The WSL buys Kelly Slater Wave Company
SANTA MONICA, CA/USA (Tuesday, May 24, 2016) - WSL Holdings, the parent company of the World Surf League (WSL), today announced an agreement in principle to acquire a majority stake in the Kelly Slater Wave Company (KSWC).The partnership between the WSL and KSWC will be dedicated to promoting the growth of high-performance surfing around the world. KSWC’s revolutionary technology creates a number of possibilities for the future of the sport.The WSL and the KSWC envision the build-out of a global network of WSL-branded high-performance training centers utilizing this wave technology.
For Kelly Slater, the 11-time world champion, the creation of this wave technology is the realization of a lifelong dream and a 10-year project, and today’s announcement brings his two worlds together. “While surfing for me will always be about adventure, travel and the ocean, this wave brings a new opportunity to the sport without taking away the soulfulness that attracted many of us to surfing in first place,” said Slater. “Surfing great waves in a controlled environment adds a new dimension, as there is no hassling for waves, no stress over who got the best wave – they are all good. Everyone can relax, have fun and focus on improving their surfing.”
“It’s beyond my dreams that this wave will be a canvas for the global advancement of this great sport in partnership with the WSL,” he added. “It will democratize surfing and provide incredible training opportunities for athletes as well as aspirational surfers in areas with no ocean waves.”
The WSL sanctions and organizes the highest-level professional surfing competitions for men, women, big wave, longboarders and juniors.
“The WSL proudly represents the best in men’s and women’s competitive surfing globally, and the amazing man-made wave technology developed by Kelly Slater and his team is a revolutionary innovation that has the power to dramatically enhance every aspect of our sport,” said Paul Speaker, CEO of the WSL. “We share the same vision and passion for growing high-performance surfing, and are beyond excited to work together under one roof to bring the sport to levels and places never before possible.”
KSWC technology creates an opportunity for surfers to practice and develop ever-higher levels of performance in a repeating environment, with unprecedented opportunities for surrounding camera and sensor arrays providing immediate and perfectly accurate feedback on their progress. This is the first repeatable man-made wave that convincingly delivers the power and shape of ocean waves most sought after by accomplished surfers, including a hollow barrel allowing for long tube rides. While high-performance surfing is the core mission of both the WSL and the KSWC, the wave technology is flexible and can also create variable waves for beginner and intermediate surfers.
WSL Commissioner Kieren Perrow recently visited the first KSWC site, and said the wave surpassed his expectations. “Up until a few weeks ago, I had never ridden Kelly’s Wave, and when I did, I was blown away by the experience,” Perrow said. “It is incredible to see this wave in action — it has more energy and power than I expected and this technology holds a lot of potential for the future development of surfers just starting out and those already competing on our Championship Tour."
While competition in a man-made environment will offer previously impossible opportunities such as the creation of surrounding spectator environments, as well as certainty of scheduling, WSL CEO Speaker emphasized that nothing could ever replace the magic and mystery of world-class competition in the ocean. “We do believe that all stakeholders – athletes, fans, broadcast and corporate partners – will be super energized by the advent of Championship Tour-level competition with man-made waves,” he said, “but the ocean will always be our home, and the great waves on our tour will always remain the backbone of our competitive schedule.”
Speaker added: “No firm plans have been made for the inclusion of a man-made wave-based competition. We will be evaluating all the possibilities in the coming months with the Commissioners’ Office and the WSL athletes.”
WSL Holdings is the parent company of the World Surf League (WSL). The transaction is subject to the negotiation of mutually agreeable definitive documentation, among other customary conditions. Both WSL and KSWC will continue to operate independently as separate entities following the closing of a transaction. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Comments
Probably the least surprising development from the WSL in recent times, given Terry Hardy's (and obviously Kelly's) connection to both parties.
Now! Can Kelly tune it too be like the Wedge? That would be sick! Peace out!
Makes me keen to see the Webber wave pool get on its feet and find out if it is better again than the KSWC
No more Rio? Please?
First, I unashamedly would love to give the KSWP a burl, no qualms in that.
Second and this is saying something, I would much rather watch a contest in shitty Rio than even one heat of pro surfing in a wave pool. I couldn't think of anything more mind numbing than take-off, identical 50 metre tube then token variation of an air reverse repeated ad-nauseum.
It's the unpredictabilty of the ocean and the way the surfers adjust to those conditions that makes pro surfing enjoyable for me.
Yeah man, same here.
Could not agree more Zen, why the hell would WSL want to sterilize surfing if not to promote to the inland masses.
This wave pool event will turn surfing into floor gymnastics.
Shame, shame , shame.......
Like watching a skate contest on a standard 8' half pipe.
Well said, words of truth.
“It will democratize surfing..."
OK got that, blindboy?
Very curious about that statement, considering the WSL are commodifying the waves.
Yeah it is something. Cue the American democracy and money jokes I guess? You don't need to be good surfing (or governing), just rich enough to buy the votes, I mean waves....etc
Commoditisation? Gary would think that in the eyes of the market there is a clear point of differentiation between KSWC, ocean waves, and other man made waves.
Why did you call the article 'WSL buys Kelly Slater Wave Company' and not 'WSL own and control the means of wave production', comrade?
Kelly contacted me yesterday to thank me for my unqualified support and offer me the job as head of Aquabatics new PR department. We all have our price!
brilliant piece of PR.
I wonder if they'll try to make a mobile version, then do a roadshow, Crusty Demons style.
The pros will join the circus... literally
So who was the pro years ago that said surfing should be like golf or tennis?
His wish may finally be coming true.
Tootr I think it might of been the bronzed aussies who got laughed out of town and moved to the US where stupidity reins unfettered by any Aussie harsh reality check. Is this all bit cosy with WSL and Slats? Kelly seems very genuine and no Rupert however I feel he is misguided as to where he wants to take the surfing and by default it seems, the WSL with it. The pros live in never never land compared with the other 99.9% of surfers out there and can have their play things like wave pools. It all sits a bit uncomfortably with me but maybe that is because I am more of a romantic regarding the surf ethos. Commodifying it like this is just one more step in dumbing the whole experience down and as much as I detest Rio, Zen is spot on. You need to do the hard yards in surfing. It is all getting too easy.
“It’s beyond my dreams that this wave will be a canvas for the global advancement of this great sport in partnership with the WSL,” he added. “It will democratize surfing and provide incredible training opportunities for athletes as well as aspirational surfers in areas with no ocean waves.”
:(
Since when was surfing about democracy? Bewdy more crowds.
democracy for those with the cashola to afford to play in the tub.
Kelly is just following the American Dream; the rich get everything they desire and the poor eat shit. When you are so deluded that you can say that surfing in a pool does not detract from its "soulfulness", then it is clear your soul was sold a long time ago. I think Robert Johnson probably got a better deal.
What does this mean for Kelly continuing to compete on the CT? If he is a partner with the WSL in a business venture then the ability for the general public to swallow future judging decisions impartially must be a concern. Maybe after Fiji he calls it a day???
conflict of interest has never bothered anyone before in the sport of surfing so I can't see why they would start now.
Oh you like reading surf journalism too?
Gary enjoys reading surf journalism for its impartiality, insightfulness, and bloody-minded pursuit of the truth.
Have to agree with FR here - it's a non issue in surfing!
why can't our morning show women be as darn smoking hot as them ........ oops. was i supposed to offer a comment on the wave pool?
How good is that view when she is on the Jetski following Kelly?! Got me very excited. At least he is honest saying it takes out some of what he loves about surfing, both in this clip and from one of the press releases from the sale.
I'm all for the wave, unsure about event though? Maybe like those comps they used to do for the Easy riders, bit of entertainment, or even a QS event, but certainly not a full blown CT event.
Slater is such a f$$$in fraud.
"It will democratize surfing"
Where's that "the most stupid thing I've heard all day" meme??
What a ridiculous thing to say.
The fella is starting to look like a bit of a creep.
I'd love to surf it..but i cant help but wonder what will come of it further down the track..it will increase the popularity of being a surfer but lets face it a lot of kooks might end up being able to surf on this thing then get the novel idea of goin to the ocean..having no ocean knowledge shorebreaks, rips, rocks etc..maybe slats will start up an international ocean education school next? Lot easier getting pumped in a wave pool with a wave every 5mins..and i am sort of getting bored of it already..it was good to see that chick have a go just for something different than a 20sec 2ft bazz..
Boy when i first saw Kellys wave pool i thought this will be good, but after seeing it presented like that on a morning show, i felt like throwing up....where has the spirit of surfing gone ?cant believe so many of surfings 'greats ' have sold out for money,sold there souls for something that was probably the closest thing you could get to nature,too make fucking money.....sort of feel really let down .Cant wait for it to make the olympics where every dick who has never experienced a dawn session on there own or faced the other side of surfing as in near drowning or sharks or whatever will saunter up to you with there bright shiny firewire Kelly Slater board and tell you how cool it is to surf......... the soul of being a true surfer must be earned not bought.
Agree Simba. I wonder if any of the negativity shown here is getting through the firewall which is in Kelly's head? Imagine saving some of the said Dicks when they are caught in a rip in a gnarly beachie. Maybe this is the dawn of a split in surfing similar to what happened in Skating years ago with the skate park crew and the long boarders. Just think the wavies vs the coasties (being Australian you can get away with putting 'i.e.' next to just about anything).
It's interesting to read the article about this over on Surfline. Has a bit of a interview with the man himself. After the reading Kelly's interview and feel a bit disillusioned with who I thought Kelly Slater was. I feel like he really is 'selling the soul' of surfing. How is not? How you can even defend a statement like that.
Also to notes with a majority of comments left they are of positive light to the article where as the comments here seem to mostly negative.
Strange times ahead..
Quite likely Surfline censored anything negative or used staff to load up the positives given their association with WSL. Alternatively just seppo dimwittedness
theory #1 is equally as plausible as theory #2
The corporate weasel words used in this article nearly made me spew. 'Growing high performance surfing' - what does that even mean? I can translate the quotes in this article into one short sentence: "We reckon we can make some (more) money out of surfing with this little baby. "
I actually don't hate the wave pool, I just hate the corporate mentality it encourages.
Also, I have to agree with previous posts, a wave pool contest would be fucking boring.
Now on Bloomberg. Watch the money that will be thrown at this.
http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2016-kelly-slater-wave-pool/
I'd like to see the possibilities of equipment designed for tow assisted hybrid wake skating/ surfing on a liquid tranny like this wave, style out of a little tube into a big switch frontside flip to the flats, big Nollie heel off a rubber hip, add a rail in there somewhere.... Fuck it WSL keep it off the tour and just develop a completely new sport.
#DoYouEvenWavePoolBro
I'd give it a go if i was allowed to but probably blow my fins out with a smith grind attempt on the wave plow fence railing thingy. Some kook is gonna get stuck on that thing sooner or later and nearly drown!
No one is forcing you to surf in it or watch any contest in it. It is is just growth. Mate yesterday told me how he was hassled at Narrabeen when he paddled out with his home made legrope- told to get out out of water actually.
Inland USA,China, Japan, Euro's, including Russia, and the rich arabs etc etc. Money money money.
far north qld and NT will love this shit.
Good on them. Get into it crew book your holidays there, why not each weekend.
Wont be long when all this wave pools/resorts attract heaps of users meaning the ocean once again becomes the playground of Captain Goodvibes children.
Astro my boy, I feel like toking- I meaning stoking and some stroking.
Wave Pools were always a dream. Now it looks like Kelly has made it work then he's done it. Many detractors said it couldn't be done. I understand he has spent his life savings on the project and can't blame him for cashing out at the right time. What's a real shame he is handing over the Intellectual Property to the WSL. He's probably retained a stakeholding. It's a fine balance now for Dirk to keep the money pumping in. He needs advertising and TV deals. Enter WSL wavepools Friday night ESPN 7:30pm.
I'd like to have a go on it, but, how is this thing ever going to give you the feeling of when youre out in big surf, or in a sharky area, or a dawny by yourself.
That feeling of really knowing your alive.
The mix of fear/excitement/adrenaline.
It's not.
And every person who grows up only surfing wave pools will be missing out on that feeling.
Bad luck to them I guess.
"I honestly think our sport is heading for—is perhaps already in the midst of—an existential crisis."
Matt Warshaw is angry and confused and ever so eloquent.
http://encyclopediaofsurfing.com/eos-blog/just-in-wavepools-make-you-75-less-interesting/
In the shadow of great waves the whole wavepool thing gets brought into sharp relief. Yesterday I scored the best waves I've had in twelve months, maybe longer, and in the process I saw so many great things and felt that rush of risk and survival. Laid my head on the pillow last night and tried to distinguish individual moments, yet it was hard, the whole day melded into a blur. It was the kind of day surfers live for - we've all had them.
Today the news is wavepools again and I should be covering it, but truth be told I just couldn't give a shit. It's just no match for reality. The reason surfing hasn't made the Olympics is 'cos it hasn't been able to be packaged, and apparently now with a wavepool it can be packaged. If that's the case, and this is really surfing only in a different environment, then why does the wavepool look so damn enervated and uninteresting in the face of authentic ocean waves? Have they captured the whole package of surfing..?
Maybe I'll wake tomorrow and feel different, but from the vantage point of surfed out blissdom the wavepool appears more oddity than game-changer.
Trying to distinguish moments in amongst the blur. The best kind of days for sure.
From here-http://www.surfline.com/surf-news/-kelly-slater-wave-co_138369/
"As CEO of the WSL, one of Speaker’s bigger goals is growing the sport of professional surfing. More fans equal more customers. “The potential for this surpasses what we right now can recognize as possible,” he said. “The amount of people, the amount of enthusiasm, the exposure for our athletes…TV partners are going to be able to — for the first time — turn us on and off live at 1 o’clock on Sunday afternoon. Also, it’s no longer limited to geographic location. We can put [pools] in places where we know it’s important to grow the sport, in emerging markets.” -
Can't wait for the shareholder (dollar-driven) drives for bums-on seats (bodies on boards) drive to populate the world with a thousand new Snapper crowds at any location that gets a wave. But, all is not lost, Kelly still has a dream to be able to find the greatest wave ever surfed in some far off land-
"It’s not going down to Mexico in the ‘70s and finding some empty point no one’s ever surfed. It’s not discovery like that and it’s not the journey and the safari that our lifestyle offers — and those things are arguably why I love surfing so much. I still feel like I’m going to go find the greatest wave I’ve ever surfed someday in some far-off land. ".
Great if you have the money- tough shit if your local is just waiting to be invaded by the hoards of Speaker- led masses!
Is it just me or does anyone else here find Speaker as a bit of a grub? Every interview I have seen of him, he just makes my skin crawl.
So who's gonna be the first joker to sling a couple of kilos of potassium permanganate into the pool one night?
Purple haze indeed.
You don't have to be Einstein to see where the next stop for this gravy train is.
Now that this is being pitched as an elite training facility and possible Olympic venue taxpayers via Governments will be digging into their pockets to fund the build, to have waves sold back to them at inflated prices.
yeehaa, capitalism finally gets it's teeth into surfing good and proper.
Wave pools will never stack up financially. Most likely there'll be a few token ones around the world, probably in countries where land and labour is cheap, and the gap between rich and poor is huge, that's about it.
If some some massive multinational, or idiotic private investor(s) decides to effectively pour money down the drain, and they do actually take off around the world, they'll either be way too expensive, or way too booked out. They'll also quickly become outdated, and neglected facilities. I doubt they'll increase or decrease crowds, and there'll never be such thing as wave pool surfers vs ocean surfers. The soul of surfing won't be lost, there'll just be an easy way to get a small barrel if you decide to book in a wave pool session. It will only slightly cheapen the barrel experience.
And that's all it will be - a small barrel. Not a stand up, jaw dropping cavern, spitting like a volcano. For those type of waves you'll still have to search, and go into nature.
they don't need to stack up financially if Govt's bankroll them like they currently do pro surfing, as sporting facilities for an olympic sport.
Aus Govt built the HPC at Causarina, that has no business model whatsoever.
The game changed Stok when WSL bought a majority stake for the purposes of holding events.
I'm going to leave this here:
I've long suspected that WSL were trying to get RESMED (sleep apnea hardware manufacturer) on board... this latest acquisition of the wave pool technology might clinch the sponsorship deal. FYI: KONE is an elevator company.
This is FUCKING awesome!
I read about this earlier in the week, and have been mulling it over ever since, reading the comments here and elsewhere, and ya know what, I think it is going to be awesome.
I agree, it is lacking the soul of "real" surfing in the ocean, and yep, as other have posted, we're going to see 'wave pool wankers' who never experience the true feeling of surfing (love ya anecdote Stu - so fuckin true) ...
But, what I think you're all missing is the fact that the people who will get attracted to this whole 'wave pool' world of surfing, are going to be lulled into a false sense of thinking the act of surfing is easy ... they'll be flailing around in the ocean, and yep, near drowning too, but, that's great.
It means more waves for all of us who have experienced, who understand, and who appreciate the 'real' ocean surfing lifestyle.
Yep, sure, the 'wave pool wankers' will paddle out into the ocean, crowd up the lineup, but, fuck, THEY WILL HAVE NO IDEA, so we'll be getting waves around them with ease ... might have to dodge a few of them along the wave, but, truth is, they will flock to the 'super bank' type waves because that's all they'll know ...
They won't be able to read the ocean conditions, sand formations, pick locations for themselves, sneaky swell's, best winds, etc, etc. They just won't be up to it ...
AND, I think we'll find a large % of the current "ocean" surfers will go down that "wave pool" path, and so too, reduce the impact on crowds in the shorter term too ...
THEN, as the cycle continues, they'll loose interest, and let their "wave pool" special surfboards collect dust, and never surf in the ocean again.
All a massive consumerism waste. That part is fucked.
But, the whole process is going to be FUCKING AWESOME.
Bring it on. I can't wait.
I'm off to take my gidget surfing "out the back" with the dolphins. Yew!
(1)First 'Wave pool'... must be reserved for now' 90 years' pooled Gold Coast Pet Porpoises or better still,free them all now!(2)Any surfer knows as fact- give Body Basherz this wave,any 'd rip a dozen barrel rolls inside out,surf the ceiling out of it ,surf thru face,loop off top and ride neath the wall,not wasting a square cm of complete wave volume...last of multi dimensional 'no shit' athletes.(3)In all honesty-Wave pools to date this one included,show up Pro Skegz as Briso's ploppin' No2's,always shielded from wave and surfing only 3/4 of it, hardly wave mechanics. (4)Tomorrows wavepool ramper$ ,will no doubt lure Latin dancers,Euro skate 'n' skiers, Asian gymnasts and U.S. skate crews away from cold icy halls for summer season idol stardom but adding more layers of shit upon piles of crap is hardly athletic or surfing, is it now?(5)Just what the world needs is yet more pretentious rich kidz in todays kooky olympic lolly shop .(6)(Media frenzy)...Tell us Champ, must've been tuff training each morning...such dedication,all of OZ is ever indebted to you!(7) ( Free tip)-Weird as it sounds Skegz seem more comfy all at sea weilding sticks 'n' truckload of tricks fighting off giant wild beasties where even a Wipeout looks sensational,one in the pool is booed and highlighted as a sad stuff up.(8) (Quiet Please!) ...as we worship defending Skeg Gladiator No.666 applying his armour,selecting weapon of choice..Crowd grows silent... Cue surf instrumental ... L.e.t.s. Rumble. Thank Huey for Goodvibes.. Hooroo!