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.

Friday, October 6

Starting at 7:00pm (no registration required)
Meet and Greet: Meet and surf with river surfers from across North America

Saturday, October 7

8:00am–8:30am
Morning registration

8:30am–9:00am
Jacob Kelly: event introduction

9:00am–10:00am
Neil Egsgard: step by step timeline for wave builds

10:00am–10:30am – Via Skype (Austria)
Maximilian Neuböck: stakeholder management, overall wave build approaches

10:30am–11:00am
Jeffrey Banks: fundraising for surf waves

11:00am–11:30am
Ben Nielsen: finding the best sites and conditions for successful wave projects

11:30am–noon
Questions and answers

Noon–1:00pm
Lunch

1:00pm–1:20pm
Alex Copp: experiences in growing surf communities and starting a surf shop

1:20pm–1:40pm
KB Brown: experiences in shaping river surfboards and young surfers

1:40pm–2:00pm
Discussions: in groups

2:00pm–2:20pm
Loren Kaehn: registering a non-profit surf association

2:20pm–2:40pm
Tyler Kraushar: fundraising strategies for small groups

2:40pm–3:00pm
Discussion: in groups

4:00pm–4:30pm
Ryan Richard: whitewater park evolution, adjustable waves, relationships with cities and businesses

4:30pm–4:45pm
Ben Nielsen: engineer’s point of view with working with cities

4:45pm–5:00pm
Neil Egsgard: presentation of a communication framework

5:00pm–5:20pm
Questions and answers

6:00pm–9:00pm
Evening social, river surf discussions, mingling, beers

Sunday, October 8

Sunday Funday (no registration required)
Meet and surf with river surfers from across North America

Location

Bend, Oregon

Ticket Options

Wave Building Workshop ($115)
8:00am – 1:00pm: includes the rest of the day – no other registration is required to attend later events

Community Building Afternoon ($60)
1:00pm – 6:00pm: includes the evening but no access to the morning -no other registration is required to attend the social

Evening Social ($20)
6:00pm – 9:00pm: includes evening only, no access to morning or afternoon

As part of the summit a Meet & Greet will take place the Friday evening before at the wave as well as a Sunday Funday surf but registration is not required.

If you want to join the Summit it is not too late to purchase your ticket at eventbrite.com

The post 2017 River Surf Summit: Program and Schedule appeared first on Riverbreak.

There are two types of river surf waves — Hydraulic Jumps and Sheet Flows. A Hydraulic Jump Wave forms when fast moving water slows down because of the water downstream, called “tailwater”. There are many examples of Hydraulic Jump Waves:

• Eisbach
• Czech Wave
• Lochsa Pipeline
• Brennan’s Wave
• Boise River Park
• Lunch Counter in Wyoming
• and countless other river waves.

By contrast, a Sheet Flow Wave forms when fast moving water flows over a bottom contour that shapes the wave but is not affected by the tailwater. The best example of this is the Cunovo Wave in Slovakia. Note in the video how much the pool downstream is below the wave – not impacting the wave at all. In general, a hydraulic jump wave is the only type that forms naturally in rivers. I suppose a sheet flow wave could form in a river, but I personally have never seen or ridden one.

Hydraulic Jump Wave or Sheet Flow Wave?

I have been asked which is better a Hydraulic Jump Wave or Sheet Flow Wave? That is a tough question and probably more of a personal preference. For me, I can’t tell the difference when I’m surfing as long as the sheet flow wave is deep enough to ride full profile and stiff fins. Although shallow sheet flow waves like the FlowRider™ are super fun, I prefer the feeling of driving through turns as only fins allow. Hydraulic Jump and Sheet Flow Waves are formed by two fundamental elements — hydraulic drop and flow.

Flow: It’s obvious but without water there are no river waves. Also without enough water it’s not deep enough to surf. My experience is that a minimum flow for a surf wave is about 15 cubic feet per second (cfs) per foot of width of wave (1 cubic meter per second per meter) but this is very dependent on various hydraulic conditions.

Hydraulic Drop: This is energy available to create the wave. More drop equals bigger waves right? Not exactly, there are practical limits. In general, 2 to 4 feet of drop is ample to create good waves.

Neil Egsgard with the Surf Anywhere Project wrote a great article for Riverbreak on the basic elements needed to create river waves. Check it out for more info.

The Four Types of Hydraulic Wave Formations

My expertise is designing Hydraulic Jump Waves. That’s the kind of wave most commonly surfed. Hydraulic jumps are affected by many factors, none more than tailwater, the depth of water in the downstream pool. Depending on tailwater there are typically four unique wave/hole formations:

#1: Pour Over (Lowest Tailwater) — Can be hazardous to river users due to strong upstream currents.

#2: B Jump (Low Tailwater) — A hole formation (breaking wave) that occurs just downstream of the structure.

#3: Max Wave (Perfect Tailwater) — The holy grail for river surfing.

#4: A Jump (High Tailwater) — Hole formation (breaking wave) that occur on the structure.

Video Illustrating the Various Wave Forms

Check out this video during a MWDG physical model that illustrates the various wave forms. Note how the wave form changes with tailwater. Can you find the four wave forms?

As you can see in the video, the Max Wave, what we all want to ride, is very sensitive. The height and steepness needed to surf requires a specific tailwater depth. Herein lies the crux of the wave building problem. To further complicate the matter, there are many variables besides tailwater that affect Max Wave — drop, flow, geometry of wave structure, slope of approach, downstream pool configuration, and others.

How to Design a Max Wave

There are two approaches to effectively design a Max Wave. Trial and error may work in canals and other very controlled environments but still may never yield a Max Wave suitable for surfing due to so many variables or may be cost prohibitive particularly in natural rivers.

Real-Time Adjustability – WaveShaper™ (developed by MWDG) to solve the Max Wave problem. The WaveShaper™ can be adjusted to affect the approach angle, drop, and tailwater relative to the structure – three of the biggest factors. Design is still very important even with real-time adjustability because the range that Max Wave occurs is still easily missed. In addition, the more adjustability a feature has the higher the cost so accurate design is key. The Boise River Park is a good example to illustrate how the WaveShaper™ works and it’s applicability to river surfing.

Static Features – Boulders or concrete structures. This requires the highest level of design and experience to reliably create a Max Wave. MWDG designed a static feature called the Treadmill Wave in Columbus Georgia. In general, the best static feature waves occur with higher flows than required by the WaveShaper™, which is often not available.

Getting your Wave Built

So what does all this mean to ripping your first turns? If you surf a man-made wave already, consider yourself lucky and buy the designers/builders a beer (or two) next time you see them, it’s a great accomplishment. If you want one built in your town, get in touch with an experience designer that has had success building surf waves. If you are keeping it natural, keep hunting around that next bend and hope for highwater. See you on the river.

By: Ben Nielsen, PE, LEED AP

The post The Two Types of River Waves: Which One Are You Surfing On? appeared first on Riverbreak.