Australian Olympic Surfers Are Getting Their Own Wavepools

Surfing’s Olympic debut is three years out, and Australia’s implementing surf’s first official OTC’s. While in America the Olympic conversation around surfing has been short and kept to the niche, Oz is preparing to take their national pastime to the bronze, silver and gold frontier. And if Australia’s already taking steps towards artificial training grounds we wonder what clandestine movements are being pushed forth in the beloved totalitarian countries.

In Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, “Plans are advancing to build artificial waves using a Spanish design called The Cove that has won over Australia’s national surf coach Andy King,” states an article in The Australian.

It is reported that in October, Andy King gave The Cove a go with Julian Wilson, Ryan Callinan and Josh Kerr and wants to use the baseball-diamond-shaped wave pool to train surfing’s first Olympic team. 

“They have finally replicated something that’s got similar power to the ocean with the unpredictability of the ocean,” said Andy. “You can get the repetition and practice that you need for training in a really short amount of time without the surfers turning robotic — you get training done in three or four days that would take you three or four months in the ocean,” King said.

The Cove is said to create 1029 waves per hour up to 2.1m (6.8ft) high. According to the article, “The Cove in Melbourne may be open by the end of the year. The Sydney Cove is planned for Sydney Olympic Park and in Perth, there are plans for a Cove in the southern suburb of Melville.”

Does this still excite you? Did it ever?