"Doesn’t matter your level, if there’s one thing we all want out of a session, it’s to get better."
Post-pandemic, surfing has become thoroughly littered with new horrors. An exploding shark population, completely oblivious VAL hordes clogging every lineup, Instagram surf influencers sharing their “wisdom” etc. etc. etc. Oh I could go on all day and thought we had reached peak horror with the western adoption of mini-sawhorses for surfboards but just read about something straight out of nightmares.
Wavegarden, you see, is unveiling new big screens at its pools so that a surfer can see his or her just-completed ride in booming hi-def whilst paddling back out to the take-off spot.
Surf Park Central reports:
While paddling back, surfers see:
- Instant replay of the latest set, your own wave seconds after you rode it
- Countdown to the next wave
- Wave type and take-off point
- Sets left in the session and waves left in the current set
It’s a closed-loop training system inside the lagoon. Ride a wave, watch your footage on the spot, adjust your technique, and drop into the next wave with a fresh focus. No leaving the lagoon, no begging friends to film, and no waiting until the session is over to see how you did.
Wavegarden founder and CEO Josema Odriozola declared, “We’re all about finding ways to help surfers progress. Doesn’t matter your level, if there’s one thing we all want out of a session, it’s to get better. With these new screens right at the take-off zone, you see exactly what to adjust, and you can put it into practice on your very next wave. That’s next level.”
Surfers who fall below the “upper-intermediate” line all know that nothing whips up personal crisis like watching footage of oneself surfing. It is ill-advised almost always but would be completely insane mid-session.
I’d imagine much self-harm will result and I hope Wavegarden is staffing up with counselors, especially who specialize in grief trauma therapy.
Big yikes.