I don't know if there are any other surfers who use the half-bakery but I for one am sick of having flat spells. Yesterday we had an 8m swell and I missed out because I slept in, today it has dropped to about 3m and I get to the beach only to be confronted by 2ft slop, a soloution must be found.

Flow riders (water pumped against a curved wall to make a "still wave") have been around for many years and are the best "wave machine" available, wave pools have very poor quality waves. This wave machine would utilize existing beaches and reefs to make rideable waves for contests or just recreational surfers.

The machine would consist of a giant inflateable spherical bouy (about the size of a football feild.) This would be attached to a large submersable vehicle that creeps along the sea floor on tracks like a tank. Once driven into position in deep water off the break the submersable vehicle would attach itself to the rocks with hooks and maby if the seafloor is more unstable it may need to be bolted to the rocks as a permanent fixture. The bouy would be pumped full of air on the surface and then lowered down to the sea floor by several chain winches. Once there the winches would release their hold on the bouy and it would rocket to the surface. The enormous size of the bouy should create some nice ripples on beaches and reefs for maby up to a kilometer around the bouy. The closer to the bouy the break is situated the bigger the waves will be.

Its my dream that one day these wave generator bouys will be stationed 1km apart up and down the coast of every continent meaning surf all year round. They could even be used in lakes wich would probably also be better as all the waves will hit shore and none will go out to sea.
-- Gulherme, Aug 09 2002

Gulherme's link. http://www.tassiesu...Photo_Galleries.htm
the little devil that he is. [po, Aug 10 2002, last modified Oct 05 2004]

River surfing in Munic http://video.google...362&q=river+surfing
[jmvw, Nov 20 2006]

I've owned oh gawd 12 or so boards over the years - mostly longboards, none in past 3 years (surfer's ear just won't go away no matter how expensive the med.), so I empathize with you. The problem is this: Insurance/Lawsuits stemming from man-made anything which form more desirable surfing conditions also by default, create conditions in which some Wilbur Kookemeyer can get hurt. For instance, The Wedge in Newport Beach, CA has numerous broken necks each year, when would-be bodysurfers take their chances on this wave which was somewhat accidently manmade in a spot where conditions were less than optimal before. So Newport Beach gets sued for lots of money once in a while. It's rival for snapped necks is Sandy Beach, Oahu, HI - which I've also ridden. Sandy Beach is a natural wave, and like Newport, is ideal for skimming and bodysurfing. But it's victims do not face Attorneys representing those who "made" the wave.
Though it's baked in numerous inland settings - As for the halfbakedness in an ocean setting: It's been an ideal for real surfers (Read: Me Have Feet, Me Stand) for as long as I can remember. Some have done a bit of night-reef-making...
Getting back to the wet dream... As you well know - Swell direction is critical, as it means the difference between drop or slop. Take Malibu, for example - each of the points, 1st, 2nd or 3rd have slightly different "requirements" for them to really get to perfection. One might be perfect, the others ehhhhhhhh close, but closeouts etc. - you propose any way around this?
-- thumbwax, Aug 09 2002


Hmm the lawsuit issue is a definate problem. Man made reefs are always shit because people just don't make them the same as good natural reefs, it's not that they can't, they just don't because some kook will end up getting flogged and hurting themselves. Maby you could privatise things like this and make members sign a release form, this would also pay to run the generator.
-- Gulherme, Aug 09 2002


just asking. is there a virtual reality surfing game?
-- po, Aug 09 2002


Did you attend UCSB in Goleta or sumpin', blissmiss?
I made Santa Barbara/Goleta/Isla Vista a destination for a solid year, rarely did I miss.
Explanador: When I lived 2.5 hrs. inland, I woiked 12 days straight, took 2 days off with the last day off by 2 in afternoon, if not noon - the first day of new stretch meant I'd be due back to woik at 6 p.m. - this left me with an arrival time of anywhere between 2:30 and 4:30 in afternoon on day 1. days 2 and 3 were spent surfing, day 4 was spent surfing until 2 or so. Usually one side or another of Coal Oil Point, occasional foray to Rincon Point in Carpenteria.
Yes, in reply to your loaded question for the uninitiated, I used Sex Wax - it's Dr. Zogs, BTW. There's some pretty funny names for some of the boardwax companies - Mrs. Palmers, for one. "Mrs. Palmer and her five daughters" I'd hate to see someone think it was for anything but traction.
-- thumbwax, Aug 09 2002


po - there is a pretty good game out for x-box Transworld surf I think, but what I'm really hanging out for is Kelly Slaters pro surfing, made by activision (Tony Hawk pro skater) should be good. Bliss I live at the end of the earth so no I can't say that I've attended one of mr zogs parties. That said living at the end of the earth does have its advantages if anyone has been intune with the world surfing media over the past year they might have come accoss some articles or photos of a wave called Shipsterns bluff, fluffies, ykw - you know where or the right. http://www.tassiesurf.com/Photo_Galleries.htm there is some photos of my great little island at the end of the world, Daveys photos have shippies in it.
-- Gulherme, Aug 10 2002


bliss, Andersen's Pea Soup *upchuckle* is what you're thinking of - they're based in Buellton, with billboards seemingly every mile for 200 miles each way on PCH. The Dutch town of you're speaking of is Solvang, near Jacko's Neverland between the Santa's Barbara and Maria.
BTW, memory refreshed - MR. Zogs - Doh! Never attended parties of which you speak. Not surprised about the horses though - It's Horse Country up there. I think we've turned this into a chatroom Double-Doh! I'll email more info
-- thumbwax, Aug 10 2002


put Gulherme's link up for him and he is right, it looks a lovely place.
-- po, Aug 10 2002


As an improvement I would suggest that the buoy would be *already* under water before the air pumping. This way you would save loads of energy pulling the buoy down. It would just be a mater of having cables fixed at the desired depth that could withstand the upwards force of the buoy until it was completely filled with air.
-- PauloSargaco, Mar 19 2004


The forces involved would likely rip the anchors right out of the ground, that is if the inflating material didn't rip appart first - let alone the cables. Even after spending several billion dollars and getting it to work at least one time; I really doubt it would create usable waves.

Arrays of giant nuclear/steam powered pistons right off of each break might be less expensive and more effective. Wait a second! Maybe I have something there. Doesnt every Nuclear plant have to have a lake near by? I am sure they must have extra steam they need to discharge. Hmmm.....

I heard John Kerry snowboards, maybe he would endorse an initiative. Surfers are voters and taxpayers too. If only there were some fanatic surfers in charge of big nuclear facilities.

Of course, there is the posible concern about getting radiated. Toxic sludge never stopped S.Cal surfers before though (its usually not so bad once you get past the "brown belt" close to the shore.)
-- bigdooky, Jul 09 2004


Hello All, In Belgium we have a company that makes a floating sphere and inside is a mechanisme with a weight that is moved up and down along a vertical axis by an electromotor, when this is done waves are created (think of it like a buoy being pushed in the water), they only have small models for indoor use in recreational pools , apparantly it is a very cheap way to keep the water in motion because they have a computerprogram that calculates how the weight inside must move in order to get the most water displaced by the sphere, think of it like jumping on a trampoline and with each jump gaining height but you still being the same weight, so that's basicly what goes on inside the sphere, i was just thinking that something like this but then scaled up might be a better idea for creating surf on flat days. Anyway, check out their link www.wowcompany.com , pretty good stuff to come from a country not known for the surf.
-- FromBelgium, Nov 20 2006


In Munich people surf on a river. See link.
-- jmvw, Nov 20 2006



random, halfbakery