News

Quick chat with Michael Irvine, Surf Operator at Waco Surf

We’re standing in the boardroom at Waco Surf and all my equipment quirks are laid bare in front of surf operator Michael Irvine. He listens patiently as I explain how I’d like to use a twin+trailer for my backhand waves and a straight up twin for my front-hand waves. Waco divides their sessions as half lefts and half rights and my backhand needs all the help it can get. In the middle of my rabbit hole of fin choices, I’m struck by Michael’s patience. He’s even showing some stoke at the trailer options. As this aging surfer’s equipment OCD kicks in, Michael is mellow, smiling, supportive – everything you’d want to find with the person working the board rental room. And what does the Surf Operator do?You instruct people in the water, put them in the right direction, help people catch waves, help beginners, teach them the basics, operate the […]

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Features, Television

That sticky intersection where wave parks meet surfing careers

Blair Conklin joins us as we explore sponsor obligations today and where wave pools help (and hurt) pro surfing for both spectators and those earning a living as brand ambassadors. In this abridged WavePoolMag Friday Session Blair shares what it’s like to come up with new, creative videos to feed his YouTube channel and how surf parks help push that process. “You can pull into a barrel 20 times in an hour, maybe with a GoPro in your mouth, getting the soft board in the barrel perfectly and setting up the shot to capture the board and promote the brand. It’s very easy to produce content in these pools that aligns well with the companies.” Do surf brands benefit from wave pools? Yes, two fold. In once sense new surfers are exposed to brands for the first time on a level more visceral than casually passing by a Costco table […]

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