Let’s be honest, most of these attempts at backyard wave pools are pretty desperate. But can you really blame these poor bastards? For years, people have dreamt of having their own surf wave all to themselves, away from the crowds and the embarrassment of sucking. In their own private backyard. It’s something all seasoned surfers think about (admit it). Even before Kelly’s and Snowdonia and Wavegarden got all exclusive, people wanted in.
The experimentation hasn’t always been pretty….actually, it’s never really been pretty. But these are the 5 best instances we could find on Youtube where people actually worked (often desperately) at creating their own waves, good or bad, starting with the mud-fest, above.
This video below, though, is clearly the winner as farmer Jerry tries to get radical in his homemade Flowrider, built in what literally looks like the barn:
This attempt in Java, Indonesia is actually pretty cute. Looks as though an expat teamed with some locals to build a hand-cranked wave shaper. Kids in the neighborhood were like, ‘awesome, a pool.’:
This guy doesn’t actually build a wave. He just tells you how he would in a really creepy voice:
Then there’s this hilarious skim to tow-at scenario put to music that’ll get you hyped on backyard waves. Unfortunately, he was just a hair late on the acid drop:
