Watch: Wave Testing in Yepoon
No waves at G'Land today. Bet they wish they were in Yeppoon, hey?
Here's two recent vids from the Surf Lakes crew. The first a standard R, T and L edit featuring Morgs and R'Cal dialling in the section dubbed 'The Island'.
The second video is three waves ridden in succession by Ben Player, Dingo, and Taylor Jensen. I think it's also at The Island though don't know for sure. Check the sand getting churned through the later waves.
Opening date? Yeah, I asked, however even they're not sure at this point. "Getting close," is the best I got, so make of that what you will.
Comments
Where is it written that every wave pool video has to have surfers whooping like they've just shelved a kilo of MDMA?
Thanks for putting this up mate. Best sentence I've noticed in a while.
Concise, accurate...
applicable to the WSL on so many levels...
It’s not written, more an unspoken law. Easy paddle out and a controlled environment make for good pinga sessions.
brilliant comedy!
Looks so much better than that crappy Melbourne pool actually decent waves that come towards you in a swell line rather than a surge and no concrete no wire no sound of a highway, no smell of chlorine, and a decent backdrop of nature.
Only issue is that ugly machine, and i still think it would get old real quick just that whole amusement park wait in line vibe and that whole on a timer thing.
I know i sound fussy, but that whole urban surf experience really made me realise and appreciate the other aspects of surfing that we take for granted, looking towards a horizon not knowing exactly what is coming, subtle tidal & wind changes, and just the whole in nature thing and no rules or time limits.
My guess is this 'funpark' will not be operating in its current form by the time 2030 comes around.
As a long time defender of the URBN pool (although i don't surf it much at all anymore), I have to say - there's no chlorine smell or highway sounds, just plane sounds and the grind of the wave machine.
At least URBN is usually a lovely clear or turquoise colour, that looks like bacteria heaven.
Also - I'd say 80% of surfers wouldn't be able to get under that lip. The pro's make it look easy. Plenty would blow the take off, plenty would make the drop but be going straight and stuck behind white water - point is, that's no user friendly wave there.
But yeah, ocean is way better, and I don't see this as overly sustainable environmentally or from a business perspective. These pool's have got white elephant, soon to be mothballed written all over them.
Each to their own but i was so disappointed by Urbn Surf, i honestly wouldn't go back even if it was all paid for with extra spending money given.
Id give this one a go(parents live on sunny coast) but id be going in with much lower expectations than i did to Ubrn surf.
Urbn surf is only fun with a heap of mates egging each other - or you hire the whole shebang for a hour. A very, very, wealthy mate shouted me a trip to slaters tub for 3 days and it was a proper wave but a technical barrel that took me a while to get the hang of. Even at this level if you can get Ulu's relatively uncrowded and the same size it is so much better.
By far the biggest issue is the massive amount of energy required. Even if they have contracted 100% renewable energy, Queensland has the lowest renewable penetration in Australia (10%). So that energy could be used somewhere else in Queensland. Wave pools are a poor indulgence the planet just does not need when faced with the threat of global warming.
I appreciate your view and completely agree with you that the Ocean is where it's at for the complete surfing experience. Absolutely can't beat it ...
... in saying that though I surf the pool a couple of times a month and more or less enjoy it.
In terms of the experience though, I rarely replay waves in my head that I catch at the pool, and yet still remember clearly all of the "waves of a lifetime" that I have caught in the ocean. For me waves caught in the pool are even more ephemeral than surfing in the ocean but without the allure of being in the wild it lacks impact to make it memorable.
I'd be curious to know though what hardcore mountain climbers think of indoor climbing centres. That's the same kind of analogy for me between surfing in the pool vs in the ocean.
Interesting comparison actually. I went from being an indoor to outdoor climber. Super intimidating transition; took quite a while before I enjoyed the act of climbing on 'real rock' at all, because there's so much more to consider safety and technique wise, so there was way more anxiety and stress and fussing, and less... climbing.
Having made the transition, all my best memories are now outdoor climbs. Gym climbing was social, predictable, fun, and sometimes memorable, but never that kind of 'peak' experience. Unlike UrbnSurf though, you can actually set indoor climbs at genuinely elite difficulty levels - imperfect comparison, but a climbing wall can deliberately mimic amazing moves off iconic, difficult climbs, whereas a wave pool will never be able to offer '10ft deadmans drop'. That means most climbers can turn up to most climbing gyms and 'do climbing' at their technical limits.
On the flipside, having bodyboarded since being a kid, my first session in the pool was a total blast. It's probably better shaped for a boog because I didn't need to worry about ducking the lip on the barrel section or getting absolutely axed, like it seemed most surfers suffered, and it was just a hell of a lot of fun and really novel. I suspect that might wear off, but as a first experience, 1000% more fun than my first outdoor climb. However, it was still... 2ft. And because of physics, it won't be 4ft or 6ft any time soon. And that's the biggest difference to indoor climbing IMO.
Thanks @Davesci,
Thats an interesting point about the upper range of indoor climbing vs wave pools. The market for 10 foot deadmans is probably pretty small (not in the aspiration as heaps of crew would want to try it but in the reality very few would be able to surf it) . The cost of creating 10 foot deadmans and the scale of it is a couple of orders of magnitude greater than adding some inverts at the top of a wall. So that's probably one of the biggest factors in this whole wave pool saga - The cost of catering a realistic wave to advanced surfers is too much and not really profitable. As you probably know Urbn has increased the number of intermediate waves which I guess is where the bulk of the market is.
I'd argue that surfers that grow up on Urbnsurf feel a similar pressure when first surfing in the ocean and I reckon it probably doesn't translate at all. The ocean has so many variables that the wave pool doesn't include in the experience, that they have to learn how to surf all over again.
I think the analogy still works though if you take out the ability to climb advanced walls. As a wave pool surfer or indoor climber you can still practice technique in a repeatable manner that gives you some idea of doing it in the wild but doesn't capture the experience.
Urbn has certainly helped my surfing being a Melbourne based surfer - if I lived at the coast I wouldn't surf it. But it's relatively easy for me to grab two hours mid week to get in the water and practice popup, turns etc in a way that I couldn't do before. Just means I keep those skills up in between surfs in the ocean that might only happen 3-4 times a month.
Yeah I kooked it at urban surf too. Surfing there in mid winter is a bit like kissing your sister, never a good idea
You must have a VERY cold sister!
Looks like a ton of fun to me!!
One of those mad-max looking wave creating plungers would be perfect in the Torrens
Wonder how much investor capital they have left?
Can't be cheap running that thing and the continued R and D would be a firehose of money outgoing.
And that blue helicopter perched in the background around the 34 second mark in the first vid.
From Jan 2022 - The Pond needs a new liner and the Machine needs to be upgraded.
So what's the bottom not concrete?? A thick pond liner type deal?
I guess some areas would have a Concrete Base..but it also has a Liner
It needs to be drained to repair or refit with new liner - no idea of Liner cost
Refill water cost is approx 170 K
Crazy...you would think the liner would be super thick even those rubber pond liners are pretty tough too.
same as slaters
A few shades of brown darker and the water will be like Kemp beach on a 30kn south easter.
That wave has zero chance of ever being anything other than a novelty...will never be a commercial success imo.
The wave is nothing..just a drop in and no energy after that.
Im sure the other waves they have will be more suitable for you roady. Im pretty sure there is at least 1 learner wave at the park.
the physics behind it doesn't change..non surfer burleigh.
Looks like a bit of grunt compared to the Tulla Tub
Call of the year
Burleigh.
Cheers!
This surf lake is a Oz designed wave pool prototype for future development projects.
They have to test the concept & start a project somewhere, why not build & test ( R&D) in Oz ...QLD...?
2000 waves an hour is a big call.... that piston pumping may have cracked the foundations?
Mitsubishi sigma had a similar problem....
At the moment the Richmond River is apparently still pouring out effluent into the Tasman Sea.
Sorta makes this project an surf option over the north coast points atm, unless you know a E.N.T specialist.
Im not involved in SL, just a voyeur & voyager in life.
Be interested to know if ...
1. this SL Yapoon surfspot can have a lower greenhouse & ozone impact than say ....10000 jet fueled surf trips O/S per year?
2. Condition of discounted SL entry: ...no OS passport stamps for a year?
The reason the plunger broke was related to the timing in which they raised and dropped the thousand-ton piece of machinery into the water. Essentially, if their timing isn’t exactly right (which it wasn’t), the machine will bash into a wall of rising water, thus causing severe damage to the equipment (which it did) resulting in an 8 month repair time.
Taylor's wave looked shit. Too small to actually get barreled on. Dingo got deep and hit the rebound nicely though, wonder how it felt with no one inside him haha.
Here's how some of the northern affluent surf when its friggin cold.
"the FlowRider Double is a 42,000-gallon (160,00 liters), 53-foot long (16 meters), 32-foot wide (9.75 meters), blue cushioned tank."
https://www.surfertoday.com/surfing/my-first-time-on-the-flowrider
Stylin in the Alps
I'm currently a 1hr drive from Alaia bay but it's closed exactly while I'm here (https://alaiabay.ch/en/2022/05/25/closing-alaia-bay/). Was going to give it a go if it was open.
Has Dingo been eating the guys he drops in on?
Hahaha! Def been in the good paddock by the looks of it
Its funny cause its true....
"Whenever the surfer wipes outs, a pillow padding will cushion the landing.
The 180-degree surf machine by Flowrider generates revenue via ticket sales, but also through food, beverage, and retail."
*yawn*..... rather watch paint dry!
Who made the background beat?
Occys son Lachey.
There is a spoken word version of the song.
Here are the lyrics.
The inverse square law
A plane wave of a single frequency in theory will propagate forever with no change or loss. This is not the case with a circular or spherical wave, however. One of the most important properties of this type of wave is a decrease in intensity as the wave propagates. The mathematical explanation of this principle, which derives as much from geometry as from physics, is known as the inverse square law.
As a circular wave front (such as that created by dropping a stone onto a water surface) expands, its energy is distributed over an increasingly larger circumference. The intensity, or energy per unit of length along the circumference of the circle, will therefore decrease in an inverse relationship with the growing radius of the circle, or distance from the source of the wave. In the same way, as a spherical wave front expands, its energy is distributed over a larger and larger surface area. Because the surface area of a sphere is proportional to the square of its radius, the intensity of the wave is inversely proportional to the square of the radius. This geometric relation between the growing radius of a wave and its decreasing intensity is what gives rise to the inverse square law.
The decrease in intensity of a spherical wave as it propagates outward can also be expressed in decibels. Each factor of two in distance from the source leads to a decrease in intensity by a factor of four. For example, a factor of four decrease in a wave’s intensity is equivalent to a decrease of six decibels, so that a spherical wave attenuates at a rate of six decibels for each factor of two increase in distance from the source.
Surf Lakes is an absolute pipe dream. How long have they been doing R&D on it for with still no official launch date to open it up to the public or official first site where it will be? A good 5 years of R&D at least.....IMO it will never take off. No one will ever risk the hefty $$$ it would require to get it off the ground and the whole thing just doesn't look like a reliable investment. Nothing beats the authentic experience with mother nature.
I dunno Mark. It took wavegarden a long time and a lot of money to develop their product but that seems to be going ok
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2019/06/06/more-mind-gre...
Greg WebberFRIDAY, 7 JUN 2019 at 12:19PM
I have a signed contract to build one for testing in Perth.
- - - - -
Really ? ?
Crew go on about this Mad Max wave pool...
Qldurr swallows his pride...ain't no denying that...we can't put lipstick on our pet Razorback!
Superglue Sales Rep : "Grrr...That's insensitive to our Qld Extinction Mob!"
tbb : Just Joking! Geez! ... Qld can still turn this shit show it into a [+] thing ...right!
Omicron's little siss : "Grrr...That's insensitive to my Pandemic!"
Call to Arms, just grab yer shovel ready Gold Spades & turn our crystal lake into a muddy bowl of shit.
Surf Lakes God 'Bob' summons God Of Thunder to christen our tub of mud...
Premier : "Is it shovel ready already... is hunky spunky Thor ready...is my Boyfriend ready!"
Right, just every one shoosh when I say so...
Gotta be extra quiet on Bob's 2nd set wave...it's the real star of the show!
Ready Bob...start yer bobbing up'n'down & ...Action!
Go Chris! Slay that Beastie!
Now that's a wave pool promo...
Mad Max 2022/3/4/5/6/7/8/9 [ Locals V Blowins ]
See: Innocent Waves being slashed to Death
See: Paddle Battles
See: Healthy Chiko Rolls being Smashed
See: Mud turn to Blood
tbb is being very serious!
This is the Mad Max trailer we Qldurzz were force fed on the Evening News [ Code Brown Alert ]
(PG) Rating...look away Hodads ...This ain't no Morning of The Earth Shindig!
https://www.facebook.com/chrishemsworth
Thor's Surf Lake's promo links to his own VIP private stock Wave Pool Trailer
Thor's [f] Surf Lakes credits ....see : [ Nuggets Studio ] Wot! Who!
Why would tbb need to check a weird arse VIP link...coz he just knows it's gotta be pure evil...well durr!
So wot would happen if the crew are game enough to click this VIP link...dare you! Just try it...go on...
https://www.facebook.com/chrishemsworth
You should get this....if not...just click this link.
https://www.facebook.com/nuggetstudios/
Now scroll down just one frame or a wee bit!
Fark...Is that...& is that...OMG!
You see! VIP Magic Happens where you least expect it!
Not really...flows on tap all day long for VIPs..."Like not more perfect waves...please make it stop!"
WSL Rip Curl Oz leg :
see: Wave Pool God Roary unleash his Beast for a blood lust sacrifice upon a hapless Goat.
Doomsday footage spells the end of the World as we know it!
(Nope! This footage is not on Urbnsurf nor Goat's web / Promos?)
swellnet crew's dirty little secret...can Andy (Crew says Hi!) enlighten us on the Goat's baptism Stu!
Best be buying some shares in Oz VIP (Closed Set) Wave Pool Parties
Or just cry & donate yer salty tears to fill the next VIP Wave Pool..(We thank you for your support!)
Awesome. You are still around.
Here's the vid, Chris goes alright, good to see how a non-pro goes out there...
https://www.facebook.com/chrishemsworth/videos/1072217817027401
Need to double the size of the donger
Washed up Qld hodad's offering to Surf Lakes God 'Bob'.
Surf Lakes Timeline (#1 Swellnet Exclusive)
Aug 2018 - Mandarah WA proposal.
https://www.perthnow.com.au/community-news/mandurah-coastal-times/exclus...
Oct 2018 - Yeppoon Qld HQ open Day
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2018/10/27/first-look-su...
Nov 2018 - Licences? WA / California / Arizona / London / Spain / Brazil
https://tracksmag.com.au/six-locations-revealed-for-surf-lakes-515851
Feb 2019 - Gold Coast (Secret Location) see: May 2020.
https://www.surf-lakes.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/2019_2_27-GC-Bu...
Sept 2019 - Sunny Coast (Licence)
https://www.primarymarkets.com/trading-company/surf-lakes-holdings-ltd/
2019/20 - Nottingham UK Surf-X
https://wavepoolmag.com/surf-lakes-wave-pool-central-uk/
April 2020 - Tennessee US Licence.
May 2020 - Gold Coast Licence still holds! ( Linked Parkwood location > Now Endless Surf)
https://stabmag.com/news/the-gold-coasts-plunger-pool-is-still-rolling-a...
April 2021 - Las Vegas US
https://wavepoolmag.com/when-is-las-vegas-getting-a-wave-pool-could-be-s...
July 2021 - Hawaii Licence
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2021/07/05/surf-lakes-bu...
July 2021 (MOU) with one party for > Tampa-Florida / Dallas / Nashville + Licences San Diego / LA
https://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/articles/surf-lakes-sets-course-fo...
Jan 2022 - Yeppoon Qld HQ approval for Open Public -Tourism Development
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-19/surf-lakes-yeppoon-tourism-approv...
Feb 2022 - NT Darwin Wave Lagoon re-do Proposal
{ #1 Oz Wave Pool - Locals only vs Blowin - Resort Wave Pool } Fight to the finish!
https://wavepoolmag.com/darwin-eyes-surf-lakes-harbor-front-wave-pool/
Open it to the public and stfu. haha lol
My advice to investors.
Wait and see what Kelly Slaters next pool delivers as far as wave rate goes.
He has some very interesting patents.
CJ Nelson at the Surf Ranch rhythmically surfing an 8 foot single fin.
27/28th August - Judgement Day...God of Thunder crashes down in the Mad Max Thunderdrome
https://capricornenterprise.com.au/2022/08/hemsworth-hangs-loose-with-hi...
God of the Wave Pool Barrel is now Lord of the Manor.
https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/304176046_579281618...
Twilight of the Wave Pool Godz summons Sheldon to commit to the super heavy leap of faith.
https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/302502138_579470354...
Wave Pool God Bob stokes up a Smoking Red Hot Molten Lava Tube for the next sacrifice.
https://scontent.fbne6-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/277462334_535662906...
swellnet magic moment in Surf History by Royal Decree
The Christening of Son of God shall henceforth be known as "God of Wave Pool Gromz"
News: Super Hero Dad makes wild claims that his Son was dragged into the Wave Pool den by a Dingo!
Surf Legend : "We loaded a Million Barrels onto his VIP Wave Pool power band!" (All hail Son of God!)
https://www.dmarge.com/chris-hemsworth-son-surfing
https://www.cinemablend.com/movies/move-to-australia-seems-to-be-treatin...
PS : Water looks a little less Muddy Brown than recent Testing
Was thinking if the water was suss then these Healthy Surf Godz wouldn't dip a toe...
Only know that full immersion is naturally discouraged.
Anyone know more on...
How effective are those Chem feed Mixer floats?
Is there a new technique that can patch or overlay Lining in a fully tanked pool?