Kitesoul Magazine #16 English Edition

EDITORIAL
Rider Kelly Slater | Photo Todd Glaser
Kitesurfing still tastes of salt and
not of chlorine
Artificial waves parks for surfers are now spreading
all over the world. Increasingly big, accessible
and efficient. In January 2017, a Spanish Company
called Wavegarden specialized in pools and
water parks announced that it has just developed
a new technology capable of creating 1.029 waves
per hour that means over 16 waves per minute.
While they want to keep this patent still secret,
the Iberian technicians have added that the new
system would allow to have waves up to 2.10 metres
high, cutting through the pools for about 18
seconds. The project is called The Cove, and it will
debut in the upcoming months in Australia when
the first water parks for surfers, equipped with
this futuristic technology, will appear in Sydney,
Melbourne and Perth with the brand name Urbnsurf
(www.urbnsurf.co/media-coverage.html).
So then, how will the artificial surf evolve? One
could easily imagine that in the near future whole
surfers’ generations, perhaps living hundreds
kilometres away from the first beach overlooking
the ocean, will use these admission-fee simulating
facilities for training at any time, in spite of
weather conditions, seasons and culture of the
sea. Surfing will be like going to the gym. No more
days spent sounding out the weather reports searching
for the next swell, no more stacking up
kilometres along the coast searching for the best
wave, no more time spent practising the true surfer’s
art, which is patience. The new chlorine surfers
will enter any pool, for one or two hours they
will ride hundreds of waves, identical and perfect
and they will become extraordinary.
What will happen is what also happened to free
climbing with the advent of artificial walls and
indoor facilities thanks to which today a 12-year
old kid can climb VI grade walls, where bear
hands climbing times have halved and one year
of training is enough to climb the world rankin-