Paige Hareb during a run at the Surf Ranch in California. Photo / WSL
Paige Hareb during a run at the Surf Ranch in California. Photo / WSL
The next generation of competitive surfers will soon have a new asset with which to hone their skills, with a wave park to be built in New Zealand in the coming years.
American company Aventuur has secured the licence to develop a wave park in Auckland, using the world-renowned technology developed by Spanish company Wavegarden.
The Wavegarden cove is arguably to best wave park in the market, with the system able to produce up to 1000 waves per hour, with as many as 90 people able to be in the line-up at a time. In comparison, the system at Kelly Slater's Surf Ranch in California can only produce one wave every four minutes.
Wavegarden's cove technology is already available to surf at parks in South Korea, Wales, Bristol and Melbourne. Andrew Ross was the man behind the Melbourne park's development and has since joined Aventuur to help bring one to life in Auckland.
URBNSURF in Melbourne opened for business in January this year. Photo / Getty Images
Ross said, having experienced it for himself, there was room for man-made waves and natural breaks to co-exist.
"There's a purist element that says surfing can only really be done in the ocean. But having built one now – I think I've had about 3500 waves; most of those left-hand barrels – it's incredible," Ross said.
"The ocean has a lot of challenges; there's rips and sharks and aggressive surf culture in most places. To bring a man-made environment which is relatively safe and controlled, people can accelerate super-fast. We've had people in the lagoon in Melbourne who have never surfer before surfing intermediate waves just a few weeks in because that progression is so quick. You're getting so many waves under your feet and learning as you go.
"If everyone was a surfer, the world would be a better place. That's where we come from."
With a location for the wave park still being sought, it will likely be two to three years before it is up and running, though Ross said the build itself was not too lengthy and would take between 12 to 18 months.
Kelly Slater's Surf Ranch produces one wave every four minutes. Each wave lasts for one minute. Photo / WSL
Aventuur's Kiwi co-founder Richard Duff said they were currently in the process of securing a location for the park and were yet to enter discussions with local Government about the project, but would do so further down the track.
"There's a number of factors on site selection that are important. Ultimately, you're never going to find the nirvana of sites so it's just about understanding what you are looking for; and I think that's a lot of the work we've done during Covid has been to really understand the dynamics of Auckland from a geotechnical perspective, how much land costs etc, and who the land owners are.
"There are a few sites that we are looking at, but we're not at liberty to go any further than that.
"What we do believe, and we've seen this around the world now that Melbourne's been built, Korea's been built, Bristol's been built, we have something to talk to about the community benefit and the positive element of what this will bring."
