"It is exceptionally tone deaf to approve an enormous surf park in Washington City."

Trouble is brewing, again between surfers and everyday folk who like to drink water. But who could forget the last major conflict betwixt the two when it reared its head in greater Palm Springs after residents became enraged at a planned wave tank in the desert town. Coral Mountain was supposed to be a nice community with a hotel, wellness spa and million dollar homes all around a Kelly Slater tank. It would have used less water than a golf course but the optics were not great and the aforementioned angry townspeople shut it right down in a series of hot n heavy city council meetings.

Today, the same battle lines are being drawn except not in the glorious Coachella Valley but Southern Utah instead. For it is there that the world’s largest PerfectSwell tub is currently being dug. Alaia, Hawaiian for “joy,” will feature an 18-acre lake, homes and good vibes.

Except the region is in the midst of a devastating drought. There is enough water to get through this year, according to the Washington County Water Conservancy, but not next if winter ’25/’26 is dry.

Cue bitter burghers.

Council member Troy Bellison, who voted against the project, voiced concerns by declaring, “In light of the ask of the developers, and the need of our future growth, it is exceptionally tone deaf to approve an enormous surf park in Washington City.”

Council member Kurt Ivie, who voted for the project, countered that the cauldron is being built on a farm that has its own brackish wells, saying, “Stucki Farm was a beautiful area where they grew fruit. The owners then sold that to a development group back in 2006, and they got a planned unit development that was approved by the city council at the time. These people have a right to develop, but again, I think the point is, the city, they will never get one drop of city water, period, for this pool. It’s their own water.”

Do you think that argument will win the day or do you think settlers will descend with pitchforks and ire?

Also, why isn’t there a Kelly Slater plow in the Great Salt Lake?

"Teahupo’o is very intimidating where Trestles is not."

The Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee’s decision to host the surfing portion of the ’28 Games at Lower Trestles is still reverberating across the surfing world. Tears in Huntington Beach, inward-looking angst in Lemoore and subtle shade being thrown all the way from Australia.

For it was from a vast real-estate empire on the Gold Coast where three-time world champion Mick Fanning opined on the decision to the Olympics official channel, writing:

Trestles is such a high-performance wave where I feel it suits a lot of different styles of surfing. It’s a very playful wave so you can practically do whatever you want on it. It’s the closest thing to a wave pool. A great peak so no one is at a disadvantage and 9/10, the person surfing the best wins the event. Every wave is very similar so it levels the playing field a lot. Japan is a lucky dip and Tahiti was pure barrels. Trestles is turns and aerials. Teahupo’o is very intimidating where Trestles is not. The challenge here is calming your excitement and picking the best waves as they are much easier to surf than the mediocre ones.

Students of surf history immediately detected the “Teahupo’o is a very intimidating wave” as a direct shot at the timid small-wave master Filipe Toledo’s well-documented terror in Tahiti featuring 0.0 heat totals, floating out the back while two elderly men traded magic tubes etc.

These same students, however, were aware of Fanning’s error. Toledo, of course, vanquished his demons with the single greatest moment in surf history after scoring a 9.67 in his heat.

WOW.

Back to Lowers being compared to a wave pool, though. Is that a good thing?

More as the story devleops.