Local council says yes! Build a tank!
A few days ago,Wavegarden released a photo of their rebooted tank called The Cove. The tightly cropped image features a man bent double and squished into a one-foot tube.
“This surfer is Spaniard Hodei Collazo – he’s six foot tall / 180cm just to put the barrel into context!” reads the press release.
If the photo was meant to make us all drunk on visions of their new pool and gently threaten the superiority of the as yet critically unexamined Slater tank it failed.
An email-interview with Andrew Ross, the Australian investor who has a noble plan to seed his home country with ten Wavegardens was further comedy.
“I had 65 waves in about an hour with a few other guys – was hard to walk afterwards,” Ross told Surfing Life. “One of the wave types includes a true barrelling wave, with a trough and a concave shape, that means the wave wraps back at you like a point break. This is different to the current wave foil tech where the wave is somewhat convex shaped, in that it bends back away from you as it breaks. I surfed the new full-scale ‘Cove’ in December, and it is awesome!”
But what Wavegarden has got that the Slater and the as-yet-to-be-built Webber pools don’t (although expect a large-ish announcement in a fortnight, Webber tells me), is real-life testing. In Wales and in Texas.
Of course, the results haven’t been entirely pretty. Wales closed for a one-million-and-a-half dollar reboot and Texas has been shuttered for more than six months.
It’d be churlish to be too hard on the technology, I think. At least it’s out there. It’s happening. And who doesn’t want a pool to shred on?
And, now, it appears the Wavegarden in the Perth suburb of Melville is a step closer after the local council approved a ground lease for a slice of Tompkins Park.
Whatever you think of pools, this’ll add a little something to a park that butts up against a shallow slice of the Swan River and, right now, has a lawn bowls club and a couple of shitty houses on it.
The pool, if it gets built, and the ifs are plenty, you’ll be able to surf against the backdrop of a setting sun and the surprisingly muscular Perth skyline.
And Perth, which is in the shadow of offshore islands and never gets waves of any real value, needs a tank. If it barrels, nice, if it don’t, it doesn’t matter.
I grew up in the joint. I know.
The poor bastards are dying for this.
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going not gone; best thing is if they get in early they can take a cup full of the pool back with em for a speed free piss test
I love how they never put in the pulley thingy in the promo shots – just an A frame!
The great thing is they are all trying. So I guess they cant be bagged too hard. At some point they going to get right and is going to be awesome. I will line up to surf for sure!!
The only thing I cant see yet is how new wavegarden works as sled could not run thru middle pool. Must be 2 sleds or a different mechanism
Derek is adding a skill to surf journalism. Excessive use of the explanation mark!!
I believe the elementary surf journalism course (age 10 standard) would frown upon such hype but in a game littered with claims, it progressive and applicable and endorsed by Derek then must be good.
So check list as follows:
1. Drop names as often as possible
2. List surf breaks you surf that sound awesome – Cloudbreak, Sunset, Backdoor etc
3. Highlight that you surf bigger waves than girls.
4. Wear T/Shirts that brand you as a real surfy guy
5. Push explanation marks in your stories, especially headlines
6. Provide content for Free…
He’s been writing the same way for a long time. It’s called his “voice” and has a proven track record (Stab, etc.). I must admit, it was a bit weird to hear his actual voice in that little girl video (I imagined it being a lot higher pitched) but his writing is high quality and his style sells shit. I’m so tired of internet commenters talking shit about writing quality. Write something yourself and get it published if you wanna change the game or at least add something to the discussion.
Amen.
Hell NO! I haven’t done the elementary school course and I can’t surf the gnarly breaks like these guys – chicks are usually also surfing when I’m in the water and I’m not certain I’m a surfer because a guy called me a gut slider when he dropped in on me the other day at Froggies (does Froggies count as a gnarly break?).
For continal crimes against sound commentary, relentless broken record dullness and bringing the overall tone of BeachGrit down. I sentence you to one month on the blacklist.
i think you should leave him be Neg, he is a soothing voice.
He just doesn’t seem to get it… This is also why I offered you a mod badge… live debate on censorship and moderation!! you couldve just overturned my ruling. And that’s exactly what I want BeachGrit’s commentary to be… evolving ethics and healthy debate!
Personally, I much prefer the interrobang over excessive exclamations. I’m yet to use am explanation mark though. Could you please describe it for me?
Sorry for biting your style Lizzie. Didn’t scroll down far enough to see your similar (and probably better, if we’re being honest) comment.
Since there’s no way anyone correcting/critiquing a writer’s grammar via comment box could make an error of any sort, I’m just gonna go ahead and assume that “explanation mark” is Australian for “exclamation point.”
Lame