Surf Park Summit on Surf Parks, Wave Pools and Artifical Wave Technology
“Skaters grow up wanting a skate park. Surfers grow up wanting a Surf Park.” (Kelly Slater)
On September 13th, the big names and top minds in stationary wave construction will gather at Seven Degrees in Laguna Beach, California to discuss and decide on the future of wave building. The summit features a prestigious line up of speakers including ISA President Fernando Aguerre, and Surfrider Foundation’s Chad Nelson, an exclusive interview with Vans Vice President GM Of Americas Doug Palladini and Neil Egsgard from the Surf Anywhere Project — just to name a few. Developers, suppliers, academics, researchers and surfers will present their views, philosophies and experiences in constructing artificial waves far from the ocean. Landlocked surfers can already be excited about the insights this unique conference will bring.
The inaugural summit is organised by Surf Park Central, a company dedicated to bringing together industry members and non-endemic investors to help grow awareness around building surf parks. Matt Reilly from Surf Park Central about the goal of the summit: “The goal of the Summit is essentially to make the industry more intelligent by bringing together the top players in the space to discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with surf parks.”
The Summit and River Surfing
Among the participants will be the Surf Anywhere Project, represented by Neil Egsgard and Jacob Quinlan who will talk about their experiences in constructing an artificial wave close to Calgary in Alberta. Neil and Jacob represent the “river surf” aspects at this conference, probably one of the most sustainable and intriguing ways of making waves available to landlocked surfers. The project was born in Alberta, in an effort to replicate the Munich Eisbach wave and share that information with the world, making it as easy as possible for other inspired groups to build their own world class wave. Stay tuned and support their pioneering effort at http://surfanywhere.riversurfing.ca.
Conference Topics
- The State of Wave Technology and Man-Made Wave Enhancement
- Surf Park Business Models (e.g. training, learning, private club, theme park)
- Investment, Development, Management of Surf Parks
- The Economics of Surfbreaks, Surf Tourism and Surf Parks
- Development of Surf Culture in Non-Coastal Regions
- Surf Parks and the Impact on the Surf Industry
- Surf Park Regulation, Ethics, and Governance
- Consumer Trends Driving Sustainability in Surfing and Surf Tourism
- Advances in Sustainable Technologies
- Sustainable Surf Tourism Hospitality and Operations
Full Event Schedule
8:00 AM – Registration and Breakfast by Sambazon
9:00 – Surf Park Summit Opening Remarks
9:15 – Unlocking the Surf Industry’s Potential – Doug Palladini
9:35 – Surf park History: Six Decades in the Pool – PT Townend
10:00 – Designing, Building & Operating: Lessons From Abu Dhabi – Dan Harmon
10:35 – Surf Pool Metrics and Standardization – Tom Lochtefeld
11:00 – Happiness and Surfing – Fernando Aguerre
11:30 – Stone Waves (Artificial Reefs) – Shaun Tomson
12:00 – Lunch by Wahoo’s Fish Taco
1:00 – Technology Supporting Surf Park Innovation – Maik Ulmscheider
1:30 – Planning, Building, Execution – Ben Lonsdale
2:00 – Webber Wave Pools – Greg Webber
2:30 – Sustainability – Jess Ponting, Chad Nelsen & Derek Sabori, Nick Hounsfield & Chris Hines
3:15 – Wave Loch: Flying Reef – Tom Lochtefeld
3:35 – Surf Parks & Cable Parks – Tony Finn
3:50 – Surf Anywhere Project – Neil Egsgard
4:25 – Clearing the Waters: Definitions and Criteria for Surf Parks – Bruce McFarland
4:50 – Fantasy to Reality: The Surf Park Business Model Viability – Jamie Meiselman
5:30 PM – Cocktails and Acoustic Jam
Venue
Seven Degrees
891 Laguna Canyon Rd
Laguna Beach, California 92651
Venue Phone: (949) 376-1555
More on the Summit
If you are interested in taking part in the dialogue and shaping the future of surfing, please go to http://www.SurfParkSummit.com for ticket sales and more information.
Brought to you by
RB Team The editorial team of Riverbreak is a loose connection of passionate river surfers. As a group, we strive to give the larger community a voice on an international level – our mission is to connect river surfers around the globe.
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