A 10-year-plan to fill the vast continent with
man-made waves…
If you saw the Snowdonia Wavegarden footage that’s been
everywhere, you probably thought, when’s that fun little
burger coming to my part of the world?
I live in Australia (BeachGrit has bureaus in San
Francisco, San Diego, Kauai and Sydney) and got in touch with the
former lawyer and investment banker, Andrew Ross, who bought the
rights to Wavegarden on my piece of turf.
A few questions, none of ’em real hard.
Is Australia getting wave tanks? When? And where?
Andrew Ross, from what I can tell from the one phone call to
Western Australia where he lives and where the company that he set
up, Wave Park Group, is based, is an over-achiever whose giddy list
of achievements, included some kind of interaction with the
billionaire Richard Branson, during a year off he’d taken after
running some of the biggest companies in the country.
This is where Wavegarden kicks in. When he had that year off a
few years ago, it was because he’d just hit 40, had a kid, wanted
to travel, surf and find some kind of inspiration for the next half
of his working life.
At some point, he figured he’d like to have a swing at a
surfing-based biz.
“I’ve never been associated with the surf industry,” he says.
“But I’m a 35-year hardcore surfer, all my mates, we know what
surfing is about, we all go to the Ments each year.”
Ross liked the aroma of the new wave pools that were suddenly
appearing, in theoretical form, everywhere. He’d seen the Webber
pool and got in touch with Greg Webber. Then Kelly Slater’s
“people.” When he was over in Europe, he swung by the Basque
country to surf the Wavegarden lagoon, its proto testing pond.
He got in and, yeah, it one of those moments he says.
Taj Burrow was surfing the right (stars!), he was surfing the
left, he kicked out and told Wavegarden, “I’m writing you a cheque.
This is fucking amazing.”
Ross created the company Wave Park Group, brought in pals with
various complimentary skills, and made a goal to create 10
Australian Wavegardens in 10 years. Ambitious?
Baby, he’s an investment banker. It seems
positively… bearish!
The website, (click here), reeks of corporate-speak,
howevs, which stings the eyes. It’s like one of those forms you get
when a new CEO swings into your company and he wants to know the
company’s mission, it’s vision and values, all those things that
are totally mainlined in the corporate world.
Here’s a taste from the site.
Values
Our Values serve as a compass for our actions.
Innovation and Creativity |
We are leading innovators in the delivery
of man-made surfing experiences |
Service |
We satisfy and delight our
guests |
Authenticity |
We create real surfing waves in a safe
and welcoming environment |
Quality |
What we do, we do well |
Passion and Teamwork |
We are committed to serve our guests in
heart and mind |
Integrity |
We will exhibit fairness and honesty at
all times |
Prosperity |
We will generate wealth by growing an
economically sustainable business |
Whatever, it’s only the meaningless platitudes companies throw
on their sites to fill the obvious gap of not having a product yet.
But maybe soon!
Ross, who’s just been to three cities in three days, says he
doesn’t want to make any premature announcements, ’cause that leads
to disappointment, and he’s right, and won’t until the first site
is secured and the Development Approval has gone through whatever
regional planning authority it’s dealing with.
That said, “we’d be disappointed if we don’t have something to
people within 12 months, potentially quite a bit shorter than
that,” he says.
What interests me, is the parks are going to be owned by Wave
Park.
He ain’t sub-letting the Wavegarden technology.
They’ll buy or lease the site, buy all the Wavegarden pieces
that’ll then be shipped to Australia, it’ll all get put together, a
few months of testing, and away it goes.