Pro surfers put Wavegarden’s innovative Cove wave pool to the test

By Amanda Ellis Published May 12, 2017

Wavegarden Cove 2017 (5 min)

Press hype and teaser photos have led to mounting anticipation — and now professional surfers have attested to Wavegarden’s claims about its artificial wave pool technology dubbed The Cove.

Recent footage shot in a prototype of Wavegarden’s Cove has the public fully fixated. The artificial wave pool, located in Spain, is contained within a 164 by 262 foot area and is capable of producing 1,000 waves per hour, or one wave every eight seconds.

Recommended Videos

Wavegarden has successfully implemented a simple electro-mechanical design that can fully customize the number of waves produced depending on the number of surfers in the pool. This customizable technology makes the Cove the most efficient on the market to date. In addition to frequency, the height, shape, and power of the waves can be adjusted as well, making for equal appeal to beginners.

Wavegarden recently released a full-length video showcasing professional surfers riding an endless slew of repeatedly barreling waves. Superstars Matt Wilkinson, Josh Kerr, Sebastian Zietz, and Gabriel Medina are among the featured riders. The average ride time for each wave lasts between 15 and 20 seconds, longer than most ocean swells, and can even be extended for bigger facilities.

Wavegarden technology has achieved some market acceptance — with two public locations already established — but it has not gone without its setbacks. The NLand Surf Park in Austin, Texas remains closed for repairs the past six months after a public opening that resulted in a lawsuit, and Surf Snowdonia has been closed repeatedly for repairs as well.

Undeterred, Wavegarden is now revealing its latest developments in artificial wave pool technology in this captivating video, in the hope of putting the firm back on the map.

“The high wave frequency of the Cove enables a high user capacity, which is essential for surfers wanting to catch lots of waves as well as for developers seeking to establish a sound business model,” stated Wavegarden’s Founder and CEO, Josema Odriozola, in a recent press release.

Construction of new Cove projects will now be starting in various locations around the world.

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Amanda is an outdoor junkie and digital nomad with an insatiable hunger for gear. Based out of Raleigh, NC she travels to…

Mobile

The best hurricane trackers for Android and iOS in 2024

Best hurricane tracking apps.

The hurricane season instills fear in those who find themselves in the paths of these storms, and in their loved ones who are concerned for their safety. A hurricane app is essential if you’ve stayed up all night worrying about a family member who's alone during a destructive storm.

Many hurricane trackers are available to help you prepare for these dangerous events, monitor their progress, and assist in recovery. We’ve compiled a list of the best apps for tracking storms, predicting their paths, and providing on-the-ground suggetsions for shelters and emergency services. Most of these apps are free to download and supported by ads. Premium versions are available to remove ads and add extra features.

Outdoors

Best lawn mower deals: Cordless, gas, electric and robotic

A robot lawn mower in a backyard while a family relaxes.

Mowing a lawn can be very therapeutic unless you have an older lawnmower, which makes life difficult and constantly causes you frustration. Luckily, you can snag a new lawnmower for a pretty good price, and even the more budget-oriented options have a lot of quality-of-life features that you wouldn't find on lawnmowers ten or even five years ago. To that end, we've gone about and collected some of our favorite lawnmower deals across the board, including some great robot lawn mowers that are worth checking out.
Litheli Cordless Lawn Mower U20 Handy+ -- $120, was $140

If you want a solid lawn mower, this offering from Litheli has a 13-inch cutting width, which is pretty good for the deal that you're getting. Even better, you get a 30L grass bag so you're not having to clean up after yourself, and you can mow for longer without having to stop. You also get 5 height adjustments so you can hone in the length of your grass to the perfect height, plus you get a 4.0Ah portable battery included.

Outdoors

Juiced Bikes offers 20% off on all e-bikes amid signs of bankruptcy

Juiced Bikes Scrambler ebike

A “20% off sitewide” banner on top of a company’s website should normally be cause for glee among customers. Except if you’re a fan of that company’s products and its executives remain silent amid mounting signs that said company might be on the brink of bankruptcy.That’s what’s happening with Juiced Bikes, the San Diego-based maker of e-bikes.According to numerous customer reports, Juiced Bikes has completely stopped responding to customer inquiries for some time, while its website is out of stock on all products. There are also numerous testimonies of layoffs at the company.Even more worrying signs are also piling up: The company’s assets, including its existing inventory of products, is appearing as listed for sale on an auction website used by companies that go out of business.In addition, a court case has been filed in New York against parent company Juiced Inc. and Juiced Bike founder Tora Harris, according to Trellis, a state trial court legal research platform.Founded in 2009 by Harris, a U.S. high-jump Olympian, Juiced Bikes was one of the early pioneers of the direct-to-consumer e-bike brands in the U.S. market.The company’s e-bikes developed a loyal fandom through the years. Last year, Digital Trends named the Juiced Bikes Scorpion X2 as the best moped-style e-bike for 2023, citing its versatility, rich feature set, and performance.The company has so far stayed silent amid all the reports. But should its bankruptcy be confirmed, it could legitimately be attributed to the post-pandemic whiplash experienced by the e-bike industry over the past few years. The Covid-19 pandemic had led to a huge spike in demand for e-bikes just as supply chains became heavily constrained. This led to a ramp-up of e-bike production to match the high demand. But when consumer demand dropped after the pandemic, e-bike makers were left with large stock surpluses.The good news is that the downturn phase might soon be over just as the industry is experiencing a wave of mergers and acquisitions, according to a report by Houlihan Lokey.This may mean that even if Juiced Bikes is indeed going under, the brand and its products might find a buyer and show up again on streets and trails.