The arrival of the perfect wave – in an artificial lagoon, for a fee – has the potential to revolutionise the sport. But it’s also the antithesis of what surfing has, for many, always been about.
as "fabulously bad". The problem involved both economics and physics: it’s easy to make fake snow or to mould an indoor climbing centre, but getting water to behave the way you want is by an order of magnitude more difficult.
Slater has said that wave pools like his will take surfing mainstream, democratising a sport that has only ever been available, by and large, to those lucky enough to live on the coast. But this seems disingenuous. Surfing is already fairly democratic: it doesn’t require large-scale infrastructure – no football grounds or cricket pitches. Surfers don’t have to join a club, and there is no entry fee. As Jennings points out, "All you need is a board and pair of boardshorts.
“Many of the coaches were saying that they were able to achieve as much in three days’ training in the wave pool as they would have done in six months in the ocean.”Advertisement To surfers raised on sausage rolls and strawberry milkshakes, this can all seem rather bizarre. But it’s only the beginning. Urbnsurf plans to open another wave pool, at Sydney Olympic Park, in Homebush, by next year. And Kelly Slater has announced his intention to build a $1.1-billion surf resort in Coolum, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, his first such facility outside the US.
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