Watch: Surf Lakes’ Slab Section Tested By A Stand-Up Surfer, Occy’s Son Jay!

A few weeks back, we watched as Mark Occhilupo tested “full-size” surf at his eponymous Surf Lakes peak, Occy’s Left. 

Those with keen periphery vision might have notice in the clip that Occy’s Left also has a right, which was being occupied by Mark’s teenage son Jay. 

According to Surf Lakes media correspondent Wayne Dart, the right was a bit hollower than the left during their recent run of testing. But was it true?

Also left to the imagination was how Benny Player’s slab (AKA “The Island”)—which looked relatively sizey on the boogie World Champ—would be worn by a stand-up surfer. 

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The answers to all of those questions have been answered by Surf Lakes latest reveal, which you can find at the top of this page (with some slight Stab modifications). 

The video reveals that Jay had a few goes at the right-hand ledge, tail-dropping multiple times to the bottom but failing to retain sufficient balance and speed for the exit.

And yes, if you must know, pool officials forced Jay to wear the helmet. 

“The thing didn’t even have a face to it,” Jay claimed, in a classically marble-mouthed Occhilupian review. “I dropped from the top to the bottom and the thing just ate me. It was pretty hectic for a wavepool to have that much power.”

It should be noted that at the time Jay was surfing The Island, the wave machine was only cranked up to 70 percent meaning that the 2.4-meter faces Surf Lakes claims to produce are not the same as the ones Jay attempted. 

With plans to successfully navigate The Island at a later date, Jay then paddled over to join his pops at Occy’s Peak.

Both big and lil’ Occ had instant success at the “user-friendly” reef (Occy’s Peak was designed as a “Level 3 intermediate wave”), with Jay tail-dropping into a slight fade, then grabbing the face for a brief, spitting tube and finishing with a shoulder slash—a better ride than most of us have had in the past month.  

When we last spoke with Wayne Dart, he told us that despite the pool’s circular swell technology (which if you think about it, would create waves that are forever bending out to “sea”), many of their “reefs” actually bend the wave in on itself, Occy’s Peak included.

After closer review of Jay’s wave, we find this claim a little hard to believe, as the wall clearly loses steepness and angle the closer he gets to the shoulder.

In other words, it doesn’t look like Surf Lakes will be rivaling Waco’s ramp—anytime soon, at least.

Below are Surf Lakes’ final thoughts on this second round of testing, offering valuable points for the reader to consider:

• Although the guys are having fun, and the waves look great, note that this is all still part of our testing and refining process. 
• The engineers were running different sized waves throughout the session – that’s why you see the wave size variation.
• We are still tuning the machine to gain maximum efficiency and to see how the breaks respond. The feedback is being used for the design of the commercial version – which will be much improved in every way.
• We have yet to release the footage of our Level 2 wave – The Beachie (opposite side to The Island), or The Wedges on the opposite side to Occy’s Peak. This vision will be forthcoming after the next round of testing.
• The Yeppoon site is still a research and development site and therefore we are not permitted to open to the public or sell public sessions.

Questions for the reader:

How does the Surf Lakes pool compare, thus far, to Slater’s, Waco, and the Cove?

And, would you have the gall to sample the slab?