On a lay-day back in October, while in Europe to compete, Aussie pro surfers Owen Wright and Jack Freestone traded waves in a charged but fun session at the Wavegarden Cove Demo Centre in Spain. It was the first time the boys had had the chance to surf the new “Cove” and, after racking up plenty of barrels and turns, were pretty much convinced of the technology´s potential (check stats below).
The two friends alternated catching waves, watching each other from the channel striking the lip and riding the tube as deep as possible. Owen took the opportunity to put 3 new DHD’s through their paces on the variety of different waves on offer. The action, interestingly, intensified wave after wave, almost transforming into an unofficial heat. Both guys surfed flawlessly.
Owen’s backhand attack was mechanical. Jack, who was recovering from Parko’s retirement party the previous night, was content just to cruise in the barrel.
Kita Alexander, Owen’s partner and mother to his son, who is well known for her talent as a singer, songwriter and guitarist, also happens to be a stylish longboarder and was happy to trade places with Jack while she rode a few mellow ones and spent some quality time in the water with her man.
This was Owen’s second visit to Wavegarden. Back in 2011, at the ripe age of 21, he surfed the original prototype with Mick Fanning and Gabriel Medina. At that stage, the system used a wavefoil to create a small, short left-hander that broke every 3-5 minutes. As Owen witnessed, a lot has changed since then. The new generation technology can now pump out up to 1000 waves per hour of various shapes and sizes to correspond with the ability level of surfers.
Owen Wright,surfing the first Wavegarden prototype in 2011
For other Australians and those travelling to Australia next year, there’s good news on the horizon. Urbnsurf is bringing a Wavegarden to Melbourne, which could open its doors sometime around Easter 2019, so everyone who has been dreaming to surf the Wavegarden Cove will be able to do so. Further, Urbnsurf Melbourne will have a full-size Cove, which will be approximately 5 times larger than the demo model in Spain, with rights, lefts, and dedicated areas for all levels.
For those people who like to analysis details, it’s worth checking out the full stats from their session. (Note: the Wavegarden Demo Center is only 20% the size of a full scale facility. Surfers will be able to score longer barrels and do more manoeuvers at Urbnsurf Melbourne when it opens, yeoooww!).
