Bigger than Melbourne's Urbnsurf, less crowds
etc.
Switzerland came twenty-third out of fifty-four teams in
the ISA World Games in 2019. Great Britain was 20th,
Philippines 21st, the Netherlands were 22nd.
Just below Switzerland were Ecuador, Barbados, Ireland, Fiji and
Morocco.
Not a bad result then, for a nation without a coastline.
However, in the time of wave tanks, they have decided to build
their own piece of coast.
Sion, in Valais, is a sunny
little town nestled in the foot of the Alps. It is
well-known as the area in Switzerland that receives the most
sunlight annually. It is at the foot of famous ski resorts like
Zermatt and Chamonix and does have quite wonderful views.
In Sion, Alaïa Bay is soon to turn on engines and
make some waves for visitors and
locals.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CLXCg9-KroH/
Alaïa Bay founder, Adam Bonvin, is a twenty-five-year-old
surfer, who had the idea of building a wave pool in Switzerland
when he was 18-years-old and traveling.
“I have always loved snowboarding, but when I discovered surfing
I was hooked,” said Bonvin on his motivation behind building the
Alaïa Bay facility. “The idea for the Alaïa Bay pool actually came
to me after a surf trip to Hossegor in France.”
There has been much planning, as well as dealing with all the
COVID details and protocols, but all is set for the grand opening
in April.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKjZMeMKHIh/
The Alaïa Bay management opened up tickets for pre-0pening
sessions, and they were offered in various packages and at
different prices. Those pre-op tickets valid for the pre-opening
period were immediately sold out.
There are two main payment structures: pay per session or join
the Alpine Surf Club, pay a premium, and receive extra sessions and
reduced rates. The Alpine Surf Club offers several membership
options, much like the Gold memberships at Melbourne.
A big diff with Melbourne’s UrbnSurf is the number of surfers in
the water. An expert session in Switzerland will consist of
eight surfers on the left and right on the right, with a wave count
of about twelve waves in the session.
The advanced sessions will consist of eleven surfers per side,
and about thirteen waves per session.
In Melbourne, the numbers are eighteen and twelve.
Your wave count will be above ten rides for a fifty-five-minute
session. That’s a wave every five minutes.
In today’s crowds, some people would be ecstatic with that wave
count.
The Wavegarden Cove set up is modular, and the number of
modules, which is the number of motors, effects the length and
quality of ride.
The waves at Alaïa Bay, set up with forty-six motors, are going
to be that much better than the Melbourne Urbnsurf facility, with a
slightly smaller pool size translating into slightly bigger, and
more powerful waves.
How cold is the joint going to get? Everyone asks about
the water temperatures.
For a location like Sion to have good snowboarding and ski
locations twenty minutes away, the temperatures will drop through
the middle of winter.
Still, good rubber and warm facilities will see any stoked
surfer through the coldest patch. We all know that wetsuit
quality and tech are excellent. Surfers are getting barrelled in
Iceland, Norway, Kamchatka and Scotland.
In the height of summer, there are about sixteen hours of
sunlight in Sion, the air temps get into the high thirties
(nineties Fahrenheit) with all sorts of heat-wave warnings
and advice, like ‘stay indoors’ and ‘stay hydrated’ etc.
Surfers however, will use any sort of heatwave excuse to disrobe
and surf in boardshorts and bikinis.
So there is that.