Riding crest of a wave

Backers say surf park can be built within a year

SURFERS could be riding artificial waves as early as next summer according to a company seeking approval to build a wave pool in the city.

Tunnel Vision Holding Pty Ltd director and skateboard tycoon Ben Mackay said his company had the financial backing to build the pool if Gold Coast City Council grants development approval to transform 95ha of farmland be- side the Pacific Motorway into the major attraction.

Development plans for what could be known as the Tunnel Vision Wave Park at Stapylton are expected to be formally lodged by the end of the year.

“We all have that vision of that perfect barrel we once had deeply burnt into our brain, so now we are recreating it,” Mr Mackay said.

The wave park could produce more than 500 waves per hour at a height of 2m.

The estimated 20 second rides would be provided by technology developed by Greg Webber, who the company has entered into a binding 20-year partnership with.

It comes as 11-time world surfing champion Kelly Slater’s Californian prototype wave is being billed as revolutionising the surfing world.

The World Surf League (WSL) last month announced Slater’s wave pool would feature on the World Championship Tour for the first time next year. But only a handful of surfers have been allowed in the pool developed by Slater, who has a home on the Gold Coast.

Mr Mackay made a point of stating his wave pool would be “a park for the people” open to “the millions of surfers that want to experience what will be an element in the future of surfing”.

“A wave park not only for the elite, the exclusive or the entitled few,” Mr Mackay said.

Mr Webber, a renowned surfboard shaper originally from Sydney, said he had been developing the wave pool technology for more than a decade.

He has repeatedly said his technology would be the best at creating artificial waves for surfers.

“I really can’t believe our first pool is about to be built,” he said. “It gives me 100 per cent confidence that Webber Wave pools have partnered with the ultimate group.”

Acting Mayor Donna Gates told the Bulletin she was supportive of new Gold Coast tourism attractions.

“It would be fantastic to have a new attraction on the northern end of the Gold Coast,” Cr Gates said.