The Kelly Slater Wave Co. Buys NLand Surf Park - Stab Mag

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The Kelly Slater Wave Co. Buys NLand Surf Park

The World Surf League puts its paws into the thriving Texas wave pool market. 

news // Jan 6, 2019
Words by Stab
Reading Time: < 1 minute

Ahhh, the ol’ NLand surf park. A very poor man’s Wave Ranch that recently shut-up shop for the winter.  

NLand employed a similar trolley system to Kelly’s Wave Ranch, but failed to produce the same ‘perfect’ tubes and sections rifling down the line. Think of it as a really shit day at Malibu, except there’s more learners out and you have to pay to surf the place. 

A few days ago, however, Tumbleweed Opco (a recently unveiled subsidiary of Kelly Slater Wave Co.) bought the land and facilities of the NLand park in Austin. A package valued to be worth $4,806,149 as reported by ATX Real Estate News

The facility previously owned by Doug Coors and was handed over to the WSL in writing on the 21st of December. 

With the WSL now placing their foot in the door of the Texan surf market, it’s safe to assume they’ll be upgrading the wave to compete with the Barefoot Ranch in Waco a few hours down the road. Although Waco is also closed for the winter period (amidst serious water quality concerns), their facility far outshone the meagre walls of NLand and exclusivity of Kelly’s Lemoorian pond. It’s arguably the best consumer-based pool developed yet and undoubtedly home to the best man-made air section we’ve seen yet. 

NLand park in Austin will be closed for the foreseeable future. And the next time we lay eyes or boards upon it, it’ll be vastly different to its current bland incarnation. 

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