WAVE POOL OR OCEAN SURFING?

Google defines surfing as “the sport or pastime of riding a wave towards the shore while standing or lying on a surfboard”. When I think about surfing, I think about a sandy beach with blue water, pumping waves and no crowd. I think about the feeling of riding a wave, that feeling where you can’t explain it to anyone else but every surfer understands. 

Now, surfing has another definition. Wave Pool. Modern Wave Pools are new to the surfing arena. For those who don’t know what that is, basically it is a man-made, mechanical version of a wave, and waaaaay more expensive than surfing at a normal beach break. But every single wave that comes through at the wave pools are PERFECT. 

So what does this mean for this sport/lifestyle? Is surfing moving in the direction of ‘pool surfing’ or will the raw beauty of the ocean and mother nature still capture everyone’s hearts? 

For years and years, WCT and WQS events have been held at normal beach breaks around the world, with the uncertainty of what’s going to happen. Will this set come through for Steph to get to win the world title this year or won’t it? But for the last few years, surf events have taken a new direction. The G.O.A.T, Kelly Slater, built his own wave pool. There is one in the U.S, at a place called Lemoore. 

The first wave pool event was held in 2018 for both the women’s and men’s CT surfers. I’d like to think that the first day or two were exciting but then it got repetitive. You knew what was going to happen, you knew how the wave was going to break and when they were going to get barreled and for how long they were going to get barreled for. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I have surfed a wave pool before and it blew my mind!!! And as a recreational surfer or even a professional surfer, surfing them is craaazy. However, surfing a wave pool really takes the unpredictability and raw power of mother nature and the ocean. As I said, surfing a wave pool is sick, but is it really as good as surfing a normal beach break? Is it really that exciting, are you really able to improve as a surfer in these pools?

We want to know what your thoughts are. Do you prefer wave pool or ocean surfing?