Waves

 The Heart of Wave House

Central to every Wave House venue are one of two cutting-edge surf attractions: the SurfLoch SurfPool™, or the FlowBarrel® sheet wave, both by our sister company Wave Loch. Both of these surfing attractions are based on technology proprietary to Wave Loch, the world leader in human generated surfing technology, secured by worldwide intellectual property protection. For over 25 years, Wave Loch’s surfing attractions have been at the forefront of the artificial wave revolution, bringing the sport of boardriding inland to millions of people. Wave Loch’s technology is installed in 35 countries, every major continent, and over 200 locations.

These high-visibility centerpiece attractions provide unequaled benefits for the Wave House venue:

Both SurfLoch SurfPool™ and the FlowBarrel® provide entry to the surfing lifestyle, to participants and spectators alike. The technology behind and requirements of the two attractions are very different however.

SurfLoch SurfPool™: a surfing attraction that replicates a real ocean wave

A SurfLoch SurfPool takes all the best from Mother Nature to create the world’s best replication of a perfect ocean surfing wave. SurfLoch is the antidote to the troubled inefficient wave pools of the past. Our SurfPool’s innovative design offers: consistent, quality waves with unprecedented frequency in the smallest physical footprint, and with the greatest energy efficiency.

While the few surfing wave pools in existence have struggled to make ends meet, Wave Loch has dedicated over 10 years to the development and refinement of its proprietary SurfLoch SurfPool technology to make what was once infeasible, now financially viable and ready to deploy.

SurfLoch SurfPool is 10 feet deep and the size can vary from 100×50 meters to 200×50 meters, with a variety of shapes, sizes and number of breaks available. It has the following features and benefits:

HIGH WAVE FREQUENCY

• Proprietary wave-generating system produces multiple surfable waves in seconds rather than minutes.
• Higher frequency results in greater customer throughput, maximizing the return on large pool capital investments.

SURF SCIENCE

• Understanding the science of waves allows Wave Loch’s hydrodynamic computer and physical modeling systems to validate and enable customization to each unique customer location.

WATER SURFACE SMOOTHING

• Contrary to traditional waterpark wave pools, which utilize random chop and reflecting waves, a surfing pool prefers a glassy smooth surface
• Wave Loch’s proprietary dampening systems eliminates adverse surface chop and rip currents while facilitating perfect wave formation.

MULTIPLE REEFS

• Our multiple reef system allows multiple waves of varying heights to break simultaneously. This allows an operator to accommodate riders of all skill levels simultaneously. In addition, an operator can choose to operate the smaller break as a swimmers-only traditional wave pool, like you would see in a water park.

PROVEN ECONOMIC RETURN

• As an operator, Wave Loch understands that stable financial return is not only a function of revenue generated from the attraction, but factors in the attraction’s ability to hold a crowd and create ancillary food, beverage, and retail income as well as hospitality room and real estate value.
• Wave Loch, through its sister company Wave House, has a proven track record in operating wave attractions and has a verifiable database of historical financial performance to offer real-world economic feasibility comparables applicable to your site.

ENHANCED ENERGY EFFICIENCY

• We incorporate energy recapture technologies throughout our pool designs.
• 3 for 1: our unique reef design creates up to three wave breaks of progressively increasing duration for the same amount of energy.
• Using natural gas-powered cogeneration we can simultaneously create waves and heat the pool.

For more specific information on SurfLoch SurfPool, click HERE.

To read a Case Study about SurfLoch SurfPool, click HERE.

Visit our Brochures page to download the SurfLoch SurfPool brochure.

FlowBarrel®: a sheet wave simulated surfing attraction

FlowBarrel (and its little brother, FlowRider) both are about the size of a large swimming pool. The basic technology behind flowboarding and “sheet waves„ is the use of multiple, high-energy pumps to project a three inch layer of water over a surface that has been shaped to emulate an ocean wave.

Essentially, this means that sheet waves are stationary waves with the movement derived from water flowing over this shaped surface. The water flows at between 20 and 30 miles per hour, with as much as 100,000 gallons of water a minute being propelled by the pumps.

First patented in the early 90’s by Tom Lochtefeld, Wave Loch® sheet waves come in two categories of intensity: The FlowRider® and The FlowBarrel®.

The entry-level wave is the FlowRider and this wave offers riders the perfect canvas to learn and perfect the sport of flowboarding. The FlowRider is a sheet wave that emulates an unbroken ocean swell giving riders the thrill of flowboarding without the intimidation of a barrel. Its large open face allows riders to throw tricks of all kinds from learning the basics to advanced technical skateboard-like moves, e.g. kickflips, shove-its, and varials.

The more challenging FlowBarrel has, as the name suggests, a tubing / barreling wave along with a nice steep unbroken wave face, which resembles the type of wave hardcore surfers travel the world in an endless search. The FlowBarrel can break as big as 10 feet at 30mph but instead of coral, rocks and urchins lurking beneath the surface, sheet waves flow over a soft, padded surface – similar to a wrestling mat.

For more specific information on the FlowBarrel click HERE.

To read a Case Study on a FlowBarrel and FlowRider in a Wave House, click HERE.

Visit our Brochures pages to download the FlowRider/FlowBarrel brochures.

Unique Centerpiece and Revenue Stream

The sport of surfing and flowboarding are the pillars of the Wave House experience. Not only are the attractions a blast to ride, they’re mesmerizing to watch while enjoying a great meal or drinks with friends. No other restaurant or bar harnesses the power of the ocean, coming at with megawatts of force, just yards away.

With a Wave House established on every major continent, and over 200 FlowRiders in operation across the globe, we live by our motto: “Wave The Planet”. And with the addition of the ground-breaking SurfLoch SurfPool™, Wave House is poised to remain on the cutting edge of wave technology, and lifestyle destination attractions.