"I was in the barrel going 'You should come out and try and do a turn'", mused Steph, before showing where her priorities lie, "Then I thought, 'Are you kidding me? Who wants to get out of this barrel?'"
By our measure it's a tad over thirty seconds.
A sailing and surf exploration of Tasmania.
The Lifeline Surf Classic is back for its eighth year.
Sid gets inducted into Surfing Australia's Hall Of Fame.
A new column where a surfboard sage, otherwise known as Murray Bourton, answers everything you want to know.
Surfers are on alert as an eight-metre humpback washes onto rocks near Scarborough.
Is surfing just another sport? Have we been deluding ourselves?
Rare showing of 2018 film, plus live music and conversation.
The turnout exceeded all expectations for Merc's paddle out.
Comments
I overheard a conversation in the surf the other day about the KS wave pool that went like this:
person 1: "Wouldn't you get bored surfing the same mechanical wave over and over again"
person 2: "Maybe after 25 years or so..."
The level of surfing we have seen so far from the girls in the pool seems like its on another level Carissa is also ripping in that other vid.
Mental! Looks like they've spent a lot of energy improving the water colour too.
sooooooooo perfect
Unbelievable! Now that we can control conditions almost completely the level of surfing is sure to rise again. They really need to throw some lime in that water though- it will remove all that suspended sediment...
The level of surfing is somewhat irrelevant --if your paddling out--catching waves and having fun--that's all that really counts. Unless of course--your a couch potato surfer....
longer then skeleton bay? naaahhh mate
Don't think I've seen a longer barrel at Skeleton Bay? Benji Brand's effort last year was up there, but when played at normal speed it only clocked in at 20 something seconds from memory.
She only got covered for about 5 seconds tho really. It seems to me like the wave is slightly smaller then Kelly's initial post in December too
exactly, most of this "tube" ride, she wasn't even in it.
I'm already bored to death by this, realise this is a minority position.
I can see where you're coming from but it is still pretty fkn amazing. Wouldn't say no to a golden ticket tho
yeah, why dont they put in some rails and flaming hoops or something? maybe archery targets too. thatd get me interested in artificial wave pools.
Koa Smiths was up there..
Ok. So the wave is awesome. But where does it go from here. Like i wonder what the wave 'recharge' time is? Like surely it needs to be able to pump out waves to make it viable for its cost of operation.
steph is really crouching down there to fit in the barrel, knees and elbows going every which way.
makes me think kelly has made the perfect kneeboarding wave.
I'll bring my surfoplane.
Triple overhead baby!
Who wouldn't want a go :))) !!!!!!????
Is it really gonna be the same? Once again--the whole surf vibe--to a real surfer--is so much more than just riding a wave--its the "freedom" you feel in the real ocean and all the other "good vibes"-- that go with it. -- K. S. is never gonna be able to recreate those.
--And all you guys and girls out there--don't expect an invitation in the mail from Kelly to his so called wave party--it's not gonna happen....
Well Freerider just looking at the faces of Josh Kerr and Steph and even Kelly himself the stoke was obvious.
Sorry dude--I'll stick with the real ocean and the real beach--the whole surf experience--is way more than just riding a wave--the sand--the salt water--the freedom you feel there--the blue on the horizon--the sunsets--and all the other good vibes that go with it--no ones ever going to be able to re-create those.....
Thought we could count on stu or blindboy to ring the voice of reason here..I guess not. I guess more surfers in their eyes---anywhere--even in the desert--is good for business..--Thanks but no thanks--I'll stick with the real thing....
You are totally right FR...
IMO it is about the flow of riding eh?.
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Probably has a sunset and sunrise too tho?
Life is one big journey, sun rises, sun sets!
It's not just a barrel. Have a look at the "It's not right, it's not right video" on vimeo. Like a backwards Macaronis. You can just keep smashing the lip. Is there a left too?
Good to see a "paddle in" in this clip with Steph. Gives a better perspective how that wave breaks. From jetski assist to a golf cart return to the "take off", water settling issue?
Guys, watch the 'first long boarder' one ... right at the end, the shot opens up and you can see all the unsettled water behind the wave. That's going to take more than 30 or 60 seconds to settled. The "commercialisation" of this concept will depend on surfable waves per hour, and with at least (my best guess) 2 mins to settle that water, the "surfable waves per hour" is seriously reduced, so cost to operate per wave goes up significantly too.
That said, I suspect this is purely a "proof of concept". The developers will be flooding them with inquiries. I can see this play out as a 'golf course style' type of deal, where a land developer recoups the cost of building the facility through the surrounding land development, and then sets up a 'membership' style system (to cover the base operating costs) where people living in "the precinct" have priority membership (annual membership fee still payable, but, members get priority access to the venue - but like prestige golf courses where members get first option of tee off times and a number of member only events through out the year). And, just the like golf course, the surf pool will be closed for x number of days per year for 'professional or pro-am' competition, with other days "booked out" by companies for private events (these being limited and designated in the membership deal).
Like I mentioned over on the other wave pool thread, this is just the prototype. All the issues can be ironed out as they progress ie a good baffle system on the "bank" to stop all the "backwash".
I think over the coming years, the wave will get bigger, different sections/bottom profiling, and better "baffles" for constant waves.
The sky's the limit, so to speak, this is just the beginning.
With all the fuss over GW's original design a couple of years ago, there is absolutely zero from him. If he goes ahead, he will need to really step it up to blow people away like this one has.
The difference between GW and KS is that KS happens to have a multi-millionaire backer for his wavepool venture. There would be no return on their investment at this point. They've built an expensive prototype which gives them technical credibility and now they're in the pre-sales phase with free advertising on social media by drip-feeding 60-second clips of elite surfers riding waves while cleverly avoiding the undesirable images of the as yet unresolved technical problems in their improvised waterski lake.
Meanwhile, GW, who has the same technology as KS, and maybe even better, doesn't have a wealthy friend who's willing to stump up the money. We know he has been out trying to sell his concept to commercial organisations but none of them yet can see it as commercially viable. He doesn't have a working prototype, but as he mentioned last December when he was asked about the KS wavepool, now the concept has been proved, he can point to the KS wave pool and say "here's a working model in an improvised pool with a similar wave generator to my pool, however, my technology can produce 2-metre waves, 700 waves per hour etc". Who knows what other advantages his design has to offer: lower energy consumption, less downtime for maintenance or whatever.
I wouldn't write off GW yet; KS has the lead in credibility but not necessarily technology and design, and they are both level pegging on commercial sales at nil all. As many others have already observed, the establishment and operating costs are such that no one is rushing to sign a contract to build one. The commercial leader is Wavegarden. They have runs on the board.
Here's a last thought. Possibly the way to get a lot of paying customers into the pool is design it to generate close outs - the wave generator run down both sides of the pool at the same time. Only swimmers and bodysurfers are allowed in summer. Surfers can come in late autumn and winter for peeling waves.
They could maybe use a wet edge style side. Similar to olympic pools, that the wash could empty into but i means a fair bit more pumping of water and building dramas.
Who you gonna' call ? We can always count on Steph'....never to waste a drop ! Waiter! ... Waiter! My brainwave's a triple helix locked with reverse DNA sequence .... hold the bluebottle kiss. (reserved upon pro slops vintage ) Hooroo!
Footage from above of Stephs tube on KswaveCo insta.