Wave Pool Mag
Episodes
Surf Park Design: What Goes Into Creating a Great Wave Pool Experience
16 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Bill Duncanson came up surfing the beaches of New Jersey, working at one of the area’s core surf shops before architecture became his second passion...
Five Projects Across a Fistful of Continents with Archipelago
25 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
One year ago, I sat with Eneko Elosegui at a restaurant overlooking the ocean near his home in St Jean De Luz, a Basque seaport famous for jai alai, a...
Pulse Check: That State of the Industry with Skip Taylor
05 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In Episode 87 of the WavePoolMag Podcast, with Skip Taylor of Surf Park Management we dig into some industry secrets and insights from someone who's b...
Citywave USA Aims for More Surf Parks in the USA
06 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the early days, artificial standing waves struggled for recognition outside of Munich, Germany, and a few niche surf communities. But today’s adv...
The Wave Transition With Owner & CEO Julian Topham
22 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Julan Topham is used to storms. He’s put on multimillion-dollar festivals, like Boardmasters, for several years and knows that something as wonderfu...
CEO Savant Troy Warfield on Steering Surf Lakes
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Where is Surf Lakes now? According to the company, eight live-wire projects are being developed across several countries. The company relocated its fi...
Blake Hess at Atlantic Park: Building Surf Parks and Teams
02 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Blake is such a wellspring of information on all things surf parks that it was difficult to stop with the questions. That said, this hour-long talk an...
What's Happening With The Palm Springs Surf Club?
25 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Equal parts promise and postponement, SoCal’s first wave pool benefited from stellar branding and relentless Insta reels from some of the best surfe...
From Dream to Daily Grind: The Lost Shore Surf Park Business Story
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when the dream of opening a wave pool becomes a 9-to-5 reality? In his fourth appearance on the WavePoolMag podcast, Andy Hadden of Lost ...
Gold Coast Wave Pool Project
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Do you really need Mick Fanning on board to make your wave pool project successful? You need Mick for the zest and allure that attracts aspiring ...
How Do Surf Parks Deal With Risk?
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Chivers is kind of the opposite of how I expected him to be. For whatever reason, I pictured a nervous, sweaty man constantly looking up at the c...
Looking Back at the Invention of Kelly's and Toward the Future of a New Technology
14 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Remember that magical moment in December 2015 when Kelly unveiled his wave pool to the world? In this episode of the WavePoolMag podcast, we dive into...
What Makes a Great Guest Experience? Lee Wood at Lost Shore
27 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we dive into an educational conversation with Lost Shore's Surf & Hospitality Director Lee Wood. Raised on the rugged Scottish co...
What It Took to Launch Revel Surf: Matt Gunn’s Big Reveal
14 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Before their grand opening, Revel Surf had to get sign-off from agencies who’d never even seen a surf park. What if inspectors expect a flat-bottom ...
Amy Hunt of Waco Surf Dishes About the Skills Needed to Run a Surf Park
26 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Does anyone remember those Bartender school commercials they used to run on daytime TV? It was a specific school for a specific task - serving drinks....
Building a Wave Pool in the Middle of a European City with Tom Lochtefeld
09 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We were lucky enough to catch Tom Lochtefeld at the RiF010 wave pool in central Rotterdam. Tom shared with us how this unique project came into being ...
Flowstate: Revolutionizing Experience with Luke Wallace
28 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bryan talks with Luke Wallace, CEO and Co-Founder of Flowstate, the premium AI-powered camera system reshaping how surf parks capture and deliver vide...
How Do You Design a Wave Pool? Bringing the Munich Pool to Life
15 May 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The machine powering the transformation of German surfing is an Endless Surf 34 caisson wave pool, or ES34 to those in the know. To bring this beast t...
Why Change Your Surf Park's Wave Settings? The Wave Bristol Did Just That
16 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
How do you overhaul the surf experience without disrupting your most loyal riders? What does it take to redesign wave settings that help surfers progr...
The collective wave pool wisdom of Craig Stoddart and Damon Tudor
19 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, we speak with Damon Tudor (former CEO of URBNSURF) and Craig Stoddart (co-founder of The Wave) about their journey and their exciting...
On a Mission to Surf as Many Wave Pools as Possible
09 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mike Goldy’s has spent $15,000 on wave pool sessions. In return he has surfed 15 different wave technologies at 23 different standing and traveling ...
How AllWaves is Changing the Game for Surf Park Operations
18 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
We learned about AllWaves last year on a visit to Belgium with Blair Conklin and crew in tow. During our visit, we saw firsthand the wave pool’s pot...
Mitch Crews: Senior Director of Surf Experience at Surf Abu Dhabi
30 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Where do regular people eat in Abu Dhabi? I mean, it can't be a 5-star dining experience for every meal - maybe in the glossy press materials, but not...
The layered complexities of commercial development with Joe Dale of The Wave
20 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Joe Dale serves as the Head of Commercial at The Wave in Bristol. In his role, he develops strategies to attract visitors to The Wave. Easy, right? We...
A surf club that shapes and helps the micro cosmos of desert surf culture
14 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Coachella Valley Surf Club emerged hot on the heels of a handful of wave pool announcements for the desert east of Los Angeles. What started as an...
Andy Hadden on bringing Lost Shore Surf Resort to life
07 Jan 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Andy Hadden is pumped. We're sitting on the edge of the wave pool that he spent over a decade bringing to life. Today, all those blueprints, civic mee...
"Entertainment is about everything in one place" – Adam Saks on the Cannon Beach effect
18 Dec 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On site at Revel Surf in Mesa Arizona earlier this month we spoke with COO Adam Saks – a creative hospitality veteran who brings a refreshing New Yo...
Bringing Germany’s first wave pool online
18 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jonas Boehm-Tettelbach is an imposing figure. He's Lurch height with a backwoodsy hairstyle and beard – put him in greasy overalls and he could be c...
Cannon Time: Argentina’s new wave poolers
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Joaquín Lozada and Ezequiel Fernandez Lobo from La Ola Group, based in Argentina, are spearheading a technology that uses underwater air cannons to g...
Wave pool pioneer Cheyne Magnusson opens up about the Palm Springs Surf Club, his history and more
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There are only a handful of people on the planet with as much wave design experience as Cheyne Magnusson. He’s part of an obsessed, laser-focused el...
Surf park knowledge nuggets with industry vet Jessica Mahoney
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jessica Mahoney’s professional life has crossed paths with WavePoolMag a few times now, first at ADG and later as COO at Surf Park Summit. Over the ...
Days of Futures Past: Phil Roberts’ influence on the look of today’s wave pools
02 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Philip Roberts is always in close orbit to surfing’s greatest inventors. Mentored by water park guru Dick Croul (Wild Rivers) he’s brought the ide...
The best wave pool movie ever and surfing’s lasting influence with John Philbin
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
John Philbin’s best-known movie parts were in Children of the Corn, Tombstone, Point Break and, of course, The North Shore - that classic 1980s film...
Asking URBNSURF if your second wave pool is easier than the first
15 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a mantra in the wave pool space that the development, opening and operation of parks will get easier as more facilities open up. That’s wh...
The AllWaves Story: Outside-the-box wave pool imagineering
19 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Steven Nauwelaerts of AllWaves refers to competitors as "collegues," a refreshing take in a sector that grows more competitive each day. Steven has a ...
Ideas and implementations: URBNSURF CEO Jennifer Vandekreeke
09 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The first thing we noticed at URBNSURF Sydney was that everyone wore a name badge. “Dude maintaining the pool” now has a name (it’s Keith by the...
How this big wave surfer will transform Bavarian surfing through o2 SURFTOWN MUC
13 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I'm at the construction site at o2 SURFTOWN MUC with Michi Mohr. He's a large, intimidating figure with thick hands and a disarming smile - warm, sinc...
Find out how to build a wave pool in a canal in the center of Europe’s busiest shipping city
02 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Edwin van Viegen is leading a wave pool development in the center of Europe's busiest port city, Rotterdam. He has been working on this project for se...
Plans and dreams to create a wave pool: “This is a story about failure and what not to do”
27 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Wave pool projects require perseverance, as they involve a significant amount of time, effort, and the all-mighty dollar. Nick Robinson talks about th...
AI video capture of your sessions with Luke Wallace of Flowstate
04 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Luke Wallace is the CEO of Flowstate, an AI video capture system adopted by many of the world’s wave pools. We spoke with Luke to find out how a var...
Beyond The Wave – The Nick Hounsfield Interview
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that Nick Hounsfield comes from a family of inventors? He didn't invent the wave pool at his surf park. No, Wavegarden did that. But he's...
Matt Hyslop on feasibility studies for new surf venues
28 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Can a passion project like a wave pool have blind spots to reality? Matt Hyslop from Colliers International talks with WavePoolMag about his role in c...
The backstory to Wave Park South Korea and its effects on K-Surf
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hear Euna Kim's firsthand account of Wave Park's inception in Siheung-Si, South Korea. With her mastery of languages and a newfound passion for surfin...
Surf Park Summit achievements with Chris Kluesener
05 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast our guest Chris Kluesener sights on the wave pool space through the Surf Park Summit lens. We touch on the newness of the uniqueness o...
Barton Lynch on wave pools, their potential and oh so much more
16 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In our latest episode we catch up with 1988 world champ Barton Lynch who many of us know as the live wire WSL commentator. From our side of this inter...
How to manage a wave pool with URBNSURF’s Shaun Hutchinson
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Shaun Hutchinson is Group Operations Manager at Urbnsurf. Most of the day he’s tucked back in the office redlining in the tasks department, but we c...
Hazel Geary – CEO at The Wave, Bristol
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We returned live to the middle of a sheep paddock in bucolic Easter Compton to check in with the new CEO at The Wave, Hazel Geary. In this podcast we ...
Find out how Flowstate uses AI to enhance the surf park user experience
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
How does one go about training a machine to recognise each and every individual surfer? Flowstate have created an AI powered capture system that recor...
In the surf park trenches – Matt Gunn of SwellMFG
27 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Revel Surf park is the wave pool powered by Swell MFG. It is the focal point of the 37-acre mixed-use development at Cannon Beach in Mesa, Arizona. In...
And just how is the wave pool space evolving? Surf Park Summit returns
13 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we have a lively chat with the always-on-point Dr. Jess Ponting Jess is one of the brains behind Surf Park Summit, the annual wave po...
Just around the corner: Scotland’s first surf park with Andy Hadden
24 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Many of the surf parks scheduled to open soon have been in the works for nearly a decade or more. Their architects are the original crop of dreamers a...
Atlanta's first surf park has a unique approach
12 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The “City in a Forest” is well-known as the filming location for "The Walking Dead," music stars like Ludacris and Usher, horrendous traffic and a...
Dave & Mike tell how they became owners of their own surf park
19 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dave Taylor and Mike Schwaab own Waco Surf, the Sputnik of surf parks in America. The facility launched in the early days of the wave pool race has si...
Ikaika and Greg from The Lineup at Wai Kai address the challenges of running a wave pool in Hawaii
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Lineup at Wai Kai is unique in the wave pool world. To make a chlorinated rapid wave work in the birthplace of surfing is a tall order. Getting a ...
Ander Wynne-Edwards walks us through the entire wave pool building process
06 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Ander Wynne-Edwards is the Director of Operations at Endless Surf. He’s worked for Whitewater West for the past two decades building and commissioni...
Editor-in-chief at STAB Brendan Buckley
17 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is the premiere surf platform's take on wave pools? In this episode, we gather insight into the wave pool scene from the editor-in-chief at STAB ...
Blake Hess – The ultimate surf park manager
28 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Blake Hess is a rare individual in that he is one of only a handful of people who know how to run, manage and develop a surf park. In the few years th...
Jess Ponting dishes all those little details that explain why this space is limitless
12 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Jess Ponting joins us to touch on several projects and points including Stoke Certification, Surf Park Summit, the new Consumer Trends Report and ...
More surf park insight than you can possibly handle with Skip Taylor
26 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Skip Taylor is the guy we call when we’re stumped as he is one of the few veterans working the nascent wave pool landscape. This industry being what...
Brad Gerlach on the intersection of wave pools and Wave Ki
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Brad Gerlach held down a very successful pro career during the ASP’s 3-to-the-beach era, finishing ranked at #2 in 1991. He then went on to pursue b...
Julie Kline explains how EpicSurf can democratize surfing
22 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we speak with Julie Kline of EpicSurf whose goal is to bring the benefits of sliding along a wave to everyone. The deepwater standing ...
Angus Forrest explains why Rip Curl jumped into the deep end
08 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In Rip Curl’s Search campaign, we are teased with images of empty lineups from far-off, exotic locations. So how does a company that built its core ...
Brandon Lowery
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Brandon Lowry is the interim CEO at USA Surfing, the definitive amateur organization for surfing in America. He’s been involved in the pool scene fo...
Evan Slater and why surf marketing matters in the wave pool space
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
While we’ve been watching the surf industry shrink since 2008 – it’s never quite come back to where it was – we’ve also been watching the wa...
What wave poolers need to know with Nick Hounsfield
13 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Quick Update with Nick Hounsfield of The Wave. We’ve had Nick on the show before and The Wave’s history is well documented. For this episode of th...
What the surf park world can learn from the golf club set
30 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Luke Altschwager is the Managing Director at Parkwood Village on the Gold Coast of Australia. He’s a former pro golfer currently merging resort know...
The subtleties you don’t see in the Surf Lakes plunger system with Kit Sidwell
11 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Surf Lakes engineer Kit Sidwell explains some of the nuances, history and basics of why the stone-in-a-pond wave machine concept work...
Alternative wave pool construction with Myrtha and Endless Surf
04 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Paul Chutter of Endless Surf and Roberto Colletto of Myrtha Pools dive into how they are changing the process of wave pool constructi...
Wave intervals are more important than you might think
18 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
In our latest podcast Nick Robinson dives into the hot new topic of intervals in wave pools. Joining Nick and editor Bryan Dickerson are Baptiste Caul...
Quarterly pool chat with editor-in-chief Bryan Dickerson
18 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nick Robinson chats with WavePoolMag editor Bryan Dickerson about the latest happenings and goings-on in the wave pool world including upcoming projec...
Aaron Trevis on the state of Surf Lakes five years in
26 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Aaron Trevis has been tinkering away for well more than five years on Surf Lakes. He built small 1:25 and 1:10 prototypes of the plunger to see if the...
Meet the person behind Brazil’s first wave pool, Oscar Segall
19 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Oscar Segall is the human behind Fazenda do Grama, Brazil and South America’s first surf-focused wave pool. In this episode podcaster Nick Robinson ...
CEO Damon Tudor mapping Urbnsurf’s growth
12 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Urbnsurf Melbourne has been open for a little more than one year. In that time the gates have been shut more often than open. By not pumping out waves...
Surfloch one of the "big six" wave tech providers
26 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Surfloch is one of the larger wave tech providers having originally made a splash with the sale of the Flowrider system to White Water. Tom Lochtefeld...
The intellectual side of surf parks with Professor Jess Ponting
18 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Jess Ponting relates his early days in Fiji and then working his way around the Pacific to San Diego. He ended up there for life becoming an Associate...
Life at The Wave in Bristol with Nick Hounsfield
11 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Nick Hounsfield had a background in healthcare and is the chairman of Surfing England, having long been involved in the governing body. His dream to b...
How to create a wave pool in Norway
04 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
I can picture Daniel teaching volleyball on Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro and wondering how these guys can fly in from Norway and enjoy such an amaz...
Wavegarden update: 43 projects around the world!
25 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Catching up with Wavegarden is an exciting conversation. We discuss the traditional diamond shaped "Cove" and how it could be modified to fit differen...
Scott Bass: well skilled surf journalist chats about his wave pool stories
19 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Scott Bass hails from San Diego and runs his own surf show: "The Boardroom Show" Check it out over here https://boardroomshow.com/ It's a solid surfin...
Research and experimentation - the Wave Prizm story
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Mark has built a brand around making waves. It's called https://www.waveprizm.com/ , however he is not about to compete with the major players at this...
A helicopter's view of wave pool projects today
04 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We have an amazing page on our website over on www.wavepoolmag.com called the surf planner. It details all the projects in the space that we've writte...
The concept of Endless Surf
28 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Andrew Thatcher grew up surfing in the warm waters off Durban, South Africa and came to live in my home town, much further south before leaving for th...
Ryder Thomas and the Punta Cana project
21 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ryder Thomas is a fun, engaging character, and while he was sitting in a cold grey day in New York, I jumped on a call with him from my base down here...
The imminent opening of Switzerland's new pool
22 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Bonvin had a dream a long time ago and worked diligently to create it. His story is an inspiring one, where someone with a completely different ...
Surf coaching in a pool with Surf Simply
19 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rupert Hill set up "Surf Simply" from scratch over in Costa Rica. He has made a remarkable success of it, going from zero to hero in over 10 years. It...
More surf in the desert - Mesa Arizona!
05 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Matt Gunn became disillusioned with the total lack of waves after moving out to Arizona from his native California. Being starved of surf certainly dr...
Surfing in the heart of Paris!
22 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The Paris project has been a fascinating combination of public and private co-operation and Baptiste has been working as a consultant in the thick of ...
Surf Park Management with Skip Taylor
08 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
We discuss Skips background, the wave pool industry as a whole and how he started Surf Park management. Probably the best story was when he flew down ...
How hard is it to bring a wave pool to Berlin? Find out.
24 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In 2014 Berlin was set to plant a Wavegarden Lagoon plow system at an old airstrip outside of town. When the plan was axed by the local council Eirik ...
Shane Beschen on his career, City Wave, DSRTSURF and wave pools
17 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Check out www.wavepoolmag.com/podcast for the show notes.
New York! Smoking a barrel on Long Island
10 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Brett grew up surfing in Long Island, New York and I caught up with him online to talk about the project he has been working on for over four and a ha...
Sophie Everard ventures into The Wave (Bristol)
02 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Sophie Everard is a journalist, passionate snowboarder and surfer who has worked extensively within action sports media for more than ten years and is...
Andy Hadden's journey towards a wave garden in Scotland
12 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We get the full story on Andy Hadden's seven year journey in creating another jewel in the Wave Garden crown. By the time this surf park is constructe...
Chas Smith: Surf blogging's bad boy weighs in on wave pools
21 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Chas Smith is a smart guy. Originally from California, he moved to Oregon and commenced his surfing career at age 10. He earned a bachelor’s degree ...
Why Greg Webber has been in the wave pool industry for over 15 years
14 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Has Greg Webber been at this game longer than anyone else? Maybe not, but he sure has a ton of fascinating insights and excellent ideas surrounding th...
Las Vegas gets a wave pool!
07 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We interview Tim Curry, known as TC, who is setting out on the arduous venture to create an oasis of surf in the parched desert surrounding Las Vegas....
Wavegarden: Creating an idyllic garden filled with waves
31 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
“Wavegarden”, the sound of that name evokes a zen-like space where waves roll endlessly through green spaces pulsing with lush natural life. As if...
Immersed in surf: URBNSURF Melbourne
24 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Hey guys, it's Nick coming to you from a warm and autumnal Algarve in Portugal. The swell is picking up down here and I managed a great session where ...
In deep with Aaron Trevis, founder of Surf Lakes
19 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Find out how the Surf lakes technology was born from the founder himself. Aaron Trevis talks candidly of how the idea came to him, how he pulled a tea...
The first dedicated surf park in the world!
18 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Andy Ainscough relates the story of how Adventure Park Snowdonia (originally launched in 2015 as Surf Snowdonia) was conceived, built and run. Many pi...