Manmade waves are going to be a big part of surfing’s future. And ever since Wavegarden turned their technology into something tangible, the surf theme park has become its own valuable commodity.
“Build one in ____ (insert city name here)!!!” is the comments section popular reply of choice for people eager to get their own artificial fix. And so far we’ve seen Wales (Surf Snowdonia) and the soon to be opened park in Austin (NLAND) win the location lotteries for these new parks. Today it was announced that Melbourne, Australia will be the next location for a Wavegarden surf park. It’s called URBNSURF and aside from a few generic details shared in the first promotional video, and artist renderings, not much is known about the park. So with the opening of the first U.S. park right around the corner, a countdown for the company’s third park is underway.
As for the person behind bringing URBNSURF to life, this isn’t the only surf park in the works. Andrew Ross is the chairman of Wave Park Group, an Australian group with exclusive rights to developing all of the country’s surf parks that use Wavegarden technology. In 2015 it was rumored that Ross and the Wave Park Group would be converting Subiaco Oval, a multipurpose stadium in Perth, into a surf park. Whether or not that particular park is any closer to development isn’t clear, but now we do know Melbourne’s site is coming by late 2017.
