Surf’s up in Wales: Surf park offers longest man-made waves

An artificial inland lake holding more than six million gallons of water is being hailed by its owners as being able to produce the longest man-made surf wave on the planet, an it’s started producing its first breakers.

The park is called Surf Snowdonia and was built on the site of an old aluminum factory near the Snowdonia National Park in Wales, said BBC News. The artificial surf lagoon is 300 meters in length and 110 meters in width, or approximately the same size as six soccer fields, and is filled with millions of gallons of filtered rainwater piped down from mountain reservoirs.

According to the company’s website, the surf lagoon is capable of creating two meter waves that will peel (or break gradually to the right or left along the wave crest) for 150 meters. That means that on water moving about 6 meters per second, surfers can ride the waves for 20 seconds.

Up to 52 people at a time can surf, with different sections suitable for surfers of different skill levels. It also can simultaneously produce three different sizes of waves (70 cm, 1.2 m, and 2 m) using a wavefoil that resembles a snowplow. The wavefoil moves back and forth along a central underwater track, generating a barreling wave on both sides.

Explaining how the wavefoil machine works

Furthermore, the wave production of the technology is consistent, according to BBC News. It creates waves that break in the same place each time, and that consistency could ultimately help enable surfing become an Olympic sport.

The company claims that the waves produced by the wavefoil interact with the contours of the lagoon bed to provide the different wave heights, and the machine is controlled using computers located in towers at both ends of the park’s central pier. The wavefoil moves back and forth across the length of the lagoon using a gearless ropeway drive system, they added.

A porous grid sheet on the lagoon’s shore was designed to help dissipate the wave energy more quickly than an impermeable perimeter, allowing waves to be generated at a highly efficient rate of one per minute. A netted screen made of stainless steel protects the underwater machinery, helping keep surfers safe without lessening the energy of the waves produced.

Four-time Welsh surf champion Jo Dennison, who was recruited to work as a coach, told BBC News, that she thought the park would “shape the future of surfing. You can’t compare it with surfing in the ocean, it’s definitely a special thing to be in the water with nature, but this is a fantastic training facility.”

(Image credit: Surf Snowdonia)