Kelly Slater’s wave pool gets its own event for the 2018 Championship Tour

By Amanda Ellis Updated November 21, 2017

Since Kelly Slater Wave Company released the first video of the perfect artificial wave constructed at Surf Ranch two years ago, Slater’s wave pool has been making splashes across the media. Although not open to the public, numerous press releases, and accounts from those who have had the opportunity to surf there confirm that Surf Ranch is the real deal. Now it is slated as a stop on the 2018 World Surf League’s Championship Tour — drawing even more attention to the coveted, 400-yard long artificial wave.

Surf Ranch is located in California’s San Joaquin Valley in a land-locked location more than 100 miles from the coast. A recent article revealed the science behind the wave pool, which up until this point had been kept a trade secret. Slater’ company joined a fluid mechanics specialist to construct a hydrofoil blade that efficiently moves the water in a way that imitates a real ocean swell. The bottom of the wave pool is constructed to mimic a reef, like out in the open ocean, in order to produce surfable waves. The hydrofoil can be adjusted to change the height and magnitude of the wave, making it ideal for use in competition.

Although Slater’s personal Surf Ranch is not open to the public, he is planning on opening a public facility in Palm Beach, Florida in 2019, dubbed Surf Ranch Florida. Although other wave pools have been under construction across the country, none have been able to come close to Surf Ranch’s perfect seven-foot high bi-directional barreling wave. The owners of the World Surf League (WSL) took interest upon its completion, acquiring a majority stake in the Kelly Slater Wave Company just last year. It is only fitting they are now including Surf Ranch as a stop on the Championship Tour.

“Based on the results of our test event this year and the feedback from surfers training at the facility throughout the season, next September’s event has the potential to be something special for both surfers and fans,” WSL CEO Sophie Goldschmidt said in a press release. “We’re only scratching the surface of how this technology can be applied and it is completely game-changing for the sport.”

The World Surf League plans on releasing a full 2018 competition schedule next week.

Topics

Contributor

Amanda is an outdoor junkie and digital nomad with an insatiable hunger for gear. Based out of Raleigh, NC she travels to…

Outdoors

Goodbye, coolers. The EcoFlow Glacier doesn’t need ice — it makes it

The EcoFlow Glacier is a fridge shaped like a cooler with its own battery,

Every cooler operates on borrowed time. It leaves for your camping trip brimming over with crisp produce and ice-encrusted beer that looks straight out of a Super Bowl commercial, and returns with a soggy block of foil-wrapped cheddar cheese floating in a pool of mustard water. Mother Nature always wins.

Perhaps that’s why I was so enamored when I saw the EcoFlow Glacier at CES 2023. Less a cooler than a mobile battery-powered fridge on wheels, the sleek electric Glacier not only obviated the need for ice, it would make ice for me in 18 minutes. My home fridge can’t even do that, and I didn’t even know I wanted it to until just now. When EcoFlow offered to let me try the Glacier, I envisioned sipping a perspiring glass of whiskey in the tropics and accepted the occupational hazards of my job.

Outdoors

I was wrong. E-bikes are so practical, they’re a transit cheat code

An Aventon Level 2 ebike sits outside a grocery store.

Confession: Despite loving both bikes and gadgets, e-bikes never excited me. Compared to my bicycle, e-bikes seemed unfair. Compared to my motorcycle, they seemed slow. Compared to my car, they seemed impractical.

But with $1,500 federal e-bike rebates potentially on the horizon at part of E-Bike Act, I decided it was past time to reconsider. Not just because 30% off would make them way more accessible, but because the entire idea that e-bikes could be worthy of a rebate changed the way I looked at them: less as toys, more as transit. Had I written off an entire way of getting around because I was looking at it the wrong way?

Outdoors

Upway launches one of the best marketplaces for certified e-bikes, new or not

Man holding ebike from Upway in a field, lifestyle image.

This content was produced in partnership with Upway.
It wasn't too long ago that e-bikes were a rare sight, but all of that has changed, and rightfully so. Electric bikes are all over the road these days, and there are many brands either venturing into the technology, to launch their own versions of the sustainable transportation option or reiterating existing and traditional designs. From Aventon to Schwinn, or RadPower to Momentum, with so many opportunities, the prevailing question is, where do you go to find the best deals and the best information about these brands and their e-bike models? The answer is Upway, the number one certified electric bike provider and an official partner to many of the aforementioned brands.

What is Upway, exactly? It's a marketplace, specializing in e-bikes, featuring an inventory that's sourced from some of the best brands in the world. There are American brands -- like Specialized, Cannondale, and RadPower -- and European brands -- like Riese, Muller, and VanMoof. The best part is the discounts, offering up to 60% off retail, for a plethora of brands. Upway is on a mission to make sustainable mobility affordable for everyone. It's also one of the best places to go for a new or pre-owned e-bike, and here's why: