As we reported back in June 2014 when the greenlight was given to the building of a ‘most excellent’ £6.2-million 40-acre artificial surfing lake development just outside Bristol (The Wave), soon we may have legions of budding surfers descending on the South West, keen to try out a guaranteed delivery of perfect-sized non-gnarly surfing waves.
“We believe that The Wave will have a hugely positive impact on people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities”
Founder Nick Hounsfield has big plans for the lake, or lagoon, located in Easter Compton near Almondsbury (and imagined in the mockup to the right).
He wants it to be a centre for health (both for locally grown healthy food and a great place for exercise), leisure (via cafes and gardens) and education: “We believe that The Wave will have a hugely positive impact on people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities in the local area, in Bristol and further afield.”
The Wave:Bristol plans to offer three surf zones to allow people to train at their own level of experience and a surf centre for athletes and aspiring professionals.
New surfing tech
Now, after a slight setback due to them changing the supplier who will provide them with that all important wave creation technology, the lake is starting preparatory work for the main build. The new supplier, Surflock, was chosen because, as Nick Hounsfield explains: “The new lake has a smaller physical footprint and a much smaller visual impact with no working parts in the water. If anything goes wrong, it should be quick and easy to fix. In fact, due to the configuration of the technology, we could still push waves during repairs.”
You can see more about how this wave-generating tech works and why it was chosen in the video below:
You can see more at The Wave:Bristol’s website. You will also be able to see regular updates on The Wave: Bristol’s progress at The Wave’s YouTube channel.
