That would have to be the closest wave to a Cape St Francis wave in 70's
indo-dreamingThursday, 5 May 2016 at 8:38am
Never gets old.
FrankSurfThursday, 5 May 2016 at 8:43am
maybe slats ultimately greatest legacy will be dotting perfect waves around the planet, hopefully they won't be price pointed in the same fashion as Outerknown togs are. that place looks amazing
staiteyThursday, 5 May 2016 at 8:57am
looks like only variable there is wind. Although all the waves were barrelling you check slaters first wave and its glassy as.
Wonder if he can vary wave height at all? They look much the same hey?
thermalbenThursday, 5 May 2016 at 9:01am
What a nuts setup. Nice to see someone other than Kelly surf it too, helps to evaluate things a little better.
Also can't help but think that Slater's promo vehicle is getting back into the swing of things following the Melbourne and Sydney announcements for Wavegarden.
zenagainThursday, 5 May 2016 at 9:10am
This wave smokes anything that wavegarden has put out.
offshoreozzieThursday, 5 May 2016 at 9:20am
All positive comments.... come on where the haters at like the first post of this?
On a serious note, after watching Nat's vid the second time something stood out to me and wondering if you agree. There's obviously a bank or bottom curve to make the wave barrel but the lip/whitewater seems to land in a deeper area/trough. So they've made a bank then have a deeper section before the "lake" walls - it's not a traditional continual slope style bottom. Clever. Wondering if this assists in the dissipation of energy and decreases the time till it returns to a "rideable"/perfect surface state.
Makes sense you see this in nature at some beachies, river mouths or points.
wingnut2443Friday, 6 May 2016 at 4:44am
And an interesting 'sand' bottom colour too, like the banks into the lake. Is it sand?
Repetitive wave running along a 'shoreline' with moveable sand, would create it's own 'bank' like that, and with a deep trough into the 'impact' zone. Oh wait, that's what happens in a river ;)
derra83Thursday, 5 May 2016 at 9:28am
Good pick up Offshoreozzie. They must be dealing with an exactitude no-ones considered, because the distance between light area (shallow) and dark (deeper) is not much at all.
So while we're on that, if they get lots and lots of rain in Fresno is that like a high tide?
wallyThursday, 5 May 2016 at 10:09am
Yep offshoreozzie, you're probably right. I read somewhere that the design was inspired by watching boat wakes barrel along a river's edge. So that would fit in. Down the middle of the pool, having a deeper side with a quickish transistion to a shallow side.
Instead of relying on going shallower lengthwise.
lukeripsThursday, 5 May 2016 at 11:04am
Kind of cheapens getting barreled.
CraigThursday, 5 May 2016 at 12:21pm
Great pick up offshoreozzie!
Looking closer, there def looks to be a deeper channel on the other side (right) of the bank.
Can see some features here as well, fading off into the deeper water..
philosurphizing...Thursday, 5 May 2016 at 12:35pm
So they've made a bank then have a deeper section before the "lake" walls - it's not a traditional continual slope style bottom. Clever. Wondering if this assists in the dissipation of energy and decreases the time till it returns to a "rideable"/perfect surface state.
Reckon you are spot on with that observation Ozzie.
Taking the wave energy dissipation idea further I wonder what would happen if the ''lake'' wall was made of tetrapods instead of being smooth, they say the gaps around a tetrapod shape absorbs wave energy.
Then there is the question do the gaps around a tetrapod have any effect on waves travelling above them. You could line the bottom of the trough area as an experiment and see what would happen.
Sou-WesterThursday, 5 May 2016 at 12:53pm
Watching the first couple of vids I was wondering about doing a big roundhouse - then Carissa did a couple. Wouldn't want to get too far out on to the shoulder or you'd be on the scaff in the middle. The barrel's amazing but there has to me more to it than that.
philosurphizing...Thursday, 5 May 2016 at 1:31pm
There is definitely going to be more to it than that, programmable waves, in the future the bow that creates the wave will be able to be moved as it moves along, so if you want a carvable wall for the first half of the wave then a barrel section you just select it from the menu.
wingnut2443Friday, 6 May 2016 at 4:48am
Ah, wouldn't the bottom shape dictate the shape of the wave more?
"adjustments" of the plough (i.e. depth) or forward motion speed of it would impact the size of the wave, but shape, such as carve section vs hollower section, would be more linked with bottom contour.
Now, if they've put in an adjustable bottom contour ...
yocalFriday, 6 May 2016 at 9:40am
not if you take into consideration the approach angle of the wave to the artificial bank. if you have the wave rifling along (acute wave approach angle) and all of a sudden it slows down the barrel will collapse no doubt due to the approach angle moving closer to perpendicular.
philosurphizing...Saturday, 7 May 2016 at 10:23am
Check out the video in the following link where Greg Webber talks about engineering of machine generated waves.
In it he mentions creating different peel angles and the effect on a wave.
In the photos and diagrams the wave comes off the bow at 45 degrees.
Lets say the wave then hits the bank at 45 degrees.
If the bow could be adjusted so that the wave comes off at say 60 degrees(red line in diagram) then it would hit the bank at a 60 degree angle, creating a wave with more face to work with and a wave with a slightly slower peel speed. http://www.coastalwatch.com/surfing/15305/greg-webber-comments-on-kelly-...
BasilThursday, 5 May 2016 at 1:18pm
I know jetski's are mandatory these days when pro's are in the water...but in a wavepool? Can't they walk?
udoThursday, 5 May 2016 at 1:26pm
Raimana driving the ski again ?
BobCThursday, 5 May 2016 at 2:28pm
If I move my back fence a fair way out and get a big digger in, then maybe...........nup dreamin.
simbaThursday, 5 May 2016 at 3:59pm
Fuck how long was that barrel of nats........place is nuts........Starting to think Greg Webber might have missed the boat...time will tell.Cant remember but the back drop looks different from the first vid Kelly put out,anyone know or maybe different angle it was filmed from.
the-u-turnThursday, 5 May 2016 at 5:01pm
Thanks for whipping this up. I'll be within 3miles of this place in June...alas I doubt I'll get the key to get in. Generally speaking the location doesn't get a ton of wind and at the end of summer (Aug/Sep) nights are still and, even in the middle of nowhere, beautiful.
stunetThursday, 5 May 2016 at 7:28pm
What's going on here?? We run a story about surfers in Siberia, and you've already donned the neoprene in those Arctic waters. Now we run a story about somewhere vastly different, Kelly Slater's inland wave pool, and you'll be just down the road.
The U Turn: International Man of Mystery.
the-u-turnThursday, 5 May 2016 at 8:45pm
Ha! Not quite Stu. More like 'Slumdog Millionaire' things just line up. Russia was a gig that came out of nowhere and California 'The Valley' goes back to me being an exchange student in the 80's - ...now if I could trace some genealogy to Buzzy Trent or Kivlin being a long last ancestor that would be the ultimate.
sealThursday, 5 May 2016 at 7:21pm
It looks great but there is definitely something funny about it.
I'm thinking that because it moves across rather than forwards the bottom of the wave doesn't move with the surfer when they come off the top. This seems to make them free fall off the top rather than be able to ride back down the face of the wave. No doubt with a bit of time surfing it, you could adjust the way you attack the lip or maybe they could change the speed for more carve-able waves but it sure looks fun and those tubes look the goods!
philosurphizing...Sunday, 15 May 2016 at 12:18pm
seal wrote:
It looks great but there is definitely something funny about it.
!
Yes, the energy in the swell is moving forward at an angle, and this energy is a constant feed giving the wave a different characteristic compared to ocean waves.
blindboyThursday, 5 May 2016 at 7:24pm
A few negatives.....you knew you could rely on me for that! First, don't call it surfing. Wave riding, aquabatics, whatever but it is not surfing. Second, wave pools further entrench surfing as a sport for the wealthy. Third, they remove the main point of interest (if that's not an exaggeration) in pro surfing.....the chance of seeing a really special wave ridden by an exceptional talent, without the special wave you have boring repetition, good luck with selling that to a fickle audience! Fourth, wait until you see what some more typical surfers can do before you part with your hard earned, the wave seems to lack power.
Rabbits68Saturday, 7 May 2016 at 12:59am
Blindboy, I know your big on the "data" & rightly so. If you check the definition of "surfing" then check the definition of "shore", you'll see that this should really be refered to as "surfing". Not as you or I know it, agreed, but it's all about the data mate :)
BTW how's your eternal half empty glass going these days? In need of a top up? Not too full though.....
yocalThursday, 5 May 2016 at 9:47pm
like when Einstein invented the Atom Bomb.
Rabbits68Friday, 6 May 2016 at 12:44am
If that's not surfing someone better tell Kelly Slater.
Looks like a hell of a lot of fun as an alternative if that's the case....
Book me an appointment please :)
wingnut2443Friday, 6 May 2016 at 4:51am
Geez, how much better does it look with the clearer 'blue' water! Must have added in a water filtration system?
Water surface conditions? A few wind fences and then a few industrial fans and it'll be offshore all day every day!
Can we start a crowd funding campaign to build one is Australia.
BobCFriday, 6 May 2016 at 5:07am
Does look nice and clear wingnut but could be spanner water.
wingnut2443Friday, 6 May 2016 at 5:18am
"spanner water"? ... Fuck, Slater was in boardies!
aaronwithadoubleaFriday, 6 May 2016 at 11:49am
Any one notice Slater was riding Sci-fi.
That vid dropped well before Stu Kennedy at the quiky pro
Boy's have been playing bat man for a while!
CoasterFriday, 6 May 2016 at 10:50pm
I'm with blindboy on this. It isn't really surfing in the true sense. Not when you think about the experience when you're in the ocean. Timing your jump off the rocks or a run off the beach, paddling out, sitting and watching waves break from the other side, looking out for bomb sets, the coastal views, the smell of the saltwater and riding waves that are always a little different even at the same spot. It's more than just riding a wave.
Slater has improved the look of the wave since the original clip. Now it's green rather than brown. While it is a far better wave than I've seen in any other wave pool, the rider still rides towards a wall and is forced to cut back when they get too close. There are no sections like an ocean wave. I wonder about the power of these waves too.
I'd be interested to see how long they have to wait between waves for the surface to settle. My guess from the original clip is 15 to 20 minutes - from the time Kelly watched the first wave until he put on his wetsuit and paddled out. You can see the turbulence again in these clips.
Some time ago when GregW and Kelly were trading barbs about each other's wave pool development, they drew a distinction between their approach to generating the wave. Kelly called his wave a soliton. But the equipment that he's using now seems to follow the same design as GregW's, which is essentially a cylindrical device (log) dragged through water to create a bow wave. The latest wave garden pool appears to work the same way. Maybe they've all found a way around GregW's patents, or else GregW hasn't missed the boat at all; he's collecting royalties and is off somewhere lazing about on his new yacht.
offshoreozzieSaturday, 7 May 2016 at 6:02am
Thanks Coaster. Are you seeing this (KS's wave) for the first time?
I don't think any of your points added anything to the conversation tbh. I think your guess is also vastly overstating the expected turbulence time.
CoasterSaturday, 7 May 2016 at 4:19pm
No worries, offshoreaussie. No I'm not seeing the wave for the first time (hence my reference to green vs brown waves) but it is my first comment about it. I'm under no illusion that my points are original, but that isn't a prerequisite for expressing an opinion is it? Let's say that I have wildly overstated the turbulence settle time by a factor of 10. A 90 second to 2 minute settle time is still a recipe for commercial failure, although it would be fine for the training facility suggested by blindboy. But then Kelly's pool is really just a prototype isn't it; the benefit of buying a ready-made waterski lake has the associated disadvantage of the absence of design for wave energy dissipation. It becomes a choppy bathtub after a wave is pushed through it - look behind the first wave in the original clip from last December. Nevertheless I think his wave pool is a good accomplishment. None of the other artificial waves produced so far are a match for what he has created there.
blindboySaturday, 7 May 2016 at 12:10pm
This is essentially an elite training facility and as such is potentially a game changer. By allowing surfers to catch a much larger number of waves than any real surf could supply it creates a very significant competitive advantage and not just in the short term. Young surfers training in this sort of facility for many years will have a HUGE advantage over others. My guess is that Kelly, having finally decided that he won't win any more titles himself, wants to create a squad to monopolise pro competition.
It is really quite sad that it has come to this, that a sport once renowned for its connection to natural forces should come to be dominated by tribes of kids trained to perform a repetitive skill set by a machine.
tonybarberSaturday, 7 May 2016 at 1:58pm
Hang on BB, don't b sad. There are no kids from any facility like this. Maybe look back at well known successful surfers over the decades and see how they became champs. I think you find that regulatority and randomness would be a bigger factor than repetiveness. I'm suggesting for example, that Mike Fanning would say that Duranbah was more important for his development than say Snapper.
happyasSSaturday, 7 May 2016 at 2:43pm
does the wave pool have a PA system?.....something for your opening ride.
offshoreozzieSaturday, 7 May 2016 at 3:50pm
I'm pretty sure a number of posters on this site walk around with tin hats on
freeride76Sunday, 8 May 2016 at 9:42am
because we are not slurping the wavepool kool-aid?
offshoreozzieMonday, 9 May 2016 at 3:06am
More so people seeing things that simply aren't there or skewing their perspective to the skeptical/sinister. Blindboy leading the charge...
dastashaSunday, 8 May 2016 at 8:48am
For the best in the world riding a perfect wave I'm seeing a lot of hand dragging and bum dragging to maintain optimum position in the pocket. Not to be too critical - I know I can be guilty of this less than graceful technique.
Perhaps it will refine tuberiding along the lines of changes of direction and next level precision trim/stall speed adjustments to hold position, clean rides and clean exits. Maybe inverted manoeuvres in the pit.
It would be another thing to transfer those skills to a live ocean wave.
I for one would like to see a return to functional surfing. However I believe many with access to such facilities will use it as an opportunity to develop their tail blow/air game
fitzroy-21Sunday, 8 May 2016 at 10:50am
I've gotta say that this is probably the prototype that will only get improved on, ie wave size, shape, bottom profile etc. This type of thing will more than likely be the next "HPC" set up for future "pro's".
When I watched Steph's wave, I was interested with how she kept moving her feet and positioning, and that was her very first wave. What will she be like after 10 of them. And those saying that she was only properly in the barrell for about 5 of the 30-odd seconds, I'll bet she got more barrelled on that one wave than some of you have in a lifetime.
There is positive and negatives to all of this, but it will never replace the feeling and pure stoke of paddling out in a fresh swell at dawn in the ocean, particularly after an absence from the ocean for a while.
Have a quick think about it. For quite a while now, everyone is bitching about crowds, drop-ins etc. You can pretty much guarantee you won't get snaked, burnt or dropped in on here, BUT, it will be at a price.
How about those that work FIFO or abroad and only get a week off and that week coincides with a flat spell? A few swings of that and you will start to loose your shit. This is somewhat of a sanity check and will fill that gap.
Or the poor bastard working big hours with family commitments that just can't squeeze a surf in during daylight hours. There is the night time option for when the kids are tucked into bed.
Lets face it, we don't all have the same lives that allow us the same situations to ride waves whenever we want. But we all agree on how we feel after getting a few waves.
So don't completely write it off. If it's not your thing, stay away from it. But it's the closest some people are going to get to keeping their sanity.
NoelSunday, 8 May 2016 at 12:22pm
fitzroy-21 wrote:
Have a quick think about it. For quite a while now, everyone is bitching about crowds, drop-ins etc. You can pretty much guarantee you won't get snaked, burnt or dropped in on here, BUT, it will be at a price.
How about those that work FIFO or abroad and only get a week off and that week coincides with a flat spell? A few swings of that and you will start to loose your shit. This is somewhat of a sanity check and will fill that gap.
Or the poor bastard working big hours with family commitments that just can't squeeze a surf in during daylight hours. There is the night time option for when the kids are tucked into bed.
Lets face it, we don't all have the same lives that allow us the same situations to ride waves whenever we want. But we all agree on how we feel after getting a few waves.
So don't completely write it off. If it's not your thing, stay away from it. But it's the closest some people are going to get to keeping their sanity.
Yep. What he said.
For 8 months of the year it will cost me at least $50 fuel and a 150k to 200k round trip to get a surf thats being fought over by feral locals who can paddle rings around me. for the other 4 months its local crap beachbreaks, just crap. Or a trip to Indo and all that shitfight. Surfing for me is an expensive sport. And Ive done the FIFO thing, and the big work hours thing. People will pay to access this facility, and their lives will be better for it.
As for the criticism of it being a training machine providing an unfair advantage, well isnt the Superbank an unfair advantage? Just one of those superbank peelers would equal all the wave-time I get in a year.
This development is whats called disruptive technology. Deal with it.
philosurphizing...Sunday, 8 May 2016 at 1:44pm
I reckon us recreational surfers have a choice, do nothing and wait for the big corporations to get on board and sell us the wave pool experience with a nice big profit margin for themselves, or get organised and motivated, by crowd funding the project ourselves.
There is a fish farm for sale at Ballina for a million bucks, which is a bargain if you want to build a wave pool because hundreds of thousands of dollars have already been spent on the earthworks.
4,000 north coast surfers , $250 each, buys it .
Second year 4,000 put in $100 each and set up a solar panel farm that will power the wave pool.
The fish farm is set on 42 acres so there is plenty of room.
In the mean time start selling the power.
Even if the project went no further than this stage 4,000 surfers would be offsetting their carbon footprint.
At the moment the price you can sell power for is a quarter of what you have to buy it for, this will hopefully change if the government actually cares about the planet.
Third year another $100 each as a kind of annual membership fee, so there is $400,000 plus solar panel income in the kitty.
This money would then go toward the building of the wave pool.
At this point in time no one knows how much a wave pool will cost but you would expect that the turbulence issues would have been resolved and they are able to produce sets of waves.
Once the wave pool is up and running.
Here are some numbers.
Say the pool can produce 4 waves per minute.
240 per hour.
40 surfers. No one else there, its a quiet peaceful meditative bush setting, not a shopping mall type arena with spectators.
Each surfer gets to ride 6 waves per hour.
Which is one every ten minutes.
A 3 hour session .
18 waves.
6 sessions per day, 1 hour gap between sessions (let the motors cool down).
240 surfers every 24 hours. Night surfing with underwater lighting (there are certain types of lights that diffuse the light and make the water glow). Very trippy surfing under the full moon.
1680 surfers per week.
3360 per fortnight.
Which means each surfers turn would come around every 17 days.
So each surfer would get to surf it 21 times per year.
Bring on the glowing wave temples.
udoSunday, 8 May 2016 at 2:48pm
Where's the nightime power coming from...would need a battery bank the size of the MCG to run the motors .
Great idea though...
philosurphizing...Monday, 9 May 2016 at 12:25pm
Power at night could come from the grid.
The solar farm output would be 2 1/2 times the wave pools power needs, meaning the power that goes into grid during the day would equal the cost of the night power therefore balancing the books.
Or go new tech and install thermal solar where large salt filled tanks are heated by the suns energy during the day and the heat is released at night to generate power.
The only problem with glowing wave temples is the light attracts MOTHS.
blindboySunday, 8 May 2016 at 12:45pm
The Superbank is public space, open to all. Skater's machine is elite access only and will probably stay that way. I don't see him looking to roll this technology out to the masses. As I said before I think it's a training facility designed to give those who get to train in it an advantage. All rather sad and pathetic.
As for the terrible experience of going without waves on your fifo breaks, you are joking right? I mean FIRST WORLD PROBLEM of the highest order! Try doing something else.
Rabbits68Sunday, 8 May 2016 at 2:15pm
blindboy wrote:
The Superbank is public space, open to all. Skater's machine is elite access only and will probably stay that way. I don't see him looking to roll this technology out to the masses. As I said before I think it's a training facility designed to give those who get to train in it an advantage. All rather sad and pathetic.
As for the terrible experience of going without waves on your fifo breaks, you are joking right? I mean FIRST WORLD PROBLEM of the highest order! Try doing something else.
Blindboy I recall when this (Kelly's wave pool) first came to light you were telling us all how far away from real surfing, real waves, real conditions etc this wave pool really is. Even stating that it shouldn't be called surfing. Now you've got to the point where these wave pools will produce surfers who will become even more elite & giving them a huge advantage over surfers who just surf in the ocean. I thought elite athletes do there best to train in "game day reality" rather than sterile, no real environs.
So which one is it? Is the wave pool just like the real thing or are these mechanical, sterile wave pools just a hoax?
NoelSunday, 8 May 2016 at 2:52pm
those who have just lived through the last 8 months of El Nino swells on the hot spots of the East Coast need to get some perspective and realise that the rest of the world, including the rest of Australia has been watching in envy. Its no coincidence that hot spots produce the bulk of the worlds best surfers and that is mainly due to the natural resources. Being able to replicate the essence of that resource anywhere in the world is now a game changer and that is why it deserves to be called a 'disruptive technology'.
This may be challenging or confronting for those at the top of the pecking order who either just burn everyone in the water or see themselves as 'gate keepers' at the hot spots, and theres been enough discussion about that 'problem' in these threads, so its definitely a barrier to many.
Soon, a surfer will be able to develop or just fine tune their skills in parallel to the dog-eat-dog scene, so the playing field is being levelled in that sense.
blindboySunday, 8 May 2016 at 3:07pm
Noel, I disagree, the playing field has just been tilted to advantage a small group. Even if I am wrong and the technology is rolled out at numerous locations, the price will further distort things. Wealth has always had a huge influence on talent development. Consider how many trips Shaun and MR had to Hawaii as youngsters. Wave pools will just hasten the trend of surfing becoming a sport for the wealthy. Whatever you think about the hierarchy at various locations, it is a mountain there to climb for the motivated and capable regardless of income. Add wave pools and you have given privilege a huge advantage. Young Tarquin and Bethsheeba can practice endless hours without ever having to deal with the hierarchy at the local spot. I can see how there parents might like that, I mean we were considered disreputable until the UMC bought up e beachfronts. For me it represents just another example of the rich buying up anything that's for sale. I'm just glad I got to surf through the era when we knew its worth and fought against those who wanted to put a price in it.
freeride76Monday, 9 May 2016 at 12:03pm
agree x a million.
this is commodifying and selling to the rich the best thing about surfing: the fact that waves are in the ocean, created by nature and are free to ride. Now we're going to let these corpo arseholes package up and sell at inflated prices what we once had for free? That sounds like a great deal, not.
I'm so surprised to see surfers actually congratulating and getting behind this sell out.
blindboySunday, 8 May 2016 at 2:54pm
No contradiction rabbits, the wave uses the same skill set as surfing natural waves. Presumably the pros will also get plenty of time in the ocean. The advantage arises from being able to surf a very large number of waves . To a significant extent surfing skills developed in riding one type of wave translate to other types. Most people reach their peak performance after surfing intensely for an extended period.
In preparing for competition there is a window prior to the event when the surfer should be riding as many waves as possible before tapering in the days before. The pool guarantees the surfer can follow an ideal timetable. In the longer term it is all about repetition, the opportunity to program a series of movements by endless practice. The pool is ideal for this. So, by comparison to real surfing, yes a complete hoax, as a training vehicle for elite performance this one will give those who get to use it regularly a huge advantage.
Rabbits68Sunday, 8 May 2016 at 3:09pm
Whilst I understand your point, I'm not so sure that a skill set developed/practiced in a completely predictable, perfect environment will transfer to the complete opposite environment, in terms of it being a huge advantage. In terms of a training facility for extra fitness whilst "surfing", yes maybe. Time will tell I suppose.
blindboySunday, 8 May 2016 at 3:17pm
Yeh I look forward to a thorough pasting down the track if I am proved wrong, but being an opinionated bastard is deeply ingrained, so I'm sticking to my guns until the infantry over run them. Elite level surfers are not going to lose their basic skills of wave selection by spending some time in a pool but they will sharpen up their repertoire.
Victoriasurfing1Sunday, 8 May 2016 at 3:06pm
Blindboy I think you may have lost the plot. Can you please explain to me how surfing this wave before a competition on world tour would help them. Why would Kelly and other elite surfers go here before hmmm let's see chopes, pipeline, Jeffrey's bay, cloudbreak, margerat river, bells, rio, Portugal, France might aswell name the world tour series. This wave will not help them get better in waves of consequence beach breaks, reef breaks, if they want to get better they will go surf the wave or something like it not a 3ft wave pool. What are you on about
dastashaSunday, 8 May 2016 at 4:16pm
It actually looks a little bit like your typical runner at the (un)superbank in places.
I do know that if I was paying to surf I would not be happy to crouch for barrels.
blindboySunday, 8 May 2016 at 3:12pm
Disagree Victoria. The plan will be to use the pool in the lead up and move to the real thing as the event gets close. Given the fickle nature of quality waves you would be much better training in the pool than surfing mediocre or poor conditions which didn't encourage speed, power and flow. And I seriously disagree with the proposition that training in the pool will not help in waves of consequence. In my long experience surfing skills are highly transferable from wave type to wave type, what really matters is that there is plenty of opportunity to surf waves with sufficient quality to allow, yep again, speed, power and flow.
Rabbits68Sunday, 8 May 2016 at 3:25pm
blindboy wrote:
Disagree Victoria. The plan will be to use the pool in the lead up and move to the real thing as the event gets close. Given the fickle nature of quality waves you would be much better training in the pool than surfing mediocre or poor conditions which didn't encourage speed, power and flow. And I seriously disagree with the proposition that training in the pool will not help in waves of consequence. In my long experience surfing skills are highly transferable from wave type to wave type, what really matters is that there is plenty of opportunity to surf waves with sufficient quality to allow, yep again, speed, power and flow.
Sounds like your shifting the goal posts a bit Blindboy. Now your talking about a wave pool with speed, power and flow. I thought we were talking about Kelly's wave pool. Looks like there's a bit of work to be done yet to get this speed, power & flow your talking about. All good input though. Cheers.
NoelSunday, 8 May 2016 at 3:45pm
We need to assume that version 4, 5, ....10 of Kellys Wave Pool or Wavegarden will provide wave peel variation via adjustable bottom contours or whatever, and most likely wave size variation. Its all just engineering. For example, pool bottom profiles might be changed by compartmentalised hydraulic bladders , easily expanded or deflated on the run.
If Elon Musk can land a rocket on a wallowing barge in the middle of the ocean I dont think a wave pool is going to be difficult to improve.
These are just early days.
CraigSunday, 8 May 2016 at 3:49pm
Yeah you can see all the backwash off the bank after the longboarders wave. Be a while till that settles down.
And also his wave was nowhere near as clean of hollow, they change the settings maybe on the power and back it off a little?
A photo posted by Kelly Slater Wave Co. (@kswaveco) on
simbaMonday, 9 May 2016 at 5:48am
yeah to all you knockers out there your right,its crap all right,no speed no shape,crap.............hahahahahahahhaha...........killer shot,no wonder Kellys excited.
NoelFriday, 13 May 2016 at 10:15am
SKellyton Bay .......Kelly's natural footers answer to Namibia's Skeleton Bay
tootrMonday, 9 May 2016 at 11:46am
I find it hard to believe that once they get this pool right, and wave rate is key, they will not try to roll them out all over the place for average punters to use.
Potentially much more money in that than training up a bunch of kids to compete.
wallyMonday, 9 May 2016 at 8:42am
I think the wave is very good, but I can't see the financials working out.
(1) Turbulence - For each wave, you are basically driving a tractor thru a shallow pool.
(2) Cost of land - The land has to be relatively cheap, which means some distance from population centres. That takes out the once a week quick surf after work or school option.
lostdoggyMonday, 9 May 2016 at 10:04am
I could see Kelly opening a resort and then have certain assigned open to public times (maybe on weekends with extras for school hols?). I'm sure he's probably trying to buy land around it for a golf course already :).
NoelMonday, 9 May 2016 at 11:26am
Wally, just to recount an experience I had several years ago. I went to Singapore with my family for a week, we went to see the FlowRider facility on the beach at Sentosa island, which is joined by causeway to the main island, and I was blown away by what they had created there... it was the full on beach scene with bar, nightclub, restaurant, surf shop, and it was going off and the locals, tourists, and expats were ripping. Over on the other side of Singapore on the beachfront park at Eastcoast Park we stumbled on a full sized cable-ski lake, and same deal it was a full on scene with mostly wake-boarders. We ended up having an action water sports holiday... In Singapore. And judging by the looks on peoples faces I think I was the first person to body-surf the Sentosa FlowRider, after falling off of course.
So what I'm saying is its a mistake to apply Australian capital city economics or considerations to these facilities. Electricity prices and labour rates can be a lot cheaper elsewhere, with suitable weather and water temperature all year round and when you have 5 million people living within 20 minutes on the subway thats quite a catchment. And, in some places around the world they are quite happy to run one of these as a loss-leader as part of a bigger plan.
So I think these are going to start popping up in some unusual places.
wallyMonday, 9 May 2016 at 12:35pm
Very good points, Noel.
I can hear this harsh, unfamiliar, grinding noise in my head. I think it might be the sound of me changing my mind.
NoelMonday, 9 May 2016 at 2:03pm
Haha.... but I just had a thought.... the new wave of frothing surfers in Bali and Mentawais would be Singaporeans.. maybe not such a bad thing though, they are very polite.
udoFriday, 13 May 2016 at 10:27am
The indos were once polite
fitzroy-21Friday, 13 May 2016 at 10:50am
Our behavior (Aussie, Yank, Brazzo, etc) set the example for them to follow. I personally see that as our fault.
tootrMonday, 9 May 2016 at 11:52am
Good points.
Don't forget Slater is the face of this thing, but the bunch of investors, engineers etc that built and designed it would most likely be in it to make a buck.
And as Noel mentioned some places have a very large amount of cash to throw at far out attractions.
Dubai anyone?
Gary GMonday, 9 May 2016 at 12:42pm
Gary finds it ironic that people who undoubtedly see surfing as as a place for freedom of expression seem to take such umbrage with this particular expression of wave riding
It seems they struggle with the concept that it could mean different things to different people, and that different people choose different ways to express and indulge their love of riding waves.
Some people like to go for a run outside, others prefer the treadmill. Gary doesn't judge the way that people earn their post exercise endorphins, as at the end of the day it's a noble pursuit no matter which way you achieve it.
A photo posted by Kelly Slater Wave Co. (@kswaveco) on
wingnut2443Thursday, 16 Jun 2016 at 6:56pm
Looks like the marketing is working.
"Plans by Denver-based McWhinney and DJM Capital Partners for three hotels, maritime-related offices, retail and restaurants, a cultural performance venue, a fitness club, wave-making pool and recreational marina."
Comments
That would have to be the closest wave to a Cape St Francis wave in 70's
Never gets old.
maybe slats ultimately greatest legacy will be dotting perfect waves around the planet, hopefully they won't be price pointed in the same fashion as Outerknown togs are. that place looks amazing
looks like only variable there is wind. Although all the waves were barrelling you check slaters first wave and its glassy as.
Wonder if he can vary wave height at all? They look much the same hey?
What a nuts setup. Nice to see someone other than Kelly surf it too, helps to evaluate things a little better.
Also can't help but think that Slater's promo vehicle is getting back into the swing of things following the Melbourne and Sydney announcements for Wavegarden.
This wave smokes anything that wavegarden has put out.
All positive comments.... come on where the haters at like the first post of this?
On a serious note, after watching Nat's vid the second time something stood out to me and wondering if you agree. There's obviously a bank or bottom curve to make the wave barrel but the lip/whitewater seems to land in a deeper area/trough. So they've made a bank then have a deeper section before the "lake" walls - it's not a traditional continual slope style bottom. Clever. Wondering if this assists in the dissipation of energy and decreases the time till it returns to a "rideable"/perfect surface state.
Take a look at this screenshot:
https://snag.gy/v8OwqF.jpg
And watch it again and see if you agree
Makes sense you see this in nature at some beachies, river mouths or points.
And an interesting 'sand' bottom colour too, like the banks into the lake. Is it sand?
Repetitive wave running along a 'shoreline' with moveable sand, would create it's own 'bank' like that, and with a deep trough into the 'impact' zone. Oh wait, that's what happens in a river ;)
Good pick up Offshoreozzie. They must be dealing with an exactitude no-ones considered, because the distance between light area (shallow) and dark (deeper) is not much at all.
So while we're on that, if they get lots and lots of rain in Fresno is that like a high tide?
Yep offshoreozzie, you're probably right. I read somewhere that the design was inspired by watching boat wakes barrel along a river's edge. So that would fit in. Down the middle of the pool, having a deeper side with a quickish transistion to a shallow side.
Instead of relying on going shallower lengthwise.
Kind of cheapens getting barreled.
Great pick up offshoreozzie!
Looking closer, there def looks to be a deeper channel on the other side (right) of the bank.
Can see some features here as well, fading off into the deeper water..
So they've made a bank then have a deeper section before the "lake" walls - it's not a traditional continual slope style bottom. Clever. Wondering if this assists in the dissipation of energy and decreases the time till it returns to a "rideable"/perfect surface state.
Reckon you are spot on with that observation Ozzie.
Taking the wave energy dissipation idea further I wonder what would happen if the ''lake'' wall was made of tetrapods instead of being smooth, they say the gaps around a tetrapod shape absorbs wave energy.
Then there is the question do the gaps around a tetrapod have any effect on waves travelling above them. You could line the bottom of the trough area as an experiment and see what would happen.
Watching the first couple of vids I was wondering about doing a big roundhouse - then Carissa did a couple. Wouldn't want to get too far out on to the shoulder or you'd be on the scaff in the middle. The barrel's amazing but there has to me more to it than that.
There is definitely going to be more to it than that, programmable waves, in the future the bow that creates the wave will be able to be moved as it moves along, so if you want a carvable wall for the first half of the wave then a barrel section you just select it from the menu.
Ah, wouldn't the bottom shape dictate the shape of the wave more?
"adjustments" of the plough (i.e. depth) or forward motion speed of it would impact the size of the wave, but shape, such as carve section vs hollower section, would be more linked with bottom contour.
Now, if they've put in an adjustable bottom contour ...
not if you take into consideration the approach angle of the wave to the artificial bank. if you have the wave rifling along (acute wave approach angle) and all of a sudden it slows down the barrel will collapse no doubt due to the approach angle moving closer to perpendicular.
Check out the video in the following link where Greg Webber talks about engineering of machine generated waves.
In it he mentions creating different peel angles and the effect on a wave.
In the photos and diagrams the wave comes off the bow at 45 degrees.
Lets say the wave then hits the bank at 45 degrees.
If the bow could be adjusted so that the wave comes off at say 60 degrees(red line in diagram) then it would hit the bank at a 60 degree angle, creating a wave with more face to work with and a wave with a slightly slower peel speed.
http://www.coastalwatch.com/surfing/15305/greg-webber-comments-on-kelly-...
I know jetski's are mandatory these days when pro's are in the water...but in a wavepool? Can't they walk?
Raimana driving the ski again ?
If I move my back fence a fair way out and get a big digger in, then maybe...........nup dreamin.
Fuck how long was that barrel of nats........place is nuts........Starting to think Greg Webber might have missed the boat...time will tell.Cant remember but the back drop looks different from the first vid Kelly put out,anyone know or maybe different angle it was filmed from.
Thanks for whipping this up. I'll be within 3miles of this place in June...alas I doubt I'll get the key to get in. Generally speaking the location doesn't get a ton of wind and at the end of summer (Aug/Sep) nights are still and, even in the middle of nowhere, beautiful.
What's going on here?? We run a story about surfers in Siberia, and you've already donned the neoprene in those Arctic waters. Now we run a story about somewhere vastly different, Kelly Slater's inland wave pool, and you'll be just down the road.
The U Turn: International Man of Mystery.
Ha! Not quite Stu. More like 'Slumdog Millionaire' things just line up. Russia was a gig that came out of nowhere and California 'The Valley' goes back to me being an exchange student in the 80's - ...now if I could trace some genealogy to Buzzy Trent or Kivlin being a long last ancestor that would be the ultimate.
It looks great but there is definitely something funny about it.
I'm thinking that because it moves across rather than forwards the bottom of the wave doesn't move with the surfer when they come off the top. This seems to make them free fall off the top rather than be able to ride back down the face of the wave. No doubt with a bit of time surfing it, you could adjust the way you attack the lip or maybe they could change the speed for more carve-able waves but it sure looks fun and those tubes look the goods!
Yes, the energy in the swell is moving forward at an angle, and this energy is a constant feed giving the wave a different characteristic compared to ocean waves.
A few negatives.....you knew you could rely on me for that! First, don't call it surfing. Wave riding, aquabatics, whatever but it is not surfing. Second, wave pools further entrench surfing as a sport for the wealthy. Third, they remove the main point of interest (if that's not an exaggeration) in pro surfing.....the chance of seeing a really special wave ridden by an exceptional talent, without the special wave you have boring repetition, good luck with selling that to a fickle audience! Fourth, wait until you see what some more typical surfers can do before you part with your hard earned, the wave seems to lack power.
Blindboy, I know your big on the "data" & rightly so. If you check the definition of "surfing" then check the definition of "shore", you'll see that this should really be refered to as "surfing". Not as you or I know it, agreed, but it's all about the data mate :)
BTW how's your eternal half empty glass going these days? In need of a top up? Not too full though.....
like when Einstein invented the Atom Bomb.
If that's not surfing someone better tell Kelly Slater.
Looks like a hell of a lot of fun as an alternative if that's the case....
Book me an appointment please :)
Geez, how much better does it look with the clearer 'blue' water! Must have added in a water filtration system?
Water surface conditions? A few wind fences and then a few industrial fans and it'll be offshore all day every day!
Can we start a crowd funding campaign to build one is Australia.
Does look nice and clear wingnut but could be spanner water.
"spanner water"? ... Fuck, Slater was in boardies!
Any one notice Slater was riding Sci-fi.
That vid dropped well before Stu Kennedy at the quiky pro
Boy's have been playing bat man for a while!
I'm with blindboy on this. It isn't really surfing in the true sense. Not when you think about the experience when you're in the ocean. Timing your jump off the rocks or a run off the beach, paddling out, sitting and watching waves break from the other side, looking out for bomb sets, the coastal views, the smell of the saltwater and riding waves that are always a little different even at the same spot. It's more than just riding a wave.
Slater has improved the look of the wave since the original clip. Now it's green rather than brown. While it is a far better wave than I've seen in any other wave pool, the rider still rides towards a wall and is forced to cut back when they get too close. There are no sections like an ocean wave. I wonder about the power of these waves too.
I'd be interested to see how long they have to wait between waves for the surface to settle. My guess from the original clip is 15 to 20 minutes - from the time Kelly watched the first wave until he put on his wetsuit and paddled out. You can see the turbulence again in these clips.
Some time ago when GregW and Kelly were trading barbs about each other's wave pool development, they drew a distinction between their approach to generating the wave. Kelly called his wave a soliton. But the equipment that he's using now seems to follow the same design as GregW's, which is essentially a cylindrical device (log) dragged through water to create a bow wave. The latest wave garden pool appears to work the same way. Maybe they've all found a way around GregW's patents, or else GregW hasn't missed the boat at all; he's collecting royalties and is off somewhere lazing about on his new yacht.
Thanks Coaster. Are you seeing this (KS's wave) for the first time?
I don't think any of your points added anything to the conversation tbh. I think your guess is also vastly overstating the expected turbulence time.
No worries, offshoreaussie. No I'm not seeing the wave for the first time (hence my reference to green vs brown waves) but it is my first comment about it. I'm under no illusion that my points are original, but that isn't a prerequisite for expressing an opinion is it? Let's say that I have wildly overstated the turbulence settle time by a factor of 10. A 90 second to 2 minute settle time is still a recipe for commercial failure, although it would be fine for the training facility suggested by blindboy. But then Kelly's pool is really just a prototype isn't it; the benefit of buying a ready-made waterski lake has the associated disadvantage of the absence of design for wave energy dissipation. It becomes a choppy bathtub after a wave is pushed through it - look behind the first wave in the original clip from last December. Nevertheless I think his wave pool is a good accomplishment. None of the other artificial waves produced so far are a match for what he has created there.
This is essentially an elite training facility and as such is potentially a game changer. By allowing surfers to catch a much larger number of waves than any real surf could supply it creates a very significant competitive advantage and not just in the short term. Young surfers training in this sort of facility for many years will have a HUGE advantage over others. My guess is that Kelly, having finally decided that he won't win any more titles himself, wants to create a squad to monopolise pro competition.
It is really quite sad that it has come to this, that a sport once renowned for its connection to natural forces should come to be dominated by tribes of kids trained to perform a repetitive skill set by a machine.
Hang on BB, don't b sad. There are no kids from any facility like this. Maybe look back at well known successful surfers over the decades and see how they became champs. I think you find that regulatority and randomness would be a bigger factor than repetiveness. I'm suggesting for example, that Mike Fanning would say that Duranbah was more important for his development than say Snapper.
does the wave pool have a PA system?.....something for your opening ride.
I'm pretty sure a number of posters on this site walk around with tin hats on
because we are not slurping the wavepool kool-aid?
More so people seeing things that simply aren't there or skewing their perspective to the skeptical/sinister. Blindboy leading the charge...
For the best in the world riding a perfect wave I'm seeing a lot of hand dragging and bum dragging to maintain optimum position in the pocket. Not to be too critical - I know I can be guilty of this less than graceful technique.
Perhaps it will refine tuberiding along the lines of changes of direction and next level precision trim/stall speed adjustments to hold position, clean rides and clean exits. Maybe inverted manoeuvres in the pit.
It would be another thing to transfer those skills to a live ocean wave.
I for one would like to see a return to functional surfing. However I believe many with access to such facilities will use it as an opportunity to develop their tail blow/air game
I've gotta say that this is probably the prototype that will only get improved on, ie wave size, shape, bottom profile etc. This type of thing will more than likely be the next "HPC" set up for future "pro's".
When I watched Steph's wave, I was interested with how she kept moving her feet and positioning, and that was her very first wave. What will she be like after 10 of them. And those saying that she was only properly in the barrell for about 5 of the 30-odd seconds, I'll bet she got more barrelled on that one wave than some of you have in a lifetime.
There is positive and negatives to all of this, but it will never replace the feeling and pure stoke of paddling out in a fresh swell at dawn in the ocean, particularly after an absence from the ocean for a while.
Have a quick think about it. For quite a while now, everyone is bitching about crowds, drop-ins etc. You can pretty much guarantee you won't get snaked, burnt or dropped in on here, BUT, it will be at a price.
How about those that work FIFO or abroad and only get a week off and that week coincides with a flat spell? A few swings of that and you will start to loose your shit. This is somewhat of a sanity check and will fill that gap.
Or the poor bastard working big hours with family commitments that just can't squeeze a surf in during daylight hours. There is the night time option for when the kids are tucked into bed.
Lets face it, we don't all have the same lives that allow us the same situations to ride waves whenever we want. But we all agree on how we feel after getting a few waves.
So don't completely write it off. If it's not your thing, stay away from it. But it's the closest some people are going to get to keeping their sanity.
Yep. What he said.
For 8 months of the year it will cost me at least $50 fuel and a 150k to 200k round trip to get a surf thats being fought over by feral locals who can paddle rings around me. for the other 4 months its local crap beachbreaks, just crap. Or a trip to Indo and all that shitfight. Surfing for me is an expensive sport. And Ive done the FIFO thing, and the big work hours thing. People will pay to access this facility, and their lives will be better for it.
As for the criticism of it being a training machine providing an unfair advantage, well isnt the Superbank an unfair advantage? Just one of those superbank peelers would equal all the wave-time I get in a year.
This development is whats called disruptive technology. Deal with it.
I reckon us recreational surfers have a choice, do nothing and wait for the big corporations to get on board and sell us the wave pool experience with a nice big profit margin for themselves, or get organised and motivated, by crowd funding the project ourselves.
There is a fish farm for sale at Ballina for a million bucks, which is a bargain if you want to build a wave pool because hundreds of thousands of dollars have already been spent on the earthworks.
4,000 north coast surfers , $250 each, buys it .
Second year 4,000 put in $100 each and set up a solar panel farm that will power the wave pool.
The fish farm is set on 42 acres so there is plenty of room.
In the mean time start selling the power.
Even if the project went no further than this stage 4,000 surfers would be offsetting their carbon footprint.
At the moment the price you can sell power for is a quarter of what you have to buy it for, this will hopefully change if the government actually cares about the planet.
Third year another $100 each as a kind of annual membership fee, so there is $400,000 plus solar panel income in the kitty.
This money would then go toward the building of the wave pool.
At this point in time no one knows how much a wave pool will cost but you would expect that the turbulence issues would have been resolved and they are able to produce sets of waves.
Once the wave pool is up and running.
Here are some numbers.
Say the pool can produce 4 waves per minute.
240 per hour.
40 surfers. No one else there, its a quiet peaceful meditative bush setting, not a shopping mall type arena with spectators.
Each surfer gets to ride 6 waves per hour.
Which is one every ten minutes.
A 3 hour session .
18 waves.
6 sessions per day, 1 hour gap between sessions (let the motors cool down).
240 surfers every 24 hours. Night surfing with underwater lighting (there are certain types of lights that diffuse the light and make the water glow). Very trippy surfing under the full moon.
1680 surfers per week.
3360 per fortnight.
Which means each surfers turn would come around every 17 days.
So each surfer would get to surf it 21 times per year.
Bring on the glowing wave temples.
Where's the nightime power coming from...would need a battery bank the size of the MCG to run the motors .
Great idea though...
Power at night could come from the grid.
The solar farm output would be 2 1/2 times the wave pools power needs, meaning the power that goes into grid during the day would equal the cost of the night power therefore balancing the books.
Or go new tech and install thermal solar where large salt filled tanks are heated by the suns energy during the day and the heat is released at night to generate power.
The only problem with glowing wave temples is the light attracts MOTHS.
The Superbank is public space, open to all. Skater's machine is elite access only and will probably stay that way. I don't see him looking to roll this technology out to the masses. As I said before I think it's a training facility designed to give those who get to train in it an advantage. All rather sad and pathetic.
As for the terrible experience of going without waves on your fifo breaks, you are joking right? I mean FIRST WORLD PROBLEM of the highest order! Try doing something else.
Blindboy I recall when this (Kelly's wave pool) first came to light you were telling us all how far away from real surfing, real waves, real conditions etc this wave pool really is. Even stating that it shouldn't be called surfing. Now you've got to the point where these wave pools will produce surfers who will become even more elite & giving them a huge advantage over surfers who just surf in the ocean. I thought elite athletes do there best to train in "game day reality" rather than sterile, no real environs.
So which one is it? Is the wave pool just like the real thing or are these mechanical, sterile wave pools just a hoax?
those who have just lived through the last 8 months of El Nino swells on the hot spots of the East Coast need to get some perspective and realise that the rest of the world, including the rest of Australia has been watching in envy. Its no coincidence that hot spots produce the bulk of the worlds best surfers and that is mainly due to the natural resources. Being able to replicate the essence of that resource anywhere in the world is now a game changer and that is why it deserves to be called a 'disruptive technology'.
This may be challenging or confronting for those at the top of the pecking order who either just burn everyone in the water or see themselves as 'gate keepers' at the hot spots, and theres been enough discussion about that 'problem' in these threads, so its definitely a barrier to many.
Soon, a surfer will be able to develop or just fine tune their skills in parallel to the dog-eat-dog scene, so the playing field is being levelled in that sense.
Noel, I disagree, the playing field has just been tilted to advantage a small group. Even if I am wrong and the technology is rolled out at numerous locations, the price will further distort things. Wealth has always had a huge influence on talent development. Consider how many trips Shaun and MR had to Hawaii as youngsters. Wave pools will just hasten the trend of surfing becoming a sport for the wealthy. Whatever you think about the hierarchy at various locations, it is a mountain there to climb for the motivated and capable regardless of income. Add wave pools and you have given privilege a huge advantage. Young Tarquin and Bethsheeba can practice endless hours without ever having to deal with the hierarchy at the local spot. I can see how there parents might like that, I mean we were considered disreputable until the UMC bought up e beachfronts. For me it represents just another example of the rich buying up anything that's for sale. I'm just glad I got to surf through the era when we knew its worth and fought against those who wanted to put a price in it.
agree x a million.
this is commodifying and selling to the rich the best thing about surfing: the fact that waves are in the ocean, created by nature and are free to ride. Now we're going to let these corpo arseholes package up and sell at inflated prices what we once had for free? That sounds like a great deal, not.
I'm so surprised to see surfers actually congratulating and getting behind this sell out.
No contradiction rabbits, the wave uses the same skill set as surfing natural waves. Presumably the pros will also get plenty of time in the ocean. The advantage arises from being able to surf a very large number of waves . To a significant extent surfing skills developed in riding one type of wave translate to other types. Most people reach their peak performance after surfing intensely for an extended period.
In preparing for competition there is a window prior to the event when the surfer should be riding as many waves as possible before tapering in the days before. The pool guarantees the surfer can follow an ideal timetable. In the longer term it is all about repetition, the opportunity to program a series of movements by endless practice. The pool is ideal for this. So, by comparison to real surfing, yes a complete hoax, as a training vehicle for elite performance this one will give those who get to use it regularly a huge advantage.
Whilst I understand your point, I'm not so sure that a skill set developed/practiced in a completely predictable, perfect environment will transfer to the complete opposite environment, in terms of it being a huge advantage. In terms of a training facility for extra fitness whilst "surfing", yes maybe. Time will tell I suppose.
Yeh I look forward to a thorough pasting down the track if I am proved wrong, but being an opinionated bastard is deeply ingrained, so I'm sticking to my guns until the infantry over run them. Elite level surfers are not going to lose their basic skills of wave selection by spending some time in a pool but they will sharpen up their repertoire.
Blindboy I think you may have lost the plot. Can you please explain to me how surfing this wave before a competition on world tour would help them. Why would Kelly and other elite surfers go here before hmmm let's see chopes, pipeline, Jeffrey's bay, cloudbreak, margerat river, bells, rio, Portugal, France might aswell name the world tour series. This wave will not help them get better in waves of consequence beach breaks, reef breaks, if they want to get better they will go surf the wave or something like it not a 3ft wave pool. What are you on about
It actually looks a little bit like your typical runner at the (un)superbank in places.
I do know that if I was paying to surf I would not be happy to crouch for barrels.
Disagree Victoria. The plan will be to use the pool in the lead up and move to the real thing as the event gets close. Given the fickle nature of quality waves you would be much better training in the pool than surfing mediocre or poor conditions which didn't encourage speed, power and flow. And I seriously disagree with the proposition that training in the pool will not help in waves of consequence. In my long experience surfing skills are highly transferable from wave type to wave type, what really matters is that there is plenty of opportunity to surf waves with sufficient quality to allow, yep again, speed, power and flow.
Sounds like your shifting the goal posts a bit Blindboy. Now your talking about a wave pool with speed, power and flow. I thought we were talking about Kelly's wave pool. Looks like there's a bit of work to be done yet to get this speed, power & flow your talking about. All good input though. Cheers.
We need to assume that version 4, 5, ....10 of Kellys Wave Pool or Wavegarden will provide wave peel variation via adjustable bottom contours or whatever, and most likely wave size variation. Its all just engineering. For example, pool bottom profiles might be changed by compartmentalised hydraulic bladders , easily expanded or deflated on the run.
If Elon Musk can land a rocket on a wallowing barge in the middle of the ocean I dont think a wave pool is going to be difficult to improve.
These are just early days.
Yeah you can see all the backwash off the bank after the longboarders wave. Be a while till that settles down.
And also his wave was nowhere near as clean of hollow, they change the settings maybe on the power and back it off a little?
How good is the first pic on KSwaveCo insta
Wow..
yeah to all you knockers out there your right,its crap all right,no speed no shape,crap.............hahahahahahahhaha...........killer shot,no wonder Kellys excited.
SKellyton Bay .......Kelly's natural footers answer to Namibia's Skeleton Bay
I find it hard to believe that once they get this pool right, and wave rate is key, they will not try to roll them out all over the place for average punters to use.
Potentially much more money in that than training up a bunch of kids to compete.
I think the wave is very good, but I can't see the financials working out.
(1) Turbulence - For each wave, you are basically driving a tractor thru a shallow pool.
(2) Cost of land - The land has to be relatively cheap, which means some distance from population centres. That takes out the once a week quick surf after work or school option.
I could see Kelly opening a resort and then have certain assigned open to public times (maybe on weekends with extras for school hols?). I'm sure he's probably trying to buy land around it for a golf course already :).
Wally, just to recount an experience I had several years ago. I went to Singapore with my family for a week, we went to see the FlowRider facility on the beach at Sentosa island, which is joined by causeway to the main island, and I was blown away by what they had created there... it was the full on beach scene with bar, nightclub, restaurant, surf shop, and it was going off and the locals, tourists, and expats were ripping. Over on the other side of Singapore on the beachfront park at Eastcoast Park we stumbled on a full sized cable-ski lake, and same deal it was a full on scene with mostly wake-boarders. We ended up having an action water sports holiday... In Singapore. And judging by the looks on peoples faces I think I was the first person to body-surf the Sentosa FlowRider, after falling off of course.
So what I'm saying is its a mistake to apply Australian capital city economics or considerations to these facilities. Electricity prices and labour rates can be a lot cheaper elsewhere, with suitable weather and water temperature all year round and when you have 5 million people living within 20 minutes on the subway thats quite a catchment. And, in some places around the world they are quite happy to run one of these as a loss-leader as part of a bigger plan.
So I think these are going to start popping up in some unusual places.
Very good points, Noel.
I can hear this harsh, unfamiliar, grinding noise in my head. I think it might be the sound of me changing my mind.
Haha.... but I just had a thought.... the new wave of frothing surfers in Bali and Mentawais would be Singaporeans.. maybe not such a bad thing though, they are very polite.
The indos were once polite
Our behavior (Aussie, Yank, Brazzo, etc) set the example for them to follow. I personally see that as our fault.
Good points.
Don't forget Slater is the face of this thing, but the bunch of investors, engineers etc that built and designed it would most likely be in it to make a buck.
And as Noel mentioned some places have a very large amount of cash to throw at far out attractions.
Dubai anyone?
Gary finds it ironic that people who undoubtedly see surfing as as a place for freedom of expression seem to take such umbrage with this particular expression of wave riding
It seems they struggle with the concept that it could mean different things to different people, and that different people choose different ways to express and indulge their love of riding waves.
Some people like to go for a run outside, others prefer the treadmill. Gary doesn't judge the way that people earn their post exercise endorphins, as at the end of the day it's a noble pursuit no matter which way you achieve it.
Interesting hashtag.. #poweredbythesun
Looks like the marketing is working.
"Plans by Denver-based McWhinney and DJM Capital Partners for three hotels, maritime-related offices, retail and restaurants, a cultural performance venue, a fitness club, wave-making pool and recreational marina."
What's that ... a "wave-making pool", hey?
Surely, not ... a Kelly Wave?
Ah .... YES!
Details in the proposal here:
https://www.portofsandiego.org/commercial-fisheries/documents/real-estat...
Check out page 35 - the "site plan" and item 27 thereon ...
Also, see page 38 & 39, plus the letter of support on page 67
Anyone else hearing the rumor about a location in SE Qld?
wingnut 2443 wins first ride at the Wave Pool.
Sept 2019 WSL announce Kelly's Coolum Wave Ranch SEQ
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2019/09/27/sunshine-coas...
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2019/10/03/notes-the-coo...
Dancing with Sea Wolves...howling at the Moon on the Electric Wave.
VIP She Devils Coco / Leah / Steph ...surfin' with the pack.
https://www.audi.com/en/experience-audi/mobility-and-trends/e-mobility/e...