First Waves
Written by URBNSURF | November 14, 2019
The first waves have been surfed, and we’re dialling up the menu – including The Beast.
It started with a three-day surf-fest in late October. Over the course of 12 hours in the water, waves were gorged on by a hungry pack of URBNSURF staff, shareholders and friends. Some scored over 200 waves and travelled in excess of 25 kilometres on surfboards, bodyboards, longboards, softboards and handplanes. It was a mind-boggling experience. But this was just the start.
In the empty waves clip we released a few weeks’ ago, you would have seen glimpses of Giros I and II (the first two of our “turns” waves), our smallest Malibu wave designed for beginners, and Tubos I, one of our advanced tube settings. All of them are awesome to surf, and they’ll form part of our beginner, intermediate and advanced surf sessions once we open to the public.
“Once Wavegarden’s visionary founder, Josema, and his masterful wave tuner, Javier, arrived in November and began to weave their magic, everything changed. The quality, quantity, size, shape, power and variety of waves available to us increased dramatically. “
We’re still in testing mode, and developing our wave menu for session and lessons, but the results speak for themselves. 18 wave types are now being put through their paces, and the crowd favourites for intermediate to advanced surfers are our new pointbreak and Trestles-style turns waves (Giros III to IV) and our bigger, longer barrel settings (Tubos II to V). We’ve also developed three further Malibu waves, and two Waikiki-style peaks, that are loved by kids and adults who are just starting their surfing journey. We’re stoked that we’ll be able to cater to surfers of all ages and abilities, and we can’t wait to get everyone in the water and having a blast this Summer.
We’re also experimenting with two expert waves, a slab (dubbed The Beast) and an air wave (The Ramp’s a working title). It’s still early days, but we’re stoked with how they’re developing, and we’ve enlisted some of Australia’s best surfers to help us refine them.
The Beast is the kind of slabbing, sidewinding barrel that you wait 6 months to score, but usually with 100+ of your closest mates. While the take-off is still steep, it allows you to do a setup turn before you pull in to a deep, thick tube, and there’s a section after for a final turn or air. It’s got some serious juice.
For The Ramp, we’ve enlisted the help of some of Australia’s best aerial surfers to create a wave which offers an easy take-off, followed by a fast, steep wall to generate speed, before being met with a powerful, vertical closeout section to launch from. Some huge straight airs and full rotations have already been stomped, and we’ll be sharing more on this one soon.
We couldn’t have done it without Wavegarden. Their team of highly dedicated, visionary and talented engineers, programmers, designers and support team have done an incredible job in delivering us the surfing lagoon of our dreams.
Yesterday, we sent out the double passes to the Victorian surfers from Melbourne, the Surf Coast, the Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island, who took the time last year to participate in our online focus groups about URBNSURF Melbourne. We also announced the first 20x Test Pilots who registered to Surf It First via URBNSURF.com, and invited them to enjoy an exclusive half-day surf session and behind-the-scenes tour of URBNSURF Melbourne in December 2019. We’ll be announcing more lucky Test Pilots in the next few weeks, as we gear up to open to the public in January 2020.
Having been swamped with enquiries, we’re excited to announce that our inaugural Foundation Memberships are now on sale. With an exclusive pre-launch surfing experience, behind the scenes access, membership into URBNSURF Boardriders, and VIP access to all our events, you’ll set the tone and drive the culture at Australia’s first surf park. Once we open, you’ll also receive 4x advanced surf sessions each month, 10% off extra surf sessions, lessons, hire and retail, URBNSURF Boardriders membership, and other perks.
To be transparent, we’re still working through water safety and lagoon logistics, so we can’t confirm exact details around which wave types will be available what sessions – just yet. Rest assured though, there’ll be something for everyone on the menu, and the quality, variety and frequency of waves we’ll produce will be unlike anything ever seen in a surf park. For our Foundation Members, you’ll be in the inner circle as we lock these details in.
We’ve also announced the pricing of our Gold Memberships and advanced surf sessions – for more information, check out https://urbnsurf.com/memberships/foundation/. In the coming weeks, we’ll be announcing the rest of our memberships, “multipacks” for surf sessions and group surf lessons, gift cards, and opening up bookings for January 2020 and beyond. To keep in the loop with all the latest news and product releases, sign up to our newsletter using the form below, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook.
Time to get your quiver ready – because it’s almost time to surf!
Cheers,
The URBNSURF Crew
#surfmore
