Within hours of me writing this seething, emotionally fueled opinion piece calling for action, the WSL comes through flaunting yet another head scratcher. If you stay up to date with surf media/press, you might have heard whispers of this move through Stab or possibly the Inertia (did they do a piece on this?). If not, here is the skinny.
Long story short, a wave pool is being built in the Middle East. Specifically, in Abu Dhabi. The technology behind the wave is the KSWC tech, better known as Kelly Slater Wave Co, which is owned by the WSL. The rumor is that the 2024 World Title trophy might possibly be handed out at this location. If this doesn’t completely shock you, let me tell you why it should.
Firstly, the aspect of why the fuck would anyone want to travel to Abu Dhabi to surf a wave? I don’t care how big, how perfect, how dreamy this robot wave is going to be, it will never match the ocean. That standalone fact should be clear by now, but for some reason we are all still fascinated with the wave pools. The pools should be used as a training ground for current and prospective professional athletes. Say, if you’re Ethan Ewing trying to improve on your air game. I would spend a solid month at Waco Texas on that launch setting trying to progress. The only other thing pools should be used for is to attract a new land locked market to the surf world. Not for actual professional contests. However, I am forgetting that we’re now 8 years into the wave pool business, and pretty soon there are going to be real deal Rick Kane’s who rip the pools but have no idea what a swell line looks like. Maybe the pool bunch from Waco or Palm Springs will want to travel to the Middle East. Why don’t they just start up the Wave Pool World Tour already?
Secondly, didn’t the WSL openly accept the transgender policy thing? Isn’t there a Women’s tour? The Middle East is notoriously hostile toward Women, right? I’m not going to act like I’ve been there, nor do I know anyone who lives there, but this situation is a bit conspicuous. I’ll leave it at that.
Lastly, isn’t the Woz huge on being ‘green’ – as in, environmentally friendly? From the looks of this webpage, or from a search of the hashtag #WSLoneocean you can find that the company likes to show its environmental work. Good will hunting? Anyways, have a read through this article explaining the energy use of the current Kelly Slater wave pool. In brief “When the Surf Ranch draws its estimated 2MW energy surge to get a wave going, it is depriving the equivalent of 1,500 homes of using that same clean energy.” Some searing remarks in this great piece, which ends on my favorite line of the whole thing – “You can’t save the planet and ‘surf ranch’ it too.” Why surf in the carbon free, naturally powered ocean when we can build out futuristic, ‘solar powered’, perfect wave basins? Jobs. Innovation. Progression. We are One Ocean.
It may have been BeachGrits own Chas Smith on The Grit podcast who said we are in the Monty Python era of surfing. He hit the nail on the head. I can imagine a future not so distant from now when we look back at these doings of the WSL and laugh. That’s all we’ll be able to do, because right now I’m only shaking my head. It’s like listening to a singer who’s tone deaf. Someone stop the music.
Cheers,
hwilsin