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After all the hype in the press, I made it last week - I found it a bit trickier than I expected for some reason getting into the waves, but fun waves when I caught them. Lots of talk about them being a bit slack and small, but they seemed great to me when they got to the inside section (for someone who used to be an average surfer 10 years ago!).
When I go to the beach, I make 90% of takeoffs and am fine in head high, but for some reason it freaked me out a bit having 15 people watch your every paddle stroke.
Think I need to take a board with more volume next time, rather than my old 6'0" fibreglass hybrid fish (boards seem to have changed....).
anyone else been?
thinking about it, but probably in the summer flat spell when they've ironed out a few of the kinks. they reckon it'll be 25degC. boardies time.
but then i live 25 mins from the south coast of devon/cornwall and 45 mins from the north coast of cornwall.
and it is super cold now - about 6 degrees. Being so shallow, it will get really cold when the weather dips. Good move - there were some people there from the SW but mainly who were passing by. Its like a fun waist to chest high surf, so probably not worth the drive if you live that close to the surf anyway
I looked but could only book beginner lessons. Couldn't just surf.
https://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/whats-on/surf-sessions-wave-been-cancelled-3556520
Ah, that might explain it.
and it is super cold now – about 6 degrees.
ouch. **** that. for £25 million you would have thought they could have heated it...
A couple of mates went about 3-4 weeks ago. They enjoyed it, I might give it a go...
do they let SUP's in... 😉
no SUPS yet as I think it would get a bit crowded in the queue, which does work well, but its a bit odd queueing for waves!
I think the water is essentially the same temperature as the air, so its going to get really cold! Its still fully booked up though
Mates there today, said it was bloody cold 6c water and 9c air so you’re gonna need a decent suit/gloves and booottteeesss...
They were surfing, haven’t mentioned SUPs yet.
If they’re banned, that’s me out and plenty of others too i suspect..
I've been over there a couple of times..
With the wave settings they are running on at the moment, it's like a 2ft French beach break, an hour session is a good workout! Great for a tuneup if you going away and can't get in the real waves. No SUP's at the moment, I guess that may change when the initial curiosity dies down and visitor numbers start to drop.
Proud Dad - gratuitous pic of daughter surfing there.
Where’s the bloody “LIKE” button!
Looks like they need the green-screen the walls to make it easy for photographers to add the background of their choice.
I'm thinking of booking a lesson in the new year, at first £55 seemed to be a bit steep, but weighing up travelling from Malvern to the beach reliant on the surf forecast it seems like a good idea to get some practice in before booking a week away.
Just been for a ride with a mate, his bro has been up a few times. They rate it, both v keen surfers. The temp of the water didn’t seem to bother them, you are getting such a work out, getting lots of waves no waiting that you would warm up pretty quick. A session only lasts a relatively short time so as a workout and a tune up it would seem to work.
Andywnpt fancy meeting you here 😂😂😂 great shot of E
Hey Andy, yep, mostly lurking here to be honest 🙂 Are you doing 24/12 this year?
I’ve been twice, it’s great fun. They’ve turned it up slightly since they opened and it was more fun the second time as a result. Takeoff is probably shoulder high now but the wave gets smaller as it peels off down the pool. Water is already around 6 degrees which is about 5 degrees colder than the sea at the moment. Not sure many will fancy it any colder than that so not sure how busy it will be in January! It’s shallow so it should warm up quickly in the spring sunshine and suspect it might be warm enough for no wetsuit in midsummer.
The wave is good fun. It’s fat in places and quite peaky. For a full size adult it’s better on a board with a bit of foam or it’s easy to bog a turn. It’s not a longboard wave though.
It’s worth going for the experience. It’s a pretty mad piece of engineering and the staff and site itself are really well organised and well put together.
They still have to sort out an intermediate wave. At the moment there’s a big jump in ability needed betweeen the “advanced” wave and be8ng a beginner in the white water. Both my sessions had “advanced” surfers falling on the take off frequently. I think they will end up running some intermediate sessions on the main peak with it turned down as their original plan of running them where the wave reforms hasn’t really worked out.
nice looking board. yours or a rental?
Most definitely mine! It’s a 6’10 Howard Special Mini Takayama egg. Went well there. Enough foam to make it over the fat spots, Whippy enough to fit the wave shape.
First session there I rode a 9’4 log for three waves ( it’s not a longboard wave!) then switched to a 5’4 quad Simmons thing (mandala superchunk) which worked well there too.
They have a fair selection of rental stuff that’s included in the cost though. Skindog mid lengths and longer, some lost shortboards as well
i was after one of them a while back. ended up with a 6'8" FCD heuvo rancheros instead. Although bought a longboard (karma 9'2") this summer and have barely touched it since.
Where was the FCD from? Didn’t think they were available in the uk? I think the FCD is similar to the tak. Howard designed the huevo as well or at least had a big hand in it. Think the widepoint is slightly further froward on the tak so it surfs slightly more cruisey. I might be tempted if you ever sell!
Imported by downtheline originally but I picked it up s/h from a guy in Porth. This one isn’t for selling...
after confidently stating I wouldnt go until the summer, looks like I'm going on sunday now.
all to pick up another FCD board...
best find my gloves.
Think I might go tomorrow, as the air temperature hasn't been as cold just recently and hoping the water will not be quite so cold. They've upped the settings slightly after the first 15 minutes.
I think the trick on the take off is to treat it like a reef, with the water drawing off it. I had a much better 2nd surf with this approach. Had a brilliant surf then 🙂
Enjoy, my wife has bought me a session for my xmas present, think I'll wait till springtime when it starts to warm up. My mate went and enjoyed it, but he said you have to wear boots from an H&S perspective so mid-summer could be a bit annoying!
Sounds like they've set it up as a nice day out with viewing platform and good cafe etc.
At the cost I'm more likely to surf as much as possible in the sea as a tune-up for the wave rather than go to the wave for a tune-up for elsewhere 🙂
It’s not a longboard wave though.
bit worried about this as I'm picking up a longer mid-length (8'0") there and had planned to surf that.
1pm, sunday...
8 ft would be "ok" as long as you can surf it off the tail. It will feel like quite a lot of board though
My idea of longboarding involves 1 fin, footwork and dangling toes over. Its not a wave for lateral lines or trimming as the shoulder is too short, its geared towards a more vertical approach
Id say take your huevo as well. You can leave it on the side of the pool and swap mid session really easily without missing a set if you time it well and paddle fast. The huevo will fly there IMHO
I’ve got a couple of sessions booked coming up soon...excited!
I’ll take my 7’0 golden nugget and 6’6” Fourth Reload... good plan?
I’ve heard there’s so much paddling the cold isn’t a factor!
How much does the wind affect it? Some pics look like it has a bit of a ruffle to it. Guess it's so small an area it can't make loads of difference? Just thinking about booking in advance etc.
I don’t think it’s big enough to be that wind effected. I guess an ‘offshore’ blowing up the lake might hold the waves up a little longer, you’d hope they aligned it for the dominant sw’lys.
I think it’s more likely that the pool starts sloshing a bit as they drive more waves down it, and I doubt they leave it long enough to settle down between sets.
So first session of the day is probably the cleanest one.
Good place for a beginner to learn, do we think? Or would I be better of doing it the old-fashioned way in The Sea?
@mikeartroid. Good plan I think! The wave is perfectly shortboardable if you're a decent shortboarder but a bit if extra fgoam makes the experience lots more forgiving of ability and mistakes!
The wind affects it a little but not as much as the sea and theres some effect from the water sloshing around as mentioned above. Even with whats technically an onshore strong wind it just gives chops on the surface but doesn't stop it peeling cleanly like it would on a beach break . Kinda similar to wind on an actual reef I guess. There's dawn patrol glass for sure.
Beginners wise.
If you're a total beginner its probably a good place for a lesson to get to the point of catching white water and standing up on a foamy. Its a huge step up from doing that to catching the advanced wave and making the drop. You wont make that step without a fair amount of time in the sea.
I last went mid November and they weren't running intermediate sessions then as theyd found the intermediate wave wasn't really breaking properly. They were talking about running the advanced wave at a low setting for intermediate sessions instead but I don't know if that's happening. They need to do something because when I saw it, you couldn't progress from beginner to surfing advanced wave there without spending a decent chunk of time in the ocean and their original plan was that you could totally learn to surf from noob to pro just at the pool.
Tidy, cheers - Operation Spontaneous-Mid-Life-Learn-To-Surf-Crisis may use their beginner wave to get started then head to South Wales. Ta! 🙂
i think the fact you get everything, instruction, suit, board etc for £50 is great for an absolute beginner to see if you like it but I can see you'd burn through a chunk of cash pretty quick trying to advance.
I went again yesterday and there was one person out at 9am - and only 6 of us in the next slot. The water was warmer too. they adjust the sets to the numbers out. When we first paddled out, they were 20 wave sets, so I could get 2 waves a set if I didn't take it all the way right in, but my arms were getting f$@ked! They went back down to 9 wave or so a set and that was great.
It was sunny, light winds, ace!
The time before was "onshore" and windy, but still fine and definitely not like beach onshore, because the wave is created from scratch about 5 metres away from you 🙂
What I love about it there is its really friendly, chatty line ups. Everyone's in a queue and everyone gets loads of waves.
They planning to start the soft barrels in the spring probably. The issue is it breaks in about knee deep water and its an issue if people land awkwardly. Although its concrete I don't think its much different to compacted sand. You just can't sue the sea, but people could sue Bristol, so health and safety is a big issue - particularly when people seem to over estimate their surfing ability (me included after seeing the photos post surf!!!)
Don’t think it’ll be that quiet on Sunday. Looks like there are four slots left in my session.
Still, found my gloves. Which is a bonus.
@ceepers cheers! The 6’6” has stacks of volume so it isn’t a short board in the true sense... the 7’0” is like a mini Mal in terms of volume 😎
@jambo It'll still be fine even if its full. The first time I went I think there were about 16 of us, and my arms were still worn out. I got 15 waves then (stuffed 2 take offs though).
Well that was certainly interesting. Had a shocking start, blew my first five waves before I got the measure of the takeoff and a new board.
I definitely prefer the sea, but no sand was a bonus, I hate the bloody stuff...
It definitely isn't the sea... But good fun for someone who lives 19 mins away, realising how much I've missed it!
The take off takes some getting used to - the fact I couldn't really see the wave coming up spooked me a bit. Staying a bit further away from the wall helped too.
MY first go reminded me of surfs where its perfect but I still had a c$%p surf. 2nd time was much better 🙂
if I go back I'll:
book two sessions
use a shorter board (i know everyone said so, but I really wanted to surf the new board)
go midweek early.
if I lived that close I'd probably be there a fair bit, but a 2 hr drive north when I'm 40 mins to the north coast doesn't make a lot of sense. a mate is heading up in a couple of weeks so if there is no break in this run of massive swells and big winds I'll probably jump in with him.
fortunately the photographers managed to make it look like i could surf...
I'm thinking of going in Feb for my birthday. Do I go left, which I am more comfortable with, to maximise my wave count. Or do I go right to try to improve but probably fall off more?
both. although i'd say if you can't cutback on your right, then you'll run out the front of the wave after the first section and miss the inside section.