Wave designers from Austria, Germany and the US have teamed up with the goal to create one of the best river waves in Europe. The project site is located at the river Traun, in the beautiful Salzkammergut region in Austria. The location at the Miesenbachmühle in Ebensee was chosen due to the stable annual discharge levels and the natural drop, which makes this spot the ideal location for a river wave that can be surfed year round.

The Concept Behind THE WAVE

To maximise the number of surf days, THE WAVE will be installed in a separate canal, running parallel to the river: A portion of the river Traun will be channeled through an artificial canal in which the wave structure will be placed. This approach allows the engineers to design and build the wave under controlled and stable conditions. While operating the wave, the canal approach will allow wave operators to adjust the flow to different discharge levels in the main river Traun and create wave shapes for different kinds of surf styles.

THE WAVE’s mission is to make the stoke of surfing accessible to a landlocked community.

The canal concept has been proposed and discussed a number of times (e.g. at the River Wave Forums), but this is probably the first time it will be implemented. The approach is also promising for other communities, since discharge levels of most rivers vary significantly throughout the year, depending on precipitation, temperature and the time of the year (e.g. higher winter/spring runoffs).

Working Prototype

In wave construction prototype testing is one of the most rewarding phases. Developing a prototype of a river wave allows the team to bring the wave to life for the first time, test the wave in action and identify opportunities for improvement and fine-tuning. Wave prototyping gives the project team the opportunity to gather feedback and make changes that will eventually maximise the surfability of the wave.

The results can be seen for themselves, with the 1:8 scale model of THE WAVE looking pretty damn good. Will this canal approach be a game-changer in wave building? Check out the videos and photos below and find out yourself!

Videos From The Prototype Site

This is what THE WAVE prototype looks like at the lowest expected flow level:

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A post shared by Benjamin Di-Qual (@killahaase) on Nov 11, 2017 at 7:16am PST

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Experimenting with different wave shapes:

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A post shared by @nu.art_surfstuff on Nov 8, 2017 at 6:36am PST

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Steep face setting:

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A post shared by @nu.art_surfstuff on Nov 15, 2017 at 6:12am PST

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More Impressions

Make It Happen!

Impressive work on the prototype testing, let’s make this happen! Can’t wait to see THE WAVE operating in full size, best of luck with the next steps!

The post THE WAVE: Prototyping A World Class River Wave appeared first on Riverbreak.