Retraction: Pools not better than travel!

Why travel when you can get crummy winds and brain-eating bugs in a pool?

A few months back I wrote you a letter citing “picturesque but unmakable runners,” “GI parasites” and “unfavorable wind” as things that I would seek refuge from during a future trip to NLand surf park. 

I regret to inform you that you may need to issue a formal retraction as the three elements cited above appear to, or will at some point, exist at this location in its current form.

You’ve done a great job of shedding light on the inheriting health risks of a large, mostly stagnant, body of fresh water languishing in the Texas sun. So much for parasite free.

Equally concerning is the photo in their consolation email. The ribby waist-high dribbler isn’t quite the “perfectly shaped six foot” prince that was promised. The picture also opens up an entirely different Pandora’s box: the wind.

An uncle once said, and who knows if this is correct, that winds near the coast are predictable because the ocean is a more stable temperature than the land. In the absence of a strong weather system, mornings and evenings are usually offshore because the water is warmer than the nearby land. This causes the warm air above the sea to rise (hot air rises) and it is replaced by gas that has cooled off above the relatively cold solid ground. The result is a joyous offshore flow. The same phenomenon causes a mid-day seabreeze after the sun has warmed land to be hotter than the water.

Unfortunately for NLand, or any pool far from the sea, it would seem that their wind regime would be whatever it is in that area. Some .gov site (so you know it’s legit) says that in Austin “Prevailing winds are southerly. However, in winter, northerly winds are about as frequent as those from the south.” 

Google maps seems to suggest that they’ve taken this into consideration as the plow thingy is oriented from northish to southish:

But as we know, Wavegarden works in both directions to achieve its wave “every 60 seconds” promise.

I can hear the coaches now: Would you prefer the offshore forehand with a crumby backhand and giardia on the side, or the onshore frontside and hung-up backside with the brain-eating amoeba?

Both are great!