Ok, so this didn’t actually happen. But it’s representative!
When the world’s first successful wave pool opened, it was kind of a big deal. Sure, there have been other wave pools, but none like the strange looking lake in the middle of the countryside. And after three weeks of man-made waves pumping through the shallow lagoon in Conwy Valley in North Wales, the thing is busted. And it wasn’t because Taylor Knox man-hacked too hard.
Yesterday, Surf Snowdonia announced that they’d have to close up shop for an undetermined amount of time.
“We’re really sorry to announce that our surf lagoon will have to close for a number of days, effective immediately,” they wrote on their Facebook. “This unavoidable closure is due to a mechanical fault which became apparent earlier this morning. In order to carry out the necessary repairs our engineers need to drain the lagoon completely. The repair process will take a number of days and we will update you regularly as the situation becomes clearer.”
Drain the lagoon completely, they say! The innermost workings of WaveGarden’s crazy technology, buried beneath that brownish water, seem to have shit the bed. And while it’s not exactly clear what happened, chances are good that most of us wouldn’t understand, anyway.
But you know what? It’s kind of to be expected. It’s the first of its kind, after all. There are bound to be a few kinks that need to be worked out. And for a machine that creates something that in the past only Mother Nature has been able to create, three weeks is actually a pretty decent run… unless, of course, they can’t get it back up and running. Which they will. And then maybe we’ll see those barrels they keep talking about!
