Wave pools for beginners: Surfing’s artificial revolution is here

When I learned to snowboard, I did it on an indoor slope. But when I started surfing, wave pools were not a thing.

It’s 2025, and they are so hot right now.

Wave pools weren’t actually invented for surfers. OMG. This is new information.

The earliest known wave pool dates back to 1929, when the Municipal Natatorium in Munich, Germany, built a mechanical system that created small ripples in an indoor swimming pool. These early “surf baths” were designed mostly for leisure.

I would’ve loved that. Just not Germany in the ’30s.

‍♂️ Big surf and the early experiments

The first significant wave pool for recreational surf riding came in 1969, when Big Surf Waterpark opened in Tempe, Arizona.

Big Surf’s wave machine could produce 4-foot waves—enough to ride on a mat or a small board. Surfers tried it out, but the waves were inconsistent and mushy.

In the 1980s and ’90s, a few more parks experimented, like Typhoon Lagoon at Disney World and Sunway Lagoon in Malaysia, but the technology wasn’t yet good enough for serious surfing.

For decades, wave pools remained the realm of splashy amusement parks and didn’t capture surfers’ imaginations.

⚙️ The wave pool revolution

That changed in the early 2000s, when a new generation of engineers and entrepreneurs—like Josema Odriozola and Karin Frisch of Wavegarden, and eventually, of course, Kelly Slater and his team—decided to reimagine what was possible.

First, we had the shortboard revolution, then came the wave pool revolution.

Three big advances turned wave pools from novelties into surf training centers:

✅ Better hydrodynamics
Engineers figured out how to precisely shape the pool bottom (bathymetry) to control the wave’s form.

✅ More powerful machinery
Innovations in plunger systems, sleds, and air-pressure chambers made it possible to create longer, more consistent waves.

✅ Software control
They cracked computer modeling, which allowed fine-tuning of wave height, shape, and frequency.

The modern era of wave pools

The Wavegarden Lagoon prototype in the Basque Country was the first glimpse of modern artificial waves—smooth, shoulder-high peelers you could ride for 20 seconds.

Then, in 2015, Kelly Slater Wave Co. unveiled Surf Ranch in California: a 700-yard, high-performance right-hander that broke the internet. You’ve seen it on Instagram, for sure.

Today, dozens of wave pool projects are in development globally, from Palm Desert to South Korea.

️ How do they work?

Wave pools work in different ways:

️ Air chambers that blast water to create different wave shapes.
A submerged hydrofoil “sled” that runs down a track (that’s Kelly’s ranch).
A giant plunger that rises and falls in the middle of a circular lake, radiating waves outward to different reefs and beaches (that’s Surf Lakes).

Why so popular?

Why so popular? Why not.

Wave pools promise something the ocean can’t: guaranteed waves on demand.

For us beginners, potentially, that means an easier, less intimidating learning curve.

For advanced surfers, it’s a place to practice maneuvers over and over with no waiting, no crowds—any type of wave you want.

For landlocked surfers—OMG OMG OMG waves!

Is it real surfing?

But is it real surfing? Hmm.

It’s not the real ocean, innit. No need to paddle out, just start at your designated spot, you won’t be slapped around by whitewater, no death-defying wipeouts, and no dolphins.

I understand the principle behind it, I really do, but at how much you need to pay for a session, doesn’t it risk turning surfing into an exclusive, commodified sport?

It’s like $100–$500 per session. Not to mention, their environmental impact. They use massive amounts of power to generate waves, and maintaining water quality requires energy and chemicals.

Thankfully, some wave pools, like The Wave in Bristol, use renewable energy and produce more than they use up.

I am sure I would feel different if I couldn’t surf pretty much every day at the beach. So for now, I’ll consider it just another board sport.