Wavegarden to open second wavepool
With its Welsh operation close to opening its doors, Wavegarden has now announced a second public wavepool using their technology. Austin, Texas is the chosen location and the park will be a joint venture between Wavegarden and NLand Surf Park.
Located on a property the size of nine football fields, the new lagoon will, according to Wavegarden, offer waves ranging between one to six feet high with a length of 35 seconds per wave.
Doug Coors is the CEO of NLand Surf Park: “We are working in close collaboration with the experts at Wavegarden to bring this technology to the US. We have such a strong surf culture in America and Wavegarden’s technology is going to add a lot of value here, especially in places like Austin where people love sport and the outdoors."
The Texas wavepool will provide two waves every minute approximately 6 feet in height, that "peel in unison in a perfect, cylindrical motion until they reach a close-out section." Other waves between 1 and 4 feet break in the ends of the lagoon. The lagoon will have a unique shape (no photos or artist's impressions yet) and self-sustaining rain water supply.
Wavegarden's first commercial facility will open its doors in Snowdonia, North Wales, on the 1st August. Swellnet recently spoke to Andrew Ross, Australian licensee for Wavegarden, who said his operation "is making good progress" yet had no locations or opening dates locked down.
Comments
two waves per minute sounds awefully slow......
Webber is looking at around 8 waves per minute in his main pool and he seems to be taking his time to get the economics right.
Are wavegarden just trying to get in first to reap the easiest cash before they get out muscled in the market?
Agreed, 2 waves per minute sounds limiting and waves ranging from 1 to 6 foot high wow can I please have the 1 foot wave sir. I do see a future in the wave pools but I think i'll hold off booking a trip to wales for the moment. c'mon webber show us what you've got
Snowdonia just released its wave pool use pricing yesterday.
just had a look and 26-45 pound (A$50-90) per hour but there is no mention to how many people you will be sharing with. Lets say best case scenario there would have to be 6 people to utilise the waves (assuming it goes both ways and there is no lag between turnaround) thats 20 waves in an hour which sounds ok.
i will take a wild stab in the dark and say it will be well more than 10 per hour, lets say its 15 that equates to 8 waves an hour or between $5.60 and $11.25 per wave.
First column 'Surfer Saver' prices, must be off peak and odd times. Second column 'Surf Anytime' which is self explanatory, though you have to book 24hrs in advance.
Also, 1 pound equals approx. 2 Aus dollars at the moment. Take those prices and double them.
$50.00 for an hour
That's the off peak and weird times 50Y. You wanna do it at your leisure it's $90!
How many waves do you reckon you'd get in an hour? 10? 15..?
Wouldn't want to fall off.
I think I'll stick to the real thing, can always find an uncrowded peak on the Goldy
Snowdonia? The sheep farmers must be frothing!
Stu.... Are they using renewable energy to power it? If not, why are climate change advocates like yourself and BB staying deathly quiet on a blatant use of fossil power for narcissistic pleasure and profit?
I don't know if they are or not Sheepy, however even if they aren't I wouldn't commit myself to an argument anyway. Both BB and I have laid our cards on the table, so to speak, over many threads and comments. Would another article cut through where others didn't, especially for a project half a world away?
Half a world away? Oh well that's ok then..... Being the brilliant investigative journalist you are, i'd enjoy another article, one on the carbon footprint of surfing, from wave pools to chinese factories to boat trips in Indo........ It'd be a great read, and also show the hipsters what hypocrites they are as they sip their fair trade lattes'...
Here's a start for ya' ;)
http://www.wavegarden.com/lang/en-us/thewav/environment
Talk about "green-wash", what a load of bollocks! If you walk/bike/something-other-than-a-car to the beach then their numbers make no sense! Also like how they ignore the construction, and energy required for all the other infrastructure associated with it!
This is the best bit in my opinion;
"You will also benefit from our technical and engineering expertise to ensure that not only the wave generator, but the overall functionality of your surf centre, is as sustainable and natural as possible."
in other words we flick pass everything to the local installation. Couldn't find anything on the snowdonia website that references where they are getting their energy from.
As for the carbon footprint of surfing, that's easy me old china in one word MASSIVE.
Love the palm in the foreground, just adds that finishing touch to the whole inspired landscape design, replete with the lovely white plastic plastered all over the place. Bewdyful.
Yeah very natural! Didn't realise palms were native to both Pais Vasco and North Wales, but there ya go learn somethin' new everyday.
I wouldn't want to say for sure but there is a hell of a lot of wind farms generating power in that region.
It wouldn't have been a stretch to run if off windmills with the grid as backup, which also runs a lot from wind. Maybe not totally sustainable but better than having it all come from coal I guess. Anyway, I'm just speculating.
Texas also has a deregulated energy industry so they could offset the energy demands with renewable Migratory Bird Slaying wind farms. The Austin Hipsters are gonna love this shit. I will give it a crack once for the novelty but it will never compare to the real thing!
Lots of wind farms in the area, you are right. I reckon it's a pretty sweet setup if they can tap that, excellent solution for the growing population of surfers and sustainable.
Wavepools, fair trade coffee, chinese factories, boat trips, hipsters, that's quite an all-encompassing article. I'm tired just thinking about it. Why don't we just say "surfers are fucked" and be done with it, eh?
Lol. You nailed it, Stu.
Good old "us v them" aye......... We aren't anything special..... Just a cross section of society that enjoy the same past time......... a few good folk, a heap of charlatans, and a gaggle of hypocrites.....
Bottomline.... Wavepools are pathetic......
I just knew we'd agree on something eventually!
"I just knew we'd agree on something eventually!"
Who knows.... Maybe there's more... yes or no to these...
Should pizza have anchovies on them?
Are sexy boobs hotter than sexy legs?
Is "hotting up" a car a waste of money?
Are metadata laws an over reach?
Should wellymon admit he's a kneeboard rider?
Is poledancing a legitimate from of fitness training?
uuummmm how did you know I pole dance cunt;)
I boogie board Sheepio, big difference...?
Anyways I'm getting on a plane soon to give that cock head NoCock a good crack in front of his missus and kids poor bloke, feel real sorry, nah......!
No, no, yes, yes, yes (if he in fact is), I'll get back to you more research needed.
There you go.... We agree so far on 5 other things....... But i don't trust anyone who can't handle the effervescent stimulation of salted fish on a pizza..... Always knew you were shifty, Braudilio......
Welly..... There's no shame in being a kneelo..... Come out of the closet mate..... As far as your pole dancing goes, Dave posted a video of you onto utube ages ago..... keep practicing bro.... You'll get there ;)
As far as that nocock stuff goes, I don't know what's going on...... Been outta the loop a bit lately.... Sounds interesting.... What's going down????
Haha you funny fuck
I would do a way better job than that Sheepio;)
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No research B just waiting for this piss weak cunt...?
Ohhh he hasn't said where he lives and wants to hook up...!
Piss weak IMO
The big picture is this http://www.swellnet.com/forums/wax/14921.......?
Surfing's answer to Wobbies World?
Surfers are ready to pay a hunski to play in a pool for an hour and ride artificial waves.
Thats Devolution baby!
Agree freeride, you'd have to pay me to go to North Wales at all let alone to splash about in a freezing cold puddle in an old industrial waste site!
All depends if you're lucky enough to live on a coast with waves...
I love snowboarding but don't expect a consortium to build a mountain on the coast to satisfy my whims.
Humans beings ever more disconnected from the natural world, now surfers at the vanguard of that by embracing wavepools.
What is special about surfing? Something must be said about riding waves created by solar energy and propagated in the ocean.
Now we'll outsource that to a pool and a machine and pay top dollar for something mother nature has created for free? Queer and perverse.
Hopefully these new wavepool developments will die a long slow and painful death and all the BS about sustainability and social justice being used to justify them will be buried with them.
Out of the many wavepools over the last twenty years....we only have one survivor I think ...Wadi ?
I agree, at least in the example Wavepool gave, however if it can run off a sustainable source, bring on the future I say.
Right now we need wavepools bigtime. Learners are being pumped out of the ever emerging surf schools at a rate of knots, hopefully their next step in their progression is to the wave pool. With a bit of luck this will keep the learners out of the line up until they are competent
Who is the 'we' you speak of? I personally think that wavepools/gardens or whatever are the absolute last thing we (as in the planet) need. If you've got issues with learners then maybe it's less surf schools round yours that's needed.
Nope - they will be in the lineup after 1 session in a wave pool thinking they are competent.
You're kidding right Saurusv1?
For the price, you would want a very good surfing experience.
Irrespective of how good the curl is, the fact that the horizontal view is about 6 foot of wave ending abruptly at a walkway just doesn't make the heart flutter.
To use a bicycle analogy, a bit like being on an exercise bike compared to flying down a bush track. Seems like a very tough sell to me.
Good luck to them though. If the financials work out, they are staggering geniuses.
Welsh pub would be a much better option.
Not kidding, just frustrated at the moment. Every drop out from the WQS wants to open a surf school, the result being huge amounts of learners in the surf. Travel up the NSW coast and you'll see surf schools everywhere, unless you're blind of course.
Bristol barrels for sale
http://www.waveloch.com/the-wave-bristol/
Interesting...
http://www.twcnews.com/tx/austin/news/2015/06/4/del-valle-surf-park-unde...
Day pass $100
Surf Snowdonia reckons you'll get 18 waves an hour. As far as its environmental credentials go, there's a hydroelectric power station next door which they say the melt/rain water that will fill the lagoon passes through first.
Anyway, if anyone wants to crowdfund a Swellnet exclusive I'm happy to oblige. I'll need £75 for a tank and half of petrol, £90 for a couple of hours surfing and let's say a fiver for a modest packed lunch. I don't mind flying - the cost of the flights will be about the same as petrol but you'll need to kick in an extra tenner to cover board hire as the crappy airline won't take them. Fuck, I forgot car hire too. Call it an extra hundred
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The advent of wave pools will be the modern equivalent to the advent of the leg rope .
I just watched an advertorial for the wave garden that was on due to the cancellation of the Fiji pro .
If anyone listened to "Ain't that swell " this week they will appreciate the extra dollop of irony as the wave garden is described as a truly authentic surfing experience.
It's also described as environmentally friendly as it uses less power than other wave pools....
wow....imagine the state of a piss ravaged rental wettie after a few months.....
Snowdonia Wales are currently filling the pools.......not long now......lets see these 2 metre tubular waves.
Austin we have a leak....fin chops and nose gouges have fucked the liner and flooded out the neighbours.
surely fin chops were seen as a possible issue early in the development?