Local firm sets sights on wave park

An upstart local company co-founded by big-wave surfer Brian Keau­lana hopes to bring to Hawaii what a Spanish company claims is the world’s longest artificial surfing wave.

The local firm, Wave Garden Hawaii LLC, announced Tuesday that it has secured rights to the Spanish firm’s technology that produces point-break-style waves engineered to roll through artificial or natural lakes or lagoons.

Wave Garden Hawaii, which was also founded by Kenan J. Knieriem Jr. and is doing business under the trade name Hono­kea Surf Parks, is exploring land opportunities and talking with partners in an effort to establish a wave park in the state.

Southern California also is being explored as an initial development area, the company said.

The Spanish company, Instant Sport S.L., operates one facility in northern Spain’s Basque country as a sales and testing location that has been visited by numerous professional surfers.

Instant Sport’s trademarked Wavegarden has been in development for more than a decade, and the operating model dubbed "the perfect wave … in a Basque mountain valley" was showcased in a debut video during the Global Surf Cities Conference earlier this year in Australia.

"Our new full-size facility … is finished," the company said in a statement. "Wavegarden is ready to deliver world-class waves anywhere in the world."

The Wavegarden produces simultaneous left- and right-breaking waves once a minute in a lagoon divided into two channels. The waves maintain consistent power for 20 seconds, then merge into a single, gentler white-water roller in a bigger bay area.

Instant Sport said its technology can produce a variety of wave heights, speeds and lengths. The length of the wave is limited by the size of a lagoon area, which must be at least 656 by 164 feet. The prototype facility produces a roughly 4-foot, or chest-high, wave.

"Historically, participation in surfing has been limited due to the fact that it is required to be undertaken at specific coastal locations, in daylight hours and is highly dependent upon appropriate swell and weather conditions," José Manuel Odri­o­zola, Instant Sport’s CEO, said in a press release last month. "With the development of the Wavegarden, we now have the ability to provide an authentic surfing experience in any location capable of sitting a lagoon."

The cost for the Wavegarden equipment and installation starts at about $4 million.

Instant Sport said it has signed agreements with partners to develop at least 25 facilities in the United States and five in Australia. Other deals would establish Wavegarden facilities in Europe and the Middle East, though the company said a site for the first commercial Wavegarden is undetermined.

Wave Garden Hawaii, which was set up about four years ago, said it was the first company to secure U.S. Wavegarden rights.

The local company envisions developing wave parks that offer high-performance surfing waves for experienced wave riders and smaller waves to teach people to surf.

"There is a certain happiness associated with a great surf session," Keau­lana said in a statement. "We want to share that feeling and experience while remaining true to Hawaiian surf culture."