- WSL / Wavegarden

We got a sneak peek at Wavegarden's latest clip and it reveals the new tech on offer at the Wave Park in South Korea. Now with 56 modules, there's a greater variety of waves, turn sections and, as this clip shows, barrels.

These sessions went down back in September when the founders, fluid dynamic experts, and operations staff spent 16 days at Turtle Island, the new waterfront development located about a half hour's drive from Seoul.

South Korea's Wavegarden Tech Goes Full On Barrel Fest
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In the latest development in wave pool and surf park technology, Wavegarden has done something special in South Korea.

However, with Covid-19 travel restrictions in place, it was hard to get professional surfers to test the new set-ups. Jacob Szekely was one who did make the trip, while Basque groms Kai and Hans Odriozola traveled with their parents; who happen to be the Wavegarden founders.

Now that's a "Take Your Kids To Work Day" that beats making photocopies at Dad's accountancy office. Surf coach Julen Vega and mechanic Eneko Merino were also happy to add the role of test pilots to their usual roster.

All spent day after day trying the park's four barrel settings. B1 has a short section and easy entry, meaning even learners now have the possibility of getting tubed. The B2 setting is long and hollower. This is the last wave in the clip which Wavegarden has time checked at 11-seconds long.

Things ramp up with the Beast, which is slabbier and thicker. Lastly, Big Beast and its steeper, wider bowl section has been designed for experts. Each setting still barrels when running sets of 4 to 8 waves, with only a minute or so of downtime between each set. They work that out at around 300 tubes per hour.

Sadly, for those keen to give your tuberiding technique some oil, the Wave Park will close over the Northern Hemisphere winter and re-open in April. Being just an hour's flight from Japan, five hours from Bali, and 11 from Los Angeles it will be interesting how far people will travel to get guaranteed barrels? You can head to www.wavepark.co.kr for more info.

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