Wave Pool Mag

Mark has built a brand around making waves. It's called https://www.waveprizm.com/ , however he is not about to compete with the major players at this stage. In this long conversation Mark recounts how his life led up to his current experimentation with wave machines and discusses his claim that he can make bigger waves that are currently on the market.It's a long chat, that gets very technical in places and some great stories are told in others. I'd love to hear your opinion, but podcasts don't really have a space for comments :(Keep listening, this episode was late due to some technical glitches but we'll be back with Scott Bass this Thursday!

We have an amazing page on our website over on www.wavepoolmag.com called the surf planner. It details all the projects in the space that we've written about and there are potentially quite a few others under wraps. In this chat Bryan and I head through all the projects we're aware of and proceed from the point of view of the companies who provide the technology:Kelly Slater Wave Co.WavegardenAmerican Wave MachinesSurf LakesSurf LochWhite WaterWe also mention the other smaller companies like: Wave Prizm, Swellspot, Swell MFG, Wave SEG, Ola wave pool, Webber Pools, Okahina. Additionally we discuss sheet waves vs RAPID waves (TM - just kidding) and the companies involved in that space. It's the perfect primer on wave pools for 2021!

Andrew Thatcher grew up surfing in the warm waters off Durban, South Africa and came to live in my home town, much further south before leaving for the USA back in 2000.The happiest coincidence occurred when a family connection to Tom Lochtefeld landed him a job at the legendary wave maker's Surf Loch and Wave Loch company. Tom had created the Flowrider and Andrew helped to spread the piece of joy all around the world. Flowriders are in a wide range of places, from cruise liners, to restaurants, to water parks and as stand alone venues. We talk a lot about Endless Surf, White Water's "new" product. It's essentially not new as they have been making waves for over 30 years when they built Typhoon Lagoon in Disney World and more than 400 other pools around the world.It's a fascinating company, with equally absorbing products. You'll enjoy this one.Cheers,Nick

Ryder Thomas is a fun, engaging character, and while he was sitting in a cold grey day in New York, I jumped on a call with him from my base down here in Portugal.We had a long and super interesting conversation all about the inception story of his company Pegasus Lodges, his relation to the Paris wave pool project and then his project down in the Caribbean at Punta Cana. Get this, it has not one but TWO pools to surf.We talk about how Swell International evolved out of this and another exciting project which is going down in the Azores, Portugal. Listen up, it's a good one!-Nick

Adam Bonvin had a dream a long time ago and worked diligently to create it. His story is an inspiring one, where someone with a completely different background to that of a big time property developer and armed with a passion for the sport envisaged a completely new tourism offer. He is on the road to opening that dream in April 2021 and not even Covid can stop him! Good luck for the launch Adam, it was very motivating to hear your story.Nick

Rupert Hill set up "Surf Simply" from scratch over in Costa Rica. He has made a remarkable success of it, going from zero to hero in over 10 years. It's been a long hard slog but he is on top of his game now, offering surf weeks for over $6,000 per person and boasting a two year waiting list. That's an incredible achievement. Well done, Surf Simply! Nick picks Ru's brain about surfing and how the coaching aspects changes when you eliminate nature's whims from the equation. Learning to surf and improving your surfing in a pool becomes a whole lot more effective... or does it? What do you think?

Matt Gunn became disillusioned with the total lack of waves after moving out to Arizona from his native California. Being starved of surf certainly drives you crazy, but would you be crazy enough to build a wave machine AND a wave park? Matt's certainly not crazy, but he's really committed in a quiet, dedicated kind of way. Backed by a big hitters like Shane Beschen and others... well, he's bound to succeed!Good luck, Matt, it was good fun chatting to you and I'll see you at the launch!Nick

The Paris project has been a fascinating combination of public and private co-operation and Baptiste has been working as a consultant in the thick of all the agencies working hard on the project. The promise of perfect machine made waves in the middle of a large capital city hasn't been realized yet - will Paris be the first to market? These large undertakings are notoriously riddled with problems, let's get under the skin of this one with Baptiste.Interestingly "Le Vague Grand Paris" has chosen their wave technology and after initially working with one of the leaders in the industry, they switched to a newcomer. We discuss how that went down.Thanks for listening to www.wavepoolmag.com/podcast !We'll be back in two weeks,Nick

We discuss Skips background, the wave pool industry as a whole and how he started Surf Park management. Probably the best story was when he flew down to some country in Central Americat to the location of a proposed surf park and was shocked to find a sex store and a gun shop neighbouring the property. Location is pretty important! We dig into his Turtle Bay Hotel project on the North Shore of Hawaii after he did the turnaround there: ramping up mountain biking trails, helping Hans Hedeman to uplift his surf school, he brought in the APP Stand Up world tour, created restaurants and bar venues with lifestyle programming. His business partner, Kate and him met and then went to the 2017 Snowdonia Surf Park Summit. They presented their new concept of 3rd party management and consulting within wave pools and it was well received by the industry. We also discuss:Coral Mountain with Kelly's Wave and private residential projectsSurf training and a fully enhanced progression program.A deep insight into the wave park creation process and a how to for people who want to get into the space and who to call. Diversity of new technologies that are coming in to the market: wave in your backyard...

In 2014 Berlin was set to plant a Wavegarden Lagoon plow system at an old airstrip outside of town. When the plan was axed by the local council Eirik Randow got all frothy and took it upon himself to do something. In 2016 he kicked off a program to bring the new Wavegarden Cove technology to Berlin. “In the beginning of projects like that you don’t have a very good understanding of what you’re getting into,” he tells us. Find out how the phrase “When in doubt, paddle out” has kept him redlining these past four years on a project with many unknowns. Nick Robinson finds out what it will ultimately take to bring waves to Berlin.