The vertical wooden spiral built by skateboarding legend Tony Hawk will be adapted to artificial surf pool designed by the Kelly Slater Wave Company.
The skate and surf legends will team up to design a complex structure that will allow surfers to descend a helix curve straight into a man-made wave. In other words, it will be a skate-to-surf acid drop transfer.
"I had a chat with Kelly when we were in Europe recently, and he asked me if I had any idea of what to add to a surf park. I told him I had just built a downward spiral loop, and he loved it," Tony Hawk told SurferToday.com.
"I immediately noticed something had clicked in his brain. What I didn't know was that he wanted to adapt the spiral ramp to his artificial wave concept. How will he do it? I don't know. But he will definitely make it real. How mad is that?"
"Tony Hawk is one of my idols. I have always been inspired by his constant search for innovation and evolution in skateboarding. That man is always planning something that no one has ever done before," adds Kelly Slater.
"Here's what I'll do: The world's best man-made wave will offer surfers the opportunity to ride the wooden spiral with a finless surfboard, and then complete the loop, come out and hit the surf."
The skate-to-surf transfer will only be available on weekends. The first wooden structure will be built based on the successful model ridden by Hawk in November 2015. The vertical spiral, or sideways loop, will be tested at Kelly Slater Wave Company's facility in Lemoore, California.
"To help surfers with the timing, we will install a classic traffic semaphore system so that everyone knows when to ride the ramp. The ramp's exit will drive surfers, at the right angle, directly into the wave's take off zone," explains Slater.
Tony Hawk is excited about the marriage between skateboarding and surfing. "The Birdman" says he is looking forward to testing it, even though his surfing skills won't win him a trophy. "I guess my performance at the Eisbach River wave says it all," jokes the 47-year-old.
