![Silverwood wavepool1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Silverwood_wavepool1.jpg)
A wave pool is a
swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
in which there are artificially generated, large
wave
In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities. Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (res ...
s, similar to those of the
ocean
The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...
. Wave pools are often a major feature of
water park
A water park (or waterpark, water world) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimming, and other baref ...
s, both
indoors and outdoors, as well as some
leisure centre
A leisure centre in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia (also called aquatic centres), Singapore and Canada is a purpose-built building or site, usually owned and operated by the city, borough council or municipal district council, where people ...
s.
History
The origins of wave pools go as far back as the 19th century, as famous fantasy castle builder
Ludwig II of Bavaria
Ludwig II (Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm; 25 August 1845 – 13 June 1886) was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He is sometimes called the Swan King or ('the Fairy Tale King'). He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the ...
electrified a lake to create breaking waves.
In 1905, the "Undosa" swimming platform was built on Lake Starnberg in Germany, which used large pontoons to force the lake water to make waves. It has since been converted into a restaurant.
In 1912, the "Bilzbad" in
Radebeul
Radebeul ( hsb, Radobyle) is a town (''große Kreisstadt'') in the Elbe valley in the district of Meißen in Saxony, Germany, a suburb of Dresden. It is well known for its viticulture, a museum dedicated to writer Karl May, and a narrow gaug ...
, Germany was the first public wave pool built on the ground.
[Peter Westwick & Peter Neushul]
The World in the Curl: An Unconventional History of Surfing
/ref> It used a wave machine, also called "Undosa," first exhibited the previous year at the International Hygiene Exhibition
The International Hygiene Exhibition was a world's fair focusing on medicine and public health, held in Dresden, Germany, in 1911.
The leading figure organizing the exhibition was German philanthropist and businessman , who had grown wealthy from ...
in Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
. It still operates.
Another early public wave pool was designed and built in 1927 in Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
, Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
in the known Gellért Baths
Part of the famous Hotel Gellért in Buda, the Gellért Thermal Baths and Swimming Pool, also known simply as the Gellért Baths ( Hungarian: ''Gellért gyógyfürdő''), is a bath complex in Budapest in Hungary.
History
The bath complex ...
, and appeared one of James A. Fitzpatrick
James Anthony FitzPatrick (February 26, 1894 – June 12, 1980) was an American producer, director, writer, and narrator, known from the early 1930s as "The Voice of the Globe" from his ''Fitzpatrick's Traveltalks''.
Biography
James Anthony Fi ...
's documentary ''Traveltalks'' films about the city in 1938, as one of the main tourist attractions. It remains open.
The natatorium
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...
at Bayocean, Oregon also had an early wave-generating machine, before it was destroyed by natural ocean waves in 1932.
A 1929 Pathe Pictorial film featured "Indoor Surfers" frolicking in small, artificially-generated waves in a swimming pool in Munich, Germany. The waves were created by agitators which pushed waves through the diving area and into a shallow area - where kids were bodysurfing little waves: "This is the new kind of swimming bath that is becoming the rage of Germany," one of the captions reads. "No more placid waters for bathers - the mechanism behind the netting keeps everything moving."
In 1939, a public swimming pool in Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...
, London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, was equipped with machines that created wavelets to approximate the soothing ebb and flowing motion of the ocean. In the 1940s, Palisades Amusement Park
Palisades Amusement Park was a 38-acre amusement park located in Bergen County, New Jersey, across the Hudson River from New York City. It was located atop the New Jersey Palisades lying partly in Cliffside Park and partly in Fort Lee. The pa ...
, located on the Hudson River Palisades across from New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, installed a large waterfall at one end of its salt water pool, the largest of such in the world at the time, which generated small waves much like those in Wembley.
In 1966, Akiruno
260px, Akigawa River in the autumn
is a city located in the western portion of Tokyo Metropolis, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 80,177, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is .
Geograph ...
, Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
's "Summerland Wavepool", nicknamed the "Surf-a-Torium", was the first wave pool accessible to surfers (though only for 15 minutes every hour).
Several locations claim to have developed the first wave pool in the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, including Big Surf Big Surf was a waterpark located in Tempe, Arizona. Opened in 1969 and financed by the Clairol Company, it boasted the first wave pool in the United States. However Point Mallard Water Park had one first. It is located in Decatur, Alabama. The wa ...
in Tempe, Arizona
, settlement_type = City
, named_for = Vale of Tempe
, image_skyline = Tempeskyline3.jpg
, imagesize = 260px
, image_caption = Tempe skyline as se ...
and Point Mallard Park
Point Mallard Park is a park located in Decatur, Alabama, United States that sits on of the Flint Creek shoreline. Flint Creek is a tributary of the nearby Tennessee River. The park, portions of which are open year-round, borders the Wheeler N ...
in Decatur, Alabama
Decatur (dɪˈkeɪtə(r)) is the largest city and county seat of Morgan County (with a portion also in Limestone County) in the U.S. state of Alabama. Nicknamed "The River City", it is located in northern Alabama on the banks of Wheeler Lake ...
, which both opened in 1969 (Point Mallard Park opened in 1970 so their claim would have to be inaccurate as is the information previous to this about them.) The first indoor wave pool in the United States opened in 1982 at the Bolingbrook Aquatic Center in Bolingbrook, Illinois
The village of Bolingbrook is a southwest suburb of Chicago in Will and DuPage counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Per the 2020 census, the population was 73,922. As of 2010, it is the 17th largest incorporated place in Illinois and the sta ...
.
Opened in 1989, Disney's Typhoon Lagoon
Disney's Typhoon Lagoon is a water theme park located at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida near Orlando, and is one of two operating water parks at the resort. It is the second water park to open at the resort, preceded ...
is one of the world's largest outdoor wave pools and the strength of the waves makes it possible to bodysurf.
In or around 2018 many wave pools opened. The most famous is Kelly Slater's wave pool in California.
Previous claims that Wave pools use fossil fuel and are bad for the environment are not completely accurate. Point Mallard Park Wave pool in Decatur Alabama receives its power from TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) via Decatur Utilities, which for this location power is generated via Nuclear Reactor at Browns Ferry and Wheeler Dam Hydroelectric plant.
Operation
Wave pools replicate the movement of the ocean one of two ways, depending on the size of the pool and the size of wave desired. In small wave pools, pressurized
{{Wiktionary
Pressurization or pressurisation is the application of pressure in a given situation or environment.
Industrial
Industrial equipment is often maintained at pressures above or below atmospheric.
Atmospheric
This is the process by ...
air
The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing f ...
is blown onto the surface of the water, or a paddle
A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened distal end (i.e. the ''blade''), used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered wa ...
creates force in the water, creating small ripple
Ripple may refer to:
Science and technology
* Capillary wave, commonly known as ripple, a wave traveling along the phase boundary of a fluid
** Ripple, more generally a disturbance, for example of spacetime in gravitational waves
* Ripple (electri ...
-like waves. Other techniques utilize an "accordion mechanism" which opens and closes in order to suck water into its belly (opening) and push it out (closing) to cause waves. However, in high-volume wave pools, a large volume of water is quickly allowed into the far end of the pool, forcing the water to even out, generating a sizeable wave. In these large wave pools, the excess water is removed by being channeled through a return canal where it can be used again to generate another wave.
Types and locations
Generally, wave pools are designed to use fresh water at inland locations, but some of the largest ones, near other seashore developments, use salt water. Wave pools are typically larger than other recreational swimming pools and for that reason are often in parks or other large, open areas.
Some wave pools like those made by Wavegarden
Wavegarden SL is an engineering enterprise dedicated to the research, design, manufacture, installation, commissioning and promotion of wave generating systems and lagoons for surfing. The company's headquarters are in the Basque Country near S ...
at Surf Snowdonia and NLand
NLand Surf Park is an inland surfing destination near Austin, Texas, located ten minutes from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport at 4836 East Highway 71, Del Valle, Texas 78617. The park offers surfing sessions, lessons, clinics, or group ...
are expressly designed for surfing
Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitabl ...
rather than for swimming, and accordingly, create much larger waves.
Other surfing wave pool projects, some of which can be in lakes, include Surf Ranch from Kelly Slater
Robert Kelly Slater (born February 11, 1972) is an American professional surfer, best known for being crowned World Surf League champion a record 11 times. Slater is widely regarded as the greatest professional surfer of all time. Slater is also ...
Wave Company, Surf Lakes, Webber Wave Pools and Okahina Wave. Surfing can also be done on a static surf simulator but is less realistic than surfing wave pools due to the static wave.
Safety
Wave pools are more difficult to lifeguard than still pools as the moving water (sometimes combined with sun glare) make it difficult to watch all swimmers. Unlike passive pool safety camera Pool safety cameras are video monitoring or recording systems designed to improve safety, such as by reducing drowning deaths, injuries, or criminal activity, in public and private pools, waterparks, thermal baths, or spa facilities.
Classificatio ...
systems, computer-automated drowning detection systems do not work in wave pools.
The original eight-foot-deep (approx 2.4m) Tidal Wave pool at New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
's Action Park
Action Park was an amusement park, amusement and water park located in Vernon Township, New Jersey, United States, on the grounds of the Vernon Valley/Great Gorge ski resort. The park consisted primarily of water-based attractions and originally ...
cost three lives in the 1980s, and kept the lifeguards busy rescuing patrons who overestimated their swimming ability. On the first day they officially opened their wavepool, it is said up to 100 people had to be rescued.
Examples
The world's largest wave pool by area is and located in Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
's Siam Park City
Siam Amazing Park ( th, สยามอะเมซิ่งพาร์ค), more commonly known as Siam Park City or Suansiam (, , ), is an amusement and water park located in the Khan Na Yao district of Bangkok, Thailand. It was founded in N ...
.
The largest indoor wave pool, "Blue Thunder", is and located at World Waterpark
World Waterpark is a water park located within the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Opened to the public in 1986, it is the second largest indoor water park in North America, after American Dream's DreamWorks Water Park which op ...
in West Edmonton Mall
West Edmonton Mall (WEM) is a shopping mall in Edmonton, Alberta, that is owned, managed, and operated by Triple Five Group. It is the second most visited mall in Canada, after the Toronto Eaton Centre in Toronto, followed by Metrotown Mall in B ...
, Edmonton, Alberta
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city anchor ...
.
The world's largest artificial waves, measuring up to in height, can be found at Siam Park in the Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
.
See also
* Artificial wave
Artificial waves are human-made waves usually created on a specially designed surface or in a pool.
Making waves
{{Further, Mechanical wave
Surface waves can be created by any moving object displacing fluid: turbine blades, paddles, a hand, a ...
* Wave tank
A wave tank is a laboratory setup for observing the behavior of surface waves. The typical wave tank is a box filled with liquid, usually water, leaving open or air-filled space on top. At one end of the tank, an actuator generates waves; the ...
Further reading
* Carl Hoffman, "Endless summer", ''Wired'' 12.05
References
External links
"How Wave Pools Work" @ Howstuffworks.com
{{Authority control
Swimming pools