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1513
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8/20/2006
Location
Ventura/LA County, CA
US
Edited Date/Time
9/21/2017 8:50am
not sure how many surfers are on here but, MX and MTB aren't the only ones getting rattled by new technology in the form of Alta's and e-bikes. Wave pools are nothing new but the technology to make a decent ridable wave has been steadily growing and with energy advancements it's now economically viable too. Kelly Slater has been working on this wave pool technology for years and unveiled it about 2 years ago. Still not open to the public as they have been tweaking it ever since.
the WSL (World Surf League) held a private "contest" there today with the worlds best surfers to test the wave and see how it can be used in a competitive environment.
FYI This wave pool is in the middle of central CA farmland, miles and miles from the coast.
the WSL (World Surf League) held a private "contest" there today with the worlds best surfers to test the wave and see how it can be used in a competitive environment.
FYI This wave pool is in the middle of central CA farmland, miles and miles from the coast.
The Shop
It's almost like hitting ramps vs dirt lips, this wave is very consistent and you take out some variables.
Thats what i was thinking!! what do you think the cost of all this is?
https://youtu.be/UxQqTo2U-7k
*ya i cant sleep and im tripping on this technology
http://nlandsurfpark.com
But while both the Texas and UK wave pools are light years beyond what there was for wave pools before, both waves have definite imperfections. When i surfed NLand it had a totally different feel than "regular" surfing and it was hard to adjust to at first.
Slaters wave meanwhile, is just perfection. Not sure what their future plans for it are but there have been whispers of franchising and opening more that would be open to the public
Kelly and his team had been openly working on the technology for a long time. The company - Kelly Slater Wave Co. has some big time VC $$ people behind it. They weren't messing around. Out of the blue 2 years ago he came out with a video of him surfing it and completely caught the surfing world off guard. It was crazy! Within a few days people managed to track it down haha
http://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2015/12/19/blowing-locat…
The NLand park in Texas was delayed at first because local regulators weren't sure how to govern such a unique concept. Originally they said it had to meet all the same water quality standards as a regular man made pool. Eventually they satisfied the powers that be
Typhoon is still fun but different. It has huge pistons that drop and create a swell. Its a slow mellow waiste high wave. You can choose lefts, rights or peaks. We did 25%L, 25%R, 50% peaks. It takes place after hours and you give them your music to blast concert style while you surf in a 70 plus degree pool. Its pretty dreamlike really. I did it with 4 guys and yoh can have 50 guests. It was about 1500 and a wave came every 90 seconds with a smaller clean up wave trailing for 3 plus hours.
I guess some old guys designed it and surf all night some days.
The NLnad wave goes hourly and I caught about 9 or 10 waves in my hour session. I was just starting to get my groove on it when the session was shutting down. Backside was really hard, the wave was deceivingly fast. They limit the open face wave section to 4 (i think) people on each side of the "pier". The wave pushes out into the lagoon and the whitewater reforms for beginners to surf. Its a much different set up than Kellys wave.
Pit Row
Local surfer here down by you and I want to get out to Nland to surf it soon. I'm assuming I'll need more volume in the pool than the ocean considering it's fresh water? I'm thinking of taking a chunky fish or one of my bigger shortboards with more volume. Maybe a chunky epoxy would be ideal for buoyancy? What did you ride there and what are your normal shortboard dimensions?
My friends just surfed it and the footage they sent me did not look very clean. Either Nland doesn't have a moat to let the surface calm down between waves or it gets very windy out there and creates a lot of chop. If I go out there I would hope to get it as clean as this grom at :30, but I hear that's not very likely?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6z0QHtVRoQ4
My friends who surfed it said the same thing as you, that it's not like ocean surfing and takes an hour to get the hang of it. I feel the same way about river surfing so we'll see how I do out there.
Slater's pool is dialed. He's got a moat system now and they got the wave frequency down to approx 3 minutes between waves for clean conditions. Being that these pools take millions to build they are going to need some other serious attractions to make it pencil out. I don't see how NLand will be making money anytime soon even with all those people riding the white water. The Coors family invested what, 30 million or something ridiculous to build this? It seems they need to hold large scale events/concerts, alcohol, great food, and many other attractions to make it work. It's not like a ski resort when you have hundreds of people on the mountain at once. They'll figure it out soon, and then surfing will be changed forever with landlocked surfers all over the world.
https://vimeo.com/225408
Hmmm, I don't know why this link isn't working but go to vimeo and cut/paste this into the search field:
The Floating Platform for Surfers (Surfing Dock, Volcom, Candock and Stab)
You will see a 3min video with a floating dock in the surf. If anyone else can embed it please do.
Are you bringing your own board or renting one? They have a full selection of Merrick's, Lost, Rusty and other top brands. I think it's only an extra $25 to rent a board? I chose a Lost V3 Rocket in my usual dims (i'm 6'3" 190 and usually ride in the 34L range for volume), I wish i had gone with a more forgiving and predictable fish type of board. It would have made the learning curve much easier. Going up on volume isn't a bad idea either. Best way I can describe the feeling of the NLand wave is more like wake surfing, where there is a small center of energy and you need to stay in that pocket. If you get caught behind you're done and the wave immediately spits you out into the channel, same if you get too low. Back to back waves I drew out too long of a bottom turn with visions of smacking the lip and busting the fins out, only to bog and lose speed when i got too low and out of the trough of the wave, out of the "energy pocket". The wave is much faster than it appears so plan on popping up quickly and getting your first pump in to get you out ahead of the curl. If you notice footage of people surfing the wave well, they are constantly engaging the inside rail and pumping for speed.
as far as the conditions, if you can go in the morning I would suggest that. I follow NLand on Instagram and they post photos in the morning and just like surfing, it looks glassy and super inviting. Afternoons the winds can definitely pick up. Its about 15 min outside of Austin in the middle of nowhere so any little wind goes unobstructed to the water surface.
any other questions, let me know!
I will definitely go in the morning during the week in hopes of sheet glass and no crowds. Thanks again!
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