of core participants to having overrun

Shortly before Wave Park South Korea opened and Wavegarden had a tight lid on all digital assets, we discovered a ...Continue ›

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May 17, 2021  |  News

Wave Park opens post-COVID, welcomes historian, activist

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Waves are pumping again at Wave Park after its temporary closure due to pandemic restrictions. To celebrate the reopening of Wave Park, the wave pool launched a new program, “Aloha Surfing Edition 1.” The group invited Philip Ahn Cuddy, a legendary surfer and expert in the surfing industry, and most noteworthy, the descendant of the Korean independence activist in the

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April 28, 2021  |  News

Employee of the Month: Let’s hit South Korea’s wave Park with Jina Kim

News

One of the great things about wave pools is that they level the playing field in terms of which corners of the world have good surf. South Korea is not the Gold Coast of Australia in terms of wave quality. But Wave Park’s giant Cove wave pool ensures consistent sizzling surf in an area that relies on the rare wind

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April 24, 2021  |  Latest, News

What you need to know: Trip guide to Wave Park in Siheung South Korea

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Wave Park opened its doors this week for the 2021 season. Here are wave pool prices, hours, stay options and much more about the world's biggest public surf park Wave Park in South Korea is the wave pool du jour after spiking everyone's dopamine levels with social media nuggets of long rides, deep barrels and new air sections. Wave Park

Wave Park opened its doors this week for the 2021 season. Here are wave pool prices, hours, stay options and ...Continue ›

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December 5, 2020  |  Latest, Television

First Person: Follow a child’s surf lesson at Wave Park

Latest, Television

Let's step back from the all-glory-all-action momentum of wave pool performance and dial it back to the basics. We found this cool clip narrated by a kid who recently learned to surf at Wave Park. The unnamed narrator in this quick video walks us through the whole process of learning to surf in the world’s largest and newest public wave

Let's step back from the all-glory-all-action momentum of wave pool performance and dial it back to the basics. We found ...Continue ›

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November 3, 2020  |  Latest, News, Television

Wavegarden’s air section fully blooms in South Korea

Latest, News, Television

Earlier this year Wavegarden experimented with a new air section at their R&D facility in the Basque Country. At the time citizen-of-the-world but currently residing in Portugal CT surfer Kanoa Igarashi tested, tweaked, and gave feedback on the new prototype. The system looks like a submerged obstacle that creates different sections depending on the wave setting. The R&D development process

Earlier this year Wavegarden experimented with a new air section at their R&D facility in the Basque Country. At the ...Continue ›

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October 30, 2020  |  Latest, Television

That one guy who we keep seeing at the Korean pool

Latest, Television

Jacob "Zeke" Szekely made the trip to South Korea to test out the Wavepark 56-module Wavegarden Cove last week. Since his visit, we've been treated to barrels, airs and crystal clear water. Jacob, or "Zeke" as he's known just dropped a YouTube clip collecting highlights from his amazing sessions.

Jacob "Zeke" Szekely made the trip to South Korea to test out the Wavepark 56-module Wavegarden Cove last week. Since ...Continue ›

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October 26, 2020  |  News, Television

South Korean wonder wave delivers goods for the singlefin set

News, Television

After a stunning week of clips including lengthy barrel sections and graceful underwater zen-moments from Wavepark in South Korea, Wavegarden has just released a visual guide to its Malibu wave settings. These aren’t the heart-in-your-throat beasty barrels but instead gentle super-long peelers. In this clip, we get to see Malibu settings 1 to 4 with a quick glimpse at Waikiki

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October 12, 2020  |  News

World’s largest wave pool officially opens in South Korea

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Asia’s largest wave pool, Wave Park powered by Wavegarden, officially opened with a formal ceremony and a surf session in Siheung, South Korea this weekend.The centrepiece of Wave Park, a mixed-use real estate development, is the world’s largest Wavegarden Cove surfing lagoon. New technology means the South Korean site offers longer waves and barrels and a wider variety of waves than any

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October 6, 2020  |  News, Television

Dozens of clips from South Korea’s new wave pool plus a rising surf star

News, Television

As images keep coming in hot from the world’s newest wave pool in South Korea, we kept noticing a snappy young goofyfoot populating the Instagram posts. The 16-year-old surfer is Jae Ung Seol, a mystery grom to many, but a rising star in South Korea. “I live on Jeju Island, and I’ve been surfing for four years now,” Jae told

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September 29, 2020  |  Latest, News

First Look: South Korea’s massive wave pool

Latest, News

The Kelly of South Korea, Sungyong Ko just dropped a clip of the world’s largest Wavegarden Cove in South Korea. The new wave pool is part of the Siheung Surf Park component of the massive Turtle Island development an hour south of Seoul. The overall development cost is half a billion Euros and will include a hotel, convention center, marina,

The Kelly of South Korea, Sungyong Ko just dropped a clip of the world’s largest Wavegarden Cove in South Korea. ...Continue ›

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May 7, 2019  |  News

The world’s largest wave pool breaks ground in South Korea

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Under the bright spring sun, Wavegarden brass and Siheung City dignitaries broke ground at the site of the new Cove facility in South Korea. The ceremony signalled the commencement of civil work on the wave pool which, upon completion, will be the largest man-made wavepark in the world. Plans for the new Siheung Surf Park include nearly one kilometre of

Under the bright spring sun, Wavegarden brass and Siheung City dignitaries broke ground at the site of the new Cove ...Continue ›

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