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The Wave is a firm building artificial wave pools for surfing in England. The Wave: Bristol was opened in 2019, on the northern outskirts of the city. A second site, The Wave: London, is planned. [1] [2]
The founder of the project is Nick Hounsfield. [3] The project was named "The Wave: Bristol" in 2012, initially focusing on a site next to the Portway in Bristol, but rejected it as not big enough. [4] A 70-acre (28 ha) site on farmland at Easter Compton was selected in 2013, with the technology generating the artificial waves to be supplied by the Spanish company Wavegarden. [3]
In August 2017, South Gloucestershire Council approved the £20 million scheme, which is designed for sustainability. [5] Besides the wave pool, the scheme will include a natural swimming lake, barefoot trails, foraging areas and gardens of various types - activity, sensory, healing, culinary and herb gardens. [6] Other proposed features include a clubhouse, a surf shop, a ropes and tunnels course and a campsite. The planned dimensions of the pool are 300 metres (980 ft) long by 100 metres (330 ft) wide and 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) deep. [7] The firm plans to host a High-Performance Surfing Centre and surf contests. [8]
In June 2015, it was decided to use the American company Wave Loch's wave generation technology instead of Wavegarden's, requiring the opening date to be put back to 2016. [9] However, as of May 2017, they reverted to the Wavegarden's technology.
In April 2016, The Wave announced that South Gloucestershire Council had approved the revised designs. [10] With the switch back to Wavegarden, the planning permission was resubmitted, and approved in late August 2017.
In October 2019 construction was completed. [11]
The Wave offers different sizes and styles of wave to suit different abilities, from 0.5m white water to 2m barrelling waves. Each session at The Wave lasts for one hour, and uses the same setting throughout. [12] The pool is divided into right and left sections, with waves breaking in opposite directions on each side. [13]
In 2023, The Wave installed an on-site solar array, which they claim will produce enough electricity to match demand from the facility. [14]
Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer, uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitable for surfing are primarily found on ocean shores, but can also be found in standing waves in the open ocean, in lakes, in rivers in the form of a tidal bore, or in wave pools.
Robert Kelly Slater is an American professional surfer, best known for being crowned World Surf League champion a record 11 times. Slater is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time, and holds 56 Championship Tour victories. Slater is also the oldest surfer still active on the World Surf League, winning his 8th Billabong Pipeline Masters title at age 49.
Easter Compton is a village in the civil parish of Almondsbury, South Gloucestershire, England. It is situated at the bottom of a hill near Junction 17 of the M5 Motorway on the B4055 road.
A wave pool is a swimming pool in which there are artificially generated, large waves, similar to those of the ocean. Wave pools are often a major feature of water parks, both indoors and outdoors, as well as some leisure centres.
Disney's Typhoon Lagoon is a water theme park located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida near Orlando, and is one of two operating water parks at the resort. It is the second water park to open at the resort, preceded by Disney's River Country which closed in November 2001.
Artificial waves are human-made waves usually created on a specially designed surface or in a pool.
River surfing is the sport of surfing either standing waves, tidal bores or upstream waves in rivers. Claims for its origins include a 1955 ride of 2.4 km (1.5 mi) along the tidal bore of the River Severn.
Flowriding is a late 20th century alternative boardsport incorporating elements of surfing, bodyboarding, skateboarding, skimboarding, snowboarding and wakeboarding.
A surf break is a permanent obstruction such as a coral reef, rock, shoal, or headland that causes a wave to break, forming a barreling wave or other wave that can be surfed, before it eventually collapses. The topography of the seabed determines the shape of the wave and type of break. Since shoals can change size and location, affecting the break, it takes commitment and skill to find good breaks. Some surf breaks are quite dangerous, since the surfer can collide with a reef or rocks below the water.
Habitat 67 is the name of a standing wave on the Saint Lawrence River in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Informally named for the adjacent Habitat 67 housing complex, it has become a popular destination for whitewater kayaking and river surfing.
Wave Loch Inc. is a surf ride manufacturing company responsible for such water rides as the FlowBarrel, Flying Reef, SurfPool, Wave House franchises, and, formerly, FlowRider. These water attractions grew to mainstream popularity thanks to their use in many popular water parks and cruise ships.
Surfline is a company and website based in Huntington Beach, California that specializes in surf forecasting and surf reports, live webcasting, photography, videography, as well as editorial coverage of the sport of surfing. Surfline.com is now ranked 1,180 in the US and 5,784 in the world in terms of popularity compared to other websites and is now the largest provider of streaming HD coastal cams. Since 2003 it has taken on buoyweather.com and fishtrack.com (2012), on average the family of websites receives 175,000 visitors per day. The site includes streaming video, surf reports and forecasts. Surfline.com offers over 500 streaming cameras at 150 surf breaks, and is one of the larger surf cam websites. Surfline currently has approximately 50 employees.
Adventure Parc Snowdonia, formerly Surf Snowdonia was an adventure park and tourist attraction, incorporating an artificial wave pool, at Dolgarrog in the Conwy valley, north Wales, owned by Conwy Adventure Leisure Ltd. It was the world's first commercial artificial surfing lake. The site cost a total of £12 million and opened in August 2015. The park closed in September 2023 following mechanical failures in 2022, which led to the waves being turned off, and searches for financial investment.
Red Bull Unleashed was a surfing competition held on 18/19 September 2015 at Surf Snowdonia in Dolgarrog, north Wales. The artificial wave pool, owned by Conwy Adventure Leisure Ltd, is the world's first commercial artificial surfing lake and the United Kingdom's only artificial surfing lake. It opened in August 2015.
Wavegarden SL is an engineering enterprise dedicated to the research, design, manufacturing, installation, commissioning and promotion of wave generating systems and lagoons for surfing. The company's headquarters are in the Basque Country near San Sebastián, Northern Spain. The company employs over 60 full time staff with departments in mechanical, civil and electrical engineering, fluid dynamics, software development, water treatment, architecture, business development and operations.
Surfing at the Summer Olympics made its debut in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. The Olympics was originally scheduled to be held in 2020, but was postponed to 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
NLand Surf Park is an inland surfing destination near Austin, Texas, located ten minutes from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at 4836 East Highway 71, Del Valle, Texas 78617. The park offers surfing sessions, lessons, clinics, or group surfing for first-time, beginner, intermediate, and advanced surfers. In addition to the 14-acre surf lagoon and surrounding land, the park includes a surf shop and a restaurant, and a craft brewery.
Mulara is a rural locality in the Livingstone Shire, Queensland, Australia. In the 2016 census, Mulara had a population of 89 people.
Nick Hounsfield is a British surfer, social entrepreneur, founder and chief visionary officer of The Wave, the first inland surfing destination in Bristol. Hounsfield has a particular interest in surfing and "blue health", adaptive and para surfing, and policy-shaping and development. He is a member of the UK Sport International Leadership Programme and as a Director of Surfing England oversees surfing’s first funding from UK Sport.
Auckland Surf Park is a proposed heated artificial surfing lagoon. In 2023, it was decided that the park would be located in Dairy Flat, several kilometres west of the Hibiscus Coast in north Auckland. Once completed, it will be the world's first heated artificial surfing lagoon.
51°32′32″N2°36′20″W / 51.54222°N 2.60556°W