The High Stakes of Surfing’s Wave-Pool Arms Race

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/10/surfs-up-world/572839/

by ohaikbai • 8 years ago

31 9 8 years ago

calebsurfs• 8 years ago

A glaring omission from this article is mention of the surfer who died from a brain eating bacteria [0] after visiting the pool in Waco.

The wave pool there is classified as a 'lake' so normal rules for chlorination and filtration don't apply.

[0] https://www.nj.com/atlantic/index.ssf/2018/10/brain-eating_a...

scythe• 8 years ago

Is there some sort of legalese question you can ask to learn if the body of water you're about to enter is classified as a lake? Like: "is this a pool?". Sounds like a pretty big hole in the safety laws!

RandallBrown• 8 years ago

Tests came back clean according to the BSR Cable Park website.

mcafeeryan92• 8 years ago

"Clean" is definitely not a word I'd use to describe this finding:

“Although the N. fowleri was not detected in the Surf Resort, Lazy River, or the Royal Flush, the presence of fecal indicator organisms, high turbidity, low free chlorine levels, and other amoeba that occur along with N. fowleri indicate conditions favorable for N. fowleri growth”

They're being charitable in their interpretation of the CDC's findings, to say the least.

https://www.surfline.com/surf-news/cdc-finds-brain-eating-am...

angry_octet2• 8 years ago

They had better keep the wave programs in a .wav file.

angry_octet2• 8 years ago

Come on, no sense of humour?

bennesvig• 8 years ago

Really hoping one of these wave pools makes its way to the midwest.

gamblor956• 8 years ago

I have close friends working at all of these companies. Nice to see the industry growing!

rurban• 8 years ago

What the article misses is the long tradition of river surfing all over the world. Championed at Munich Eisbach since the late 70ies, and then all over the world since the 90ies, esp. in Canada, Austria, Germany, USA and Switzerland. There's no need for an expensive and commercial pool with pumps if you just need to throw some big rocks into a river, or use a canal. It's also helping to save bridge piers, which otherwise need to repaired every 10 years.

In Montreal or Munich there are usually 200 surfers a day, surfing for free. With incredible tricks, previously only seen on a skateboard.

http://riverbreak.com/

The High Stakes of Surfing’s Wave-Pool Arms Race

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