Brutal.
It seems like forever since the world’s greatest surfer Kelly Slater stole poor little Adriano de Souza’s thunder and revealed the future of surfing. His perfect manmade barrel, peeling and reeling on demand, man in tower pushing button and materializing. Our collective jaws dropped, knowing that it would be only a matter of time until the prototype, in Lemoore, would be reproduced in many better places like Palm Springs, Miami, Oklahoma City, etc.
Except zero have been built.
Oh, the dream ain’t dead, tanks are popping up here and there but no not one utilizing Slater’s patented plow.
And now, in a vicious slap upside the head, it has been announced that Mark Occhilupo’s Surf Lake is set be built in Texas.
Surf Lakes is coming to Austin, Texas. Staying true to the old saying ‘everything is bigger in Texas’; this freshly inked project is set to be the biggest surf park development on the planet.
With a 12-acre Surf Lake at its centre, surrounded by sandy beach, boardwalks, restaurants, hotels, retail shopping and residency, the 400 acre ‘Pura Vida’ high adventure community will be located just south of Austin’s international airport, 20 minutes from downtown, and 15 minutes from the new $10 billion Tesla Gigafactory, (which will employ 20,000 people).
With the land secured, along with zoning, water, and wastewater entitlements, ground-breaking could be as early as mid-2023. With a Capex of roughly $1.3 billion, Pura Vida is on track to be the largest integrated wave pool development in the world.
The land was purchased by local developers seeking to position a Surf Lake as the centrepiece of their high adventure, mixed-use retail and residential community. In addition to the Surf Lakes centrepiece, other high adventure additions will soon be announced for the Pura Vida community.
Could there be any better fit for a Surf Ranch than Texas?
Imagine the gorgeous cosplay available to World Surf League CEO Erik Logan. Where do you think “cowboy” ranks on the list of his childhood dreams?
More as the story develops.