You may remember a month or so ago when Occy and Barton Lynch lifted the curtain on Surf Lakes for the first time. The hype surrounding the reveal was palpable, surfers and media outlets alike scrambled to the Queensland town of Yepoon to be among the first to sample its promised perfection.
In the end the reveal was … nice. Not mind-blowing, but not a failure either. The setup seemed to work; multiple peaks of perfect peelers all reeling off at once, but it failed to ever deliver the size needed to truly wow us.
The engineers promised the extra foot needed was coming, but the apocalyptic mad max machinery packed it in before we ever got there.
Bar a vague time period of months needed for repair being tossed around, that’s where the story ended for the general public.
Despite this setback, Surf Lakes have been courting potential investors since the reveal, and today issued a press release that emphasises the great success it has had in attracting serious buyers.
Let’s read:
Gold Coast, Qld, Australia: Following the success of full scale prototype testing of the 5 Waves Surf Lake in Queensland in November 2018, licensee enquiries have been flooding in from around the globe en masse.
Well over 200 parties have actively been seeking information about how to purchase a Surf Lakes license and at least six parties are positioning to begin construction in 2019 with a view to opening commercial surf parks using 5 Waves technology in 2020.
The leading 6 projects are as follows:
In the US, one site in California and one in Arizona have been marked out and early stage design is underway for each. There is also one site in Western Australia as well as in London, Spain and Brazil. Licensees for all 6 sites intend to commence construction in 2019, with completion in 2020.
“The interest has been growing since the world saw those first waves in early November," said CEO and Founder Aaron Trevis. “We are very excited about the prospect of sharing the thrill of surfing with a whole new audience, in some prime locations and amazing partners around the globe.
"Our plan for 2019 was always to commence construction of at least two commercial spec 5 Wave Surf Lakes,” Trevis continued. “But with the inbound interest from such quality licensees, we now believe that three or even four could commence construction next year, and be open to the public within 24 months.”