The Kelly Slater Wave Company

Wavepools are a medium we’ve had a love affair with from the start. The Stab jetski wavepool shoot was a first in the surf industry. We went off ’em for a little while there, but then reignited the spark, recently throwing Bruce Irons, Julian Wilson, Kolohe Andino, Evan Geiselman and Adam Melling into a Tenerife wavepool with a re-filled batch of ideas, (the full results of which you’ll see next issue).

This in mind, it was a treat to discover that Kelly Slater’s designing his own wavepool. In 2005, Kelly assembled a team of engineers, scientists and businessmen, and went to work designing the perfect, endless wave. Think, Jurassic Park-type shit. The (very) official press statement below will tell you more.

December 2nd, 2010 — Culver City, CA — After five years of research and development, champion pro surfer Kelly Slater has launched the Kelly Slater Wave Company [KSWC] — a company devoted to making a world-class surfing experience accessible to the sport’s enthusiasts across the globe.

KSWC’s pioneering wave-generation and control technologies feature the world’s first natural, deep water, world-class wave. The wave is generated on the outside of a large circular pool, propagating onto an inner island where it breaks endlessly. The company aims to use this technology to create a new vision of entertainment that extends beyond just waves themselves— offering a unique lifestyle destination featuring beaches, restaurants, bars, pools, conference facilities, and retail. KSWC intends to permanently change how people and business professionals think and interact with the surfing lifestyle.

Until now, there hasn’t been a man-made wave technology that even comes close to reproducing a natural feeling and world-class waves,” Slater says. “From the start, we’ve been committed to creating an authentic surfing experience. It’s been a long and challenging development period, led by a formal scientific investigation, but we now understand how to generate and control the elements that produce ocean-type waves. Our technology can create a wave that suits anyone from beginner to pro level, and can be adjusted easily for everyone in between.”

Since 2005, Slater and a team of engineers, scientists, and businessmen have worked to research the viability of an endless traveling wave. To accomplish this, KSWC founders built a state-of-the-art research laboratory in Los Angeles that houses a working model of the circular wave pool. Slater and his team will develop, market, license, and sell KSWC’s patentable wave-generation control technologies to promote accessibility to the sport.

“This project has unlimited potential to add to surfing,” Slater says. “I’d like to see this be a sort of default wave for when the surf in the ocean isn’t good, as well as a platform to help anyone advance from the level they’re at quickly and easily in a safe environment. Our technology will allow everyone, no matter their age or skill level, to have a rewarding surfing experience.”