Surf Lakes promises six-foot tubes! Building proto at "secret location"!
Soon, and by soon I mean maybe, possibly, within the next two years, Australia will have its first commercial wave pool.
The first tank will be a litmus test of whether or not spending twenty million dollars on a wave park is a brave, or very dumb, biz decision. I’ve seen the fiscal projections for one of ’em, claims of five thousand or so surfers a day, and they do appear, to my eyes, wildly optimistic. But maybe I’m jaundiced after launching a string of failed businesses (note to readers: don’t buy into boats).
Am I wrong? Plenty of bankers and so forth think so.
Because it’s a wave pool gold rush out there. First Wavegarden got its tanks in Texas and Wales, to limited success, then Kelly stunned the world and then Wavegarden Mach II rebooted and turned its little burgers into a little tube.
Rounding it all out are American Wave Pools and the German City Wave.
Today, a Queensland company called Surf Lakes announced it had hired the 1999 world camp Mark Occhilupo to be the face of their tank. The company says they’re building a prototype at a “secret location”.
Surf Lakes hopes to license the technology around the world to theme parks and resorts and property developers. If all goes to plan, a full-scale recreational surf park will open in Queensland by the end of 2017, complete with eight different waves.
One of them, a barrelling left-hander that will be 2.4 metres face height and run for about 60 metres, will be called “Occy’s Peak”
The demo facility will have the same water volume of approximately 20 Olympic swimming pools, Surf Lakes founder and CEO Aaron Trevis said, with the ultimate goal of the concept to make surfing more accessible, especially for those who don’t have access to the ocean or waves.
“99.5 per cent of the world’s population have never surfed, which is why we believe there is a significant opportunity for the Surf Lakes technology,” Trevis said.
Do you like statistics? Oh I do. If 0.5 per cent of the world’s population surfs, that means there’s 35 million surfers out there.
Ooowee, do you think investors will believe it? Or will they do a little Google and come up with a figure more like two-and-a-half mill?
Whatever, tanks are the sort of businesses that appeal to bankers who’ve made their money already, dig to surf, are entranced by the magic of wave pools (and they are magic, god yes, wonderful things, even the worst of ’em) and want to combine it all into the one fabulous lifestyle business.
Two years ago, Wave Park Group CEO Andrew Ross revealed his 10-year plan to dot Australia with 10 Wavegardens. Melbourne, Sydney, Perth, all on the drawing board and so close to realisation you can smell the chlorine, he says.
Oh it’s Bearish!
(Here’s a GIPHY of the Surf Lakes proto. Multiple that into a six-footer and I doubt any of us will be getting to our feet before being shovelled into the vinyl reef.)
Ye of little faith…
Just gonna throw this out there, ever notice how when a new skate park is built it’s really popular at first? Then over a period of maybe a couple of years it becomes less and less popular until slipping into somewhat obscurity, only to be used by local scooter kiddies and the odd local hardened skater?
That being said, we could use a few here in Perth
I love him. He takes more shit than a toilet at Woodstock, and despite this, he keeps fighting for surfers’ rights to keep both legs.
Can’t wait to see the face of the next dude in line when some rich kook snakes down the express lane with Fast Pass like they have at Disney. Too bad he’ll have to catch up with me at the end of the pool.
wavepools are a Dubai-only proposition
Bernie Madoff approved!
What’s next after the arse falls out of this shit and olympic surfing flops?
now?
Notice three dudes in one of the frames of the GIF/video of the wave?
Any geek around to extract it for us?
Sorry. London’s Mom is crazy busy around this time of year.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
Who are these lost souls? They all look THRILLED.
Occy is off dreaming about the dump he took just before the meeting started.
C’mon Derek – I gave you the heads up on this yesterday pal!!!
But if Occys behind this and they drinking a shitload of energy drinks then it will be open in 3-4 weeks I reckon
When that little wave in the video breaks, check out the big droplets of water it throws onto the wave face and the flats. Hope they can fix that design flaw in a hurry…
I’ll believe the 6 foot tube when I see it. For now, all the wave pools produce waist high burgers. Not only does the wave suck, but you have to pay to surf it. But then again, dudes pay to fuck toothless chicks with dicks, so there is a glimmer of hope for these wave pool things!
Hmm a brothel added to the wave pool along w/ the shopping mall and bar. The possibilities are endless. Investors take note.
Wow Derek, pretty sure that Transworld Biz article you linked to was written by everyone’s pal Zach over at the local Venice-adjacent. And I quote:
“To play devil’s advocate, it is the fringe enthusiasts— those who
perhaps only surf once in a great while, but more frequently are found
hiking, biking, camping, etc.—that could offer a boost to overall sales
and participation if addressed in authentic ways by marketing
strategies. Also of importance to point out: those who surf aren’t
really defining themselves as “surfers” anymore. Most millenials and Gen
Z don’t define themselves by just one sport or lifestyle”.
I surf/hike/bike/camp/SUP/snowboard/climb, therefore I am : Rene Billycartes
yeah, but the problem is those dabblers have moved onto the next hobby before the wave tub is paid off.
Especially when they experience the hours of humiliation, frustration and ego castration to get anywhere near a competent level.
yup, the real problem with popularizing the sport, the essentially flat learning curve for the first two to four years
two to four years. try ten haha
didn’t want to hamper the investment into wavepools and Wavestorms
I think those years probably have the greatest curve with it flattening off after you’ve learned to do a decent bottom turn. Anything after that is hard. If one doesn’t learn a proper bottom turn on a proper sized board in those years then learning essentially ceases and you begin to listen to more reggae.
haaaaah, yeah. if you never get that back foot behind the front set of fins, not much good can happen from there.
Dabblers are on both sides as far as most potential users and the investors. And these wave pools are so good for the environment, sarcasm. Over the years certain entities in the industry have been pushing their half hearted environmental consciousness as a reason to buy their products. Now they are involved in the business of wave pools. You don’t have to build the ocean by pouring concrete or use all kinds of other materials for lining, wiring, girding, fencing and so on. And in the ocean you don’t have to create energy for waves. Maybe there’s room for solar and wind but those still have a huge impact on the Earth. Stewards of the environment my ass. Those guys suck. Can’t wait to go, not sarcasm.
“I sup therefore I am” -Rene Deskook
This quote of yours begs deep cerebral-structure-taxing ponderance…..I ponder: does Zach take responsibility for an entire Generation’s (Z) short-comings?
Cause if he does, that shit is definitely not genuine.
There are many surfers, who don’t define themselves as surfers, that I would definitely not define as surfers
I recall a particularly shitty employer that I told, upon being asked how I was, said I was feeling great. Had a great dawn surf thanks. Excitedly, he replied he too surfed, paddling his SUP in the canals outside his estate home when he could
Sabotage became my new KPI at that small business
End of 2017? Like 6 months away?
Where’s the location, DA, approvals, etc etc etc………that should all be part of the public register if they want that thing built and open in 6 months.
This smells worse than the bag of pilchards i left in the parking inspectors nifty little electric car. Yeah, prove it cunt.
I was a wave pool cynic until I saw that Wayne Dart, former Tracks editor, is on the Surf Lake Executive Management Team as the Minister for Propaganda and Hyberbole. That’s when he isn’t giving massages and happy endings to exhausted corporate slaves in his role as owner of Corporate Wellness Australia. Fer Realz.
Is he as good as ex tracks editor and Chas’s mate Neil ridgeway?
No, Neil rolls with the Rip Curl execs, meaning his wristies can safely be called Industry leaders.
I can’t wait until Webber’s pool comes out… should be any day now…
The Webber wave pool is the cold fusion of surfing.
But when it comes out it will blow our fucking minds.
The Conner-Coffin’s-secret-turn of wave pools!
You know what entrances these people? It’s the idea of getting people to pay for waves. Hands up who’s into that?
Nick if you lived in Perth you might think a little differently.
How many surfers live in Perth? I am totally serious. Are there enough to keep their share of a business with start up financing of around $25 million and numerous ongoing costs ticking over?
Maybe we are underestimating the influence of the Olympics 10 years from now
Maybe we have got no fucking idea what will happen in surfing as a result of the Olympics.
No wait. let me re-phrase that. What’s entrancing here is the idea of getting somebody to pay for the opportunity to sell waves to other people. That’s the mission: build a demo, show it off, then sell licenses to build and operate the things. Whoever buys the license is the one who takes the risk – insurance, maintenance, opportunity cost, and the chance that attendance does not match projections. Meanwhile millions of waves break on beaches all over the place – free. Difficult!
But, well, here’s one thing about Surf Lakes: it’s a chance for wave pool hopefuls to put their money where their talk is. Shares are 10c AUD a pop, minimum investment AUD$20,000. Think about it. Where do you put that twenty grand? SurfStitch?
ponzi scheme 101- sell the future growth projections, cash out and leave the remaining suckers with the steaming bag of hot turd.
That’s how the world turns.
Beachgrit!
get the fucking IPO ready Dell.
hopefully Occ got cash up front, not some licensing/royalty garbage
Not a fucking chance
you are a beacon of reason in an irrational world, Nick Carroll. it is for this I shall always hate/love you.
As I hate and love myself! you drunken harlot.
We need to find Occy an undiscovered Indo barreling left-hander to name “Occy’s Peak” before the end of 2017 so it doesn’t seem so sad that the first break named after Occy is artificial.
Could call it “Occy’s Left” sounds catchy as.
more catchy af than as
I might just make a fool of myself here, and not for the first time, but I always got more turned on watching Occy surf rights than lefts. I know he won Pipe as a kid with some bloody great surfing, but I’d rather watch him surf Bells, J Bay and Sunset, dragging that huge wombat arse on each bottom turn. Anyway, wave pools, the next SurfStitch money losing scheme for the undiscerning chump.
I whole-heartedly concur
Wait, someone was a wombat arse before Jules?
Wombat Arse. Since 1966.