It's like a painting. It's not a painting.screen grab
Let's rewind to 2019. A groundbreaking and absolutely real study has confirmed that by 2050 there will be more waves in swimming pools than in the ocean. Although the (shocking) headline was a joke (remember, it was written by a contributor named Johnny Utah), the sentiment is still very strong. Authentic. At the time, there were reportedly 45 wave pools under construction or open to the public. We were only a few years into the wave pool era of surfing. However, we were already beginning to lose track of how many artificial waves were occurring at the same time in any region of the world. Currently, the park opens and closes regularly. New developments are announced weekly. And new technologies are introduced just as often.
Ironically, not long after this joke article was published in 2019, a company called Endless Surf was laying the groundwork to develop and launch its own wave generation technology. This week, they finally released the first video of one of their Break Waves. This shows how long it takes for these things to become a reality. This short clip focuses primarily on a single wave breaking through a glassy lagoon, and the entire thing looks like a painting or an AI-generated image.
A pool full of people and a machine with wave after wave wouldn't keep it as natural as it could be, but this clip is still pretty awe-inspiring. As for the waves themselves, Endless Surf claims that its technology allows for “high-quality waves up to 2.1 meters in height with rides of up to 18 seconds (single peak) or 9 seconds (split peak)” . Of course, it's not clear how big this particular wave is without the surfer riding the first-look wave being a reference.
According to When and Where Can I See the First Wave in the Endless Surf Lagoon? wave pool mug, A site called Surftown MUC is scheduled to open in Munich later this summer. Advance vouchers for sessions in the pool start from €59 for beginner waves and €79 for A-frames.
