Slater’s wave vs the Wavegarden

Words by Morgan Williamson 

Well, Mr Slater did a few things within the week. First, he completely overshadowed Adriano de Souza’s world title and winning of the Pipe Masters glory with the release of the uncontested best man-made wave to ever hit the inland. Second, he just caused a world of trouble for the previous man-made waves that have been taking the surf world by storm. After watching the hollow, head high, more than rip-able, brown and frigid freshwater wave (the only plausible explanation for his donning of booties and gloves), anything else in existence is simply bleh. So you have to wonder what the investors who’ve poured million of dollars into the Wavegarden are thinking right now. Especially being mindful of the unfortunate fact that Surf Snowdonia, the previous best man made wave in the world is currently shut down and’s set to re-launch next spring.

So the night of Kelly’s unveiling I drunkenly sprawled a series of questions to the kind folks at the Wavegarden to which I received this prompt response:

“Morgan, Obviously I am not going to answer you these questions as they are not related to Wavegarden,” Felip Verger, the man who deals with the media said. “Over the years we have followed a strict policy of not commenting on anything about our competitors (and we have been asked several times and about several of them)  because we only give our opinion about the things we know, and we are not going to change now. As surfers we think that what we saw on the video is a great wave, no doubt about it, but we know nothing else of the technology behind so we can’t say anything else.” Fair enough.

Kelly’s wave, developed by the aptly named Kelly Slater’s Wave Company won’t be open to the public anytime soon. But surely the technology will be sold, it’s a gold mine for any potential wave pools being developed in the future. And the now itchy-headed folks and investors of the Wavegarden are going to have to figure out how to turn their fun little mush-burger into something resembling the King’s. Yeah Kelly’s wave takes a handier surfer to ride, but the thing’s absolutely perfect. People are raving about it, it was referred to with the overplayed term of “breaking the internet”. It’s what’s been dreamed of for years, the white whale is hooked firm on Captain Ahab’s lure, and Kelly’s smiling.

On a side note; everyone’s desire to reveal the location of Kelly’s wave seems a bit strange. It’s in Fresno, California, but what are you going to do when you find it, hop the fence and go swim a brown, placid lake?

For good measure, here’s a picture of Kelly checking a Rhino’s vital signs. What can’t he do!? Photo: WSL / Kirstin Schultz