Wave Pools vs. Bondi Beach

If you found yourself under a rock last week, this is the only thing worth catching you up on.

So what you just witnessed was the future in a huge way. Kelly Slater, the owner of 11 world titles, along with the World Surf League have kicked open the doors on what is being called ‘The Surf Ranch‘.

With about 8 years of hard work and testing, Kelly Slater and a bunch of very clever engineers have developed a wave that has sections, barrels and room for Filipe to do a couple of airs.

It was pretty exciting news in the world of surfing.

A wave that runs for about 600 meters and produces a surge of water that seems to be boring, yet so damn perfect. It’s a thing of brilliance. Kelly and the WSL invited 18 of the best surfers to the desert oasis for a mock competition to see what a wave pool event would look like.

It was crazy cool and the coverage from the team at STAB was like no other.

In the wake of all this buzz around wave pools, is it time to ask the real question?

Wave Pools over the ocean?

We here at QT Bondi feel we are inclined to say no and here’s why.

Simply put. Nothing can really beat the ocean and the power of mother nature is like no other.

We’ll stick to the ocean for now.

Though Kelly, if you’re reading and we know you are, we’d love an invitation and we’d be happy to reciprocate.

As it stands, the P5 carpark at Sydney Olympic Park is currently earmarked for Sydney’s first wave pool. The team behind it are UrbnSurf with a design that is radically different to that of Slaters. That being said, now that the Surf Ranch is open, UrbnSurf might be rethinking their design. It’s apparently due to open by 2018, yet no ground has been broken.

This is an exciting space to be in, but as we said, you’ll find us out in the lineup at South Bondi for now.

words by ben stephens