Wave Pool Mag

Ander Wynne-Edwards is the Director of Operations at Endless Surf. He’s worked for Whitewater West for the past two decades building and commissioning large-scale wave pools – pneumatic wave pools in particular. In this episode, he walks us through everything that goes on in the time between a project breaking ground and rolling out the first set of waves. Ander also divulges what kind of things make a job go smoothly and conversely, some of those challenges posed in this unique project niche.

What is the premiere surf platform's take on wave pools? In this episode, we gather insight into the wave pool scene from the editor-in-chief at STAB Brendan Buckley. While we normally talk to wave makers and doers, Buck’s contribution to the wave pool discourse is on the culture, that unique confluence of salt and pool water. We hit on how ocean surfing is already changing due to the availability of wave pools as well as touching on points where the romance between the two is thwarted.

Blake Hess, a surf park manager, shares his experiences running and managing surf parks. He talks about the challenges and triumphs of the early days of inland surf parks in America. The podcast also mentions Lewis Hamilton learning to surf in a wave pool and the positive impact of staff sessions. Hess discusses Beach Street Development's role in creating man-made surf resorts and highlights their projects in Houston and Palm Desert. The revenue drivers for wave pool projects, including the main wave, secondary wave, and food, are also discussed.

Dr. Jess Ponting joins us to touch on several projects and points including Stoke Certification, Surf Park Summit, the new Consumer Trends Report and more.But the heart of the convo comes during his big-picture view of surfing. “People aren't used to thinking about a surf park as a legitimate recreation facility in a community," he says. "And there's, you know, a certain cultural cringe about the frivolity of surfing and how could we possibly allocate resources to something as frivolous as surfing? And the answer is because surfing is really good for people and it can be a real economic driver for communities and it doesn't have to be a drain on environmental resources.”

Skip Taylor is the guy we call when we’re stumped as he is one of the few veterans working the nascent wave pool landscape. This industry being what it is, he’s up to his elbows in NDAs so getting him to spill is basically impossible. That said, Zooms with Mr. Taylor are like a perpetual cocktail hour where the conversation is easy, funny and punctuated with sharp insights. We always emerge with more knowledge and insight. In this episode Skip spills the beans on a few off-radar topics, dives into some gory specifics and delivers on his latest project, The Lineup at Wai Kai.

Brad Gerlach held down a very successful pro career during the ASP’s 3-to-the-beach era, finishing ranked at #2 in 1991. He then went on to pursue big wave riding, winning an XXL award in 2005. At some point, Brad merged martial arts and surfing fundamentals in a new training regimen called Wave Ki. In a nutshell, it’s practicing movements on land over and over again until those motions become engrained in your memory. Then, when you surf, you tap into this databank of movements without really thinking about it. We wanted to learn more about how this dry-land training can help surfers improve their wave pool game.

In this episode we speak with Julie Kline of EpicSurf whose goal is to bring the benefits of sliding along a wave to everyone. The deepwater standing wave revolution will allow more waves in more places than ever before, bringing surfing to people who ordinarily might not have the chance to become surfers.

In Rip Curl’s Search campaign, we are teased with images of empty lineups from far-off, exotic locations. So how does a company that built its core messaging on the nearly unattainable aspect of surfing, align itself with surfing in wave pools? In this episode, we speak with Angus Forrest, marketing manager for Rip Curl Australia and New Zealand, and discover how it’s really not that much of a stretch. During the discussion, we learn why Rip Curl identified surf parks as the next growth step for the company. We also get a sneak peek at how their tech gear will adapt and evolve in wavepools worldwide.

Brandon Lowery, interim CEO of USA Surfing, discusses how wave pools can benefit the American surfing team. He shares his collaboration with wave pool legend Greg Webber, explores the benefits of surf pools in the industry, and discusses their global growth and future potential.

While we’ve been watching the surf industry shrink since 2008 – it’s never quite come back to where it was – we’ve also been watching the wave pool space accelerate with nothing but limitless possibilities. In this episode we learn how Billabong and other surf brands are courting the wave pool space. Evan Slater, VP of Marketing at Billabong, shares his insight into the complexity of branding in the surf park space and why “there’s more to it than just getting as many people as possible to stand-up on surfboards.”