Artificial surfing reefs - The future?

If you haven´t heard of Dr. Kerry Black then you should quickly google this guy as he might be one of the people I would categorise as a Surfing Futurist. He is the driving force and creative mind behind artificial reefs of which 24 are currently being built around the world. Dr. Kerry Black is responsible for the Narrowneck project on Australia’s Gold Coast, the most successful man-made surfing break to date.

As you can imagine building a surf break is not a walk in the park. Kerry and his team did a huge amount of modeling, video work, air photography work, undertaking any means to look at what’s happening in the bay in the first place. Then they use their database of world-class reefs - they have some 42 now - including places like Pipeline. They look at the components in those reefs that makes them so good. They pull out the characteristics from those excellent reefs so they know how such perfect waves are created. Dr. Kerry says, that

nature has the problem of combining these sort of features randomly; it’s just luck if they all fall into place. But with computer design you can model the existing reefs based on years of empirical research and data.

Dr. Kerry Black also works on a project with Surfparks and the Versa Reef. They try to recreate different waves in one wave pool: “It’s like a great big water-filled bladder under pressure. And the height of the bladder over the floor of the pool is controlled by cables that are set to particular lengths. So the bladder can only inflate up to a certain height. Okay, and then the cables are all computer-controlled to give it a reef shape, so you just have a screen that says Burleigh or Beachbreak or Pipeline. You press a button on the screen and all the computer files are built in, it moves the cables to the right length with these big winches. And then the pressure is taken off the floor and it’s all moved and the pressure’s put back on the floor again. So you can get an infinite number of shapes.”

Seems like the wave of the future has arrived.

Websites:
Interview with Dr. Kerry Black in Surfing Magazine
Article on Narrowneck reef
Mount reef project website
UK - Bournemouth reef project website

 

Dynamite Surfing - Quicksilver viral campaign

The transition between reality and fiction is blurring in Quicksilver’s “Dynamite Surfing” viral campaign which has already been viewed more than 10 mio times on Youtube. What is real and what is not? The explosion actually took place in Copenhagen’s Lake Sortedams. The blast was staged by a pyrotechnics company which usually works on Hollywood blockbusters. Permission for the underwater explosion had to be obtained from the Danish government. But the surfer didn’t surf the wave following the explosion. They filmed the surf scene on a deserted piece of Danish coastline. The film production took two-and-a-half months and is the brainchild of Australian Simon Wooller, an award-winning creative director with advertising giant Saatchi & Saatchi, who works in their Danish office. You can find more information in the British Daily Mail.

 

Project Blue

Oil tankers leaking, companies irresponsibly dumping waste into the sea, people throwing cigarette butts on the beach; that’s just the start of a long list of crimes against nature and in this case our oceans. Everyone and especially the surfers amongst us should do everything possible to protect the future of our blue playground. “Be true to blue”, the website name of project BLUE makes the right call. And to secure future surf sessions everyone can contribute to a better future. Surf companies are making an effort as well. Project BLUE is a surf industry initiative dedicated to keeping our oceans, waves and beaches safe and thriving. By buying exclusive project BLUE gear, a portion of the proceeds fund coastline protection initiatives worldwide. Six of the top global surf brands invested into a program to support the Surfrider Foundation, a leading global grass-roots organisation. So get your cash out and buy some of these products and even more important: Get active. The website offers tips on how to help protect your oceans.

From now on, every time you go to the beach, pick up one (or if you want even more) piece (s) of rubbish.

If surfers worldwide do it every time they go for a surf, imagine the impact! You can make a change. Do it! Leave a comment with a simple idea that everyone could pick up tomorrow and which will help protect our oceans.

More info: Project Blue website

 

Glacier Surfing in Alaska

One of the biggest challenges in Surfing nowadays is Big Wave Surfing. But that’s obviously not enough for some surfers that constantly try to push themselves further. Garrett McNamara and Keali’i went to Alaska to surf the waves formed from “calving” glaciers, that occurs when huge pieces break off and hit the water.
More info: Garrett McNamara’s homepage