Wave pool news, tech & openings
Weekly independent reporting on every commercial wave pool on earth. Openings, contest calendars, firmware updates, and operator data — rewritten in plain English and hand-verified.
Chasing the Gnarliest Wave Pool Barrel Ever
Zeke Szekely links up with Josh and Sierra Kerr, the Colapinto brothers, and Cole Houshmand at a stealth new wave pool project — and the barrels get seriously deep.
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DSRT Surf: Wavegarden Cove Comes to Palm Desert
An oasis in the low desert. DSRT Surf breaks ground on Southern California's first commercial Wavegarden Cove — Coachella Valley's answer to the two-hour San Diego drive.
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Surf Abu Dhabi Books the 2026 WSL Finals
The World Surf League confirms its championship-deciding event will land at the biggest, most powerful man-made wave on earth.
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O2 SURFTOWN MUC's First Winter: What Munich Learned
The first full winter of Endless Surf operations — snow on the deck, heated pool, and a booking pattern nobody predicted.
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Inside Palm Springs Surf Club's Ex-Pro Setting Menu
How a former CT surfer rebuilt PSSC's wave library — and why the new "Snapper" setting is quietly the best barrel in North America.
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Zion Shores Breaks Ground on the First 50 m UNIT Wave
Southern Utah gets the first full-length UNIT Dynamic Wave — a traveling deep-water wave three times longer than any standing wave on the market.
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Revel Surf's Swell MFG Reference Wave, One Year In
Twelve months of data from Mesa: the first commercial Swell MFG install, tuned by ex-CT surfer Shane Beschen, is quietly becoming an intermediate's paradise.
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Ocean Kamp Sets a 2027 Opening for Its Dutch Cove
A former shipyard in Den Helder becomes the Netherlands' first commercial wave pool — a Wavegarden Cove anchoring a full seaside redevelopment.
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Crest Surf Clubs Brings Private-Club Waves to New York
A Hudson Valley private club anchors the flagship Premier Surf Systems install — 20-surfer sessions, member-only, 90 minutes from Manhattan.
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Heroes Paradise Debuts the First Commercial EpicSurf
The first paid EpicSurf standing wave opens in a Caribbean veterans' resort — real shortboards, real tube, and a footprint smaller than a tennis court.
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East Point Reef Club: Ka'ana's CM7 Standing Wave Explained
British Columbia gets the first commercial Ka'ana CM7 — a Canadian deep-water standing wave positioning itself as an EpicSurf alternative.
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The Wave Fuerteventura Opens on the Windsurf Coast
A Wavegarden Cove drops onto a windswept volcanic island — flat-water sessions in a place famous for wind, and a five-hour flight from most of Europe.
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Stab High 2026 Returns to Waco Surf
The one-day, air-only, everything-goes wave-pool contest is back on Waco's PerfectSwell air section. New format, new ramp, doubled purse.
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Alaïa Bay's Alpine Cove: Season Two Recap
The highest-elevation wave pool on earth wrapped its second season with a pro training block, a heated-water milestone, and a booking mix nobody predicted.
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Surf Ranch's Private Weekends Get a New Setting
Kelly Slater's Lemoore pool quietly added a fourth wave setting to its private-weekend menu — a punchier, shorter version of the original.
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URBNSURF Sydney Passes One Million Waves
The Sydney Olympic Park Cove crosses a milestone: one million rideable waves delivered, in under 30 months of public operation.
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Praia da Grama: Inside Brazil's Private Cove
Inside the invitation-only Wavegarden Cove in São Paulo state — how a golf resort built one of the most consistent private waves on earth.
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Endless Surf's 40-Setting Menu, Ranked by Session
We rode every named setting on the WhiteWater West Endless Surf platform. Here's which ones actually deserve a booking.
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PerfectSwell's Next-Gen Air Ramp Rolls Out
American Wave Machines pushes a firmware update that reshapes the air section — steeper, more vertical, and now available at Waco, Palm Springs BSR, and the pipeline sites.
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Surf Lakes Confirms First North American Site
The Australian central-plunger wave pool signs a Texas developer for its first US commercial install — five simultaneous waves from one piston.
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The State of Wave Pools 2026: What's Open, What's Coming
A snapshot of the entire commercial wave-pool network in March 2026 — where you can surf right now, and what's opening in the next 24 months.
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