What has this 1990's photo of Chrissy Davie at Whanga Bar got to do with Auckland Wave Parks??? Well read on…
On Monday evening there was a media presentation at Red Bull HQ. Most of us already knew what it was s'posed to unveil. Surfing's worst kept secret, a wave pool for Auckland. There have been attempts in the past to get some sort of Wave Park/Pool in the Greater Auckland Region. It's the logical place; the largest population base, and argueably the largest group of surf starved Kiwi surfers. Auckland does not have surf at it's doorstep, like Dunedin, Christchurch or heck Sydney. The City of Sails is a harbour city. But it does have the largest population of NZ surfers.
The biggest issues for a commerically viable Wave Park to go into Auckland is land price and bums on seats. There's some pretty daunting historical casualities for ventures like this. Snow Planet has struggled for years and Skatopia failed.
Personally I'm frothing at the idea, and wish the directors of Adventuur all the best. I think they have chosen the correct tech, the Spanish based Wave Garden. It's the same as the Melbourne Urban Surf Park.
Chrissy, last December at Urban Surf
Whanga born'n' bred surfer Chrissy Davie now resides in Bryon. Chrissy is Bob's son, Digga's younger brother. He rips, back in the day he and I scored a couple of magazine covershots... he knows what a good wave is. He has quite a vested interest in wave park tech, he explored the possiblity of building one in Western Australia.
Chrissy has surfed the Melbourne wave; "That sounds pretty epic a Wave garden in Auckland! Yeah I was lucky enough to get an invite to go to the booked out wave pool with Chris Hemsworth [that's another whole story] . My experience of the place was total amazement.
It’s a crazy feeling sitting in a pool that’s flat and then when the machine resets it’s just a flurry of epic waves. It’s super addictive as everytime you try to come in you see another set of waves reeling off perfectly.
The Beast mode really surprised me with its Reef like suck. Really throws out and packs a punch. The barrel on the left really bends at you with a big lump of water that then hits a draining bottom to give a real ocean like feel to it. The turn waves were super fun with plenty of push and wall to get multiple turns in.
Definitely an amazing experience for advanced and beginners."
The NZ Herald article about Auckland's possible...maybe Wave park is HERE.
For Your Viewing Pleasure...
Billy Lee Pope has just dropped an absolute cracker of a clip of Kehu. It's action packed and very funny. Awesome work guys!
Print Give[n]away
As promised, the giveaways are going to become more regular. Here's a giclee archival print at 11 x 18 inches of Earth, Sea and Sky from the Elements Gallery on PhotoCPL. And this one was drawn as per yesterday evening and won by subscriber Mez Carter after everyone that entered was put through Random.org's randomiser.