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The Inertia

Back in 2011, when wave pools still felt like the flying cars of surfing, Owen Wright was one of the first people to test Wavegarden’s original prototype. At the time, their system used a foil to create a small, peeling wave that would break every three to five minutes. Needless to say, the entire industry and its technology has changed just a little bit in the nearly eight years since.

Take, for example, the simple volume of waves being pushed out through some pools now compared to that original prototype. In 2011, 20 waves in an hour seemed like voodoo magic if for no other reason than because they were manmade. But Wavegarden’s newest generation of technology claims to be able to make 1,000 waves per-hour. And perhaps more significant to most surfers, those waves now come in all shapes and sizes. And that means barrels if we’re being honest. Because if you’re going to play God and make your own breaking wave why wouldn’t you make sure the thing barrels?

Wright got to make his return to a Wavegarden facility this fall during the CT’s annual pit stop in Europe with Jack Freestone alongside. This time, he surfed The Cove prototype.  According to Wavegarden, they’ll open their first full-size Cove at Melbourne’s Urbnsrf in 2019 and that pool will be five times bigger than the test facility here.

Anybody else already dreaming of the day those manmade barrels are also five times bigger?

 
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