Jordy Smith: “The best of both worlds!”

Does Surf Snowdonia offer something Kelly's Wave Ranch does not?

As dutifully reported here last night, current Jeep Yellow Jersey Leaderboard Leader Jordy Smith surfed in Snowdonia and, from the looks of it, did not have fun. But looks can be deceiving. One man’s mash is another man’s banger as they say so let’s go straight to the Big South African for his unsullied accounting:

The surf has been quite small in California so it was good to ride several waves in a short period of time. The wave is very different to waves in the ocean but it does offer a few fun sections to do some turns.

It’s a pretty crazy place to be honest. I look around and it’s just surrounded by mountains and lots of greenery which is beautiful.

I’m excited to be part of a time when artificial wave lagoons are launching across the world.

The technology is continually improving and this is just the beginning. The wave has been really fun.

They’ve been running it at 90 second intervals, so you can really get a lot of reps which is something rare which you don’t get in the ocean.

You don’t usually get the opportunity to ride that many waves on such a consistent basis, and so yes obviously with the wind swirling around we’ve had some onshore conditions, some offshore conditions. So yeah, the best of both worlds.

A ringing endorsement! And, as teased in the subhead, yes Surf Snowdonia does appear to have something that Kelly’s lagoon does not. Beautiful surroundings. A pastoral dream so complete that I would imagine Lord Byron himself would prefer the Wave Garden over the Wave Ranch.

Poets, by all rights, should turn their noses up at the stink coming from Central California and instead craft their sonnets underneath fair Wales’ stony sky.