It’s one in the morning and I’ve perched awkwardly on the edge of a packed Swiss dancefloor in December, 2021. Stupidly, and drunkenly, I’m trying to check the Haleiwa webcast on my phone.
However, like the surfers in the comp, I was finding it hard to get a read on the lineup. For starters, Ibiza DJ Angie O’s mix of Deep, Nu disco, and Tech house is drowning out Joey Turpel. And it’s kinda hard to focus when behind me a scantily clad couple is doing a trapeze act, whilst breathing fire.
This is the future of surfing, I shout to myself, ordering another drink. And, for once, I may have been just about right. It wasn’t just the Schnapps talking. That day I’d witnessed a day of surfing action at the inaugural The Alaïa Open Winter Cup, held in the latest Wavegarden basin in Sion, Switzerland.
It was both geographically and metaphorically 7000 miles west, and 600 metres higher, than the Challenger Series action in Hawaii. However, instead of golden sand underfoot there was a deep blanket of fresh snow. The air temp was freezing, the water just four degrees warmer. And rather than the surging, rip bowl randomness of the Haleiwa toilet bowl, there were the ordered sets of a Wavegarden technology pumping out eight-wave sets into a man-made lake, framed by snowcapped mountains
The organisers had dangled a cool $US70,000 in prizemoney and attracted a fair slice of the available Euro talent, and a sprinkling of Brazilians sniffing good times and free cash.
Remarkably this was the first legitimate surfing event held in Wavegarden technology. While speciality events had been held in their basins, this was the biggest yet. Not by accident, and I did spot WSL Europe administrators casting an eye on proceedings, the format resembled a QS style competition, with a few tweaks.
Surfers had an expression session style heat on the Friday, with eight surfers in the water for hour-long heats. Judges would adjudicate which surfers progress to the later rounds. Over the weekend four surfers would then surf half-hour heats on the Left and The Right. The first half of the heats were judged on turns. Then with a flick of the switch, the tube section would be turned on, with surfers getting scored on their barrel riding ability. Two surfers would progress through each heat.
The compulsion to make a comparison with the Surf Ranch event was ever-present. Obviously, the standard of surfing was nowhere near CT level. Yet with four surfers in the water, catching every second wave, there was non-stop action. The wave quality of the Wavegarden tech too, except for the smallish barrels, meant it didn’t get too repetitive.
It was hard not to think Kelly’s technology was too good, too early. The Surf Ranch wave is too long and the gap between waves is too lengthy. Have the WSL backed the wrong horse? Watching the frenzy, from the warm confines of the restaurant and bar overlooking the pool, I had to say yes.
It feels like Kelly’s pool is more and more like the earlier and superior Beta videotape, which was swamped by the VHS technology. And with that 1980s tech reference you can see, if you were wondering, why I was alone, next to a packed dancefloor, trying to watch a surfing webcast.
“It was just a very different competitive experience,” said French QS surfer and charger Justin Becret, who finished third in the marquee Men’s Open’s division. “From walking through the snow, to surfing in the mountains, and with a different competitive format, it just felt fresh.”
For the first big Wavegarden competition, run in sub-zero temperatures, by the Swiss Surfing Association, a country that has no ocean borders, the event was a remarkable success. No doubt the head honchos at Surfing Victoria, who are running the Victorian Qualifier for the Hyundai Australian Boardriders Battle at URBNSURF in Melbourne this weekend, would have been watching with interest.
With the Wavegarden tech improving with every new pool that is built (there are now seven facilities in operation, five in construction, and a further 47 under development across five continents), this Swiss event is surely just the start. With the potential to upscale and add thousands of spectators, big screens, and live entertainment, the potential is massive. All you need is the world’s best surfers.
A pool party and a bunch of prize money. What more does a pro surfer want?
Back on the dance floor as Berlin-based Nu & Jo Ke, spun their hit house banger, Who Loves The Sun, without irony, I closed the WSL App. Hawaii and Haleiwa were, right now, the centre of the surfing universe. Yet change was coming. And from all places, it was originating deep in the heart of the Swiss Alps, half a kay above sea level. It was enough to send me back to the bar.