These days, wavepools come in all shapes and sizes, with several forms of technology supplying a range of chlorinated thrills. But ever since a certain 11-time world champion unleashed his Frankenstein Monster in California’s cow country, the artificial surfing world has somewhat forgotten about one manmade wave variety – the standing wave.
As opposed to using a severed airplane wing as a foil (like the Surf Ranch) or a system of air-pressure pulses (like the BSR Cable Park), a standing wave is more like a constant surge of water, blasting over a wave-shaped berm. The result? A stagnant wall of water similar to that of a stationary wave one might encounter while whitewater rafting. In that sense, stationary waves are more akin to river surfing than ocean surfing.
CityWave, based out of Germany, is a leader in the standing wave game. The company was born from a desire to make manmade recreations of the Eisbach River wave in Munich, arguably the world’s most popular river surfing spot. And now – after implementing their tech at locations all throughout Europe, one in Japan, and one in Israel – they’re back with their biggest and best yet: a 50-foot wide standing wave in Chelan, Washington. (And, yes, you can surf it with real surfboards and full-sized fins.)
To hear more about the new project, and a little bit more about what makes standing waves tick, we caught up with CityWave inventor and CEO, Rainer Klimaschewski.
What’s the history of CityWave, and how did the project in Washington come about?
I started surfing in the river here in Munich. Before I went to the ocean, my first experience with standing on a surfboard was in the river. Then, we took a trip to Biarritz from Munich – a 15-hour drive with surfboards all on the roof of the car. And to tell you the truth, I didn’t catch one wave during the whole week…
