If you’re a Northern Beaches surfer, you’ve probably heard about Wisemans Surf Lodge. It’s a unique pitch: rather than a conventional amusement surf park model, Wisemans is providing the chance to co-own the 45-acre Hawkesbury River real estate, which operates solely for its members and their guests to enjoy. Investors are offered the membership; an annual fee to unlock access to perfect surf, accommodation, member clubhouse, golf course, a Harvest restaurant, pump track, playground for the kids and loads more.
When this opportunity popped up as a property play with a return profile, my position was “take my money” long before I got to the fine print. Old salty seadogs can rant all they want about the “purity” of surfing in the ocean; I’d just like to catch a bunch of quality waves on my own timetable without absurd crowds. Did I mention the location was chosen for its world-renowned lack of wind? Glassy. And the Lodge will be 100% renewably powered? Cool.
With that in mind, attention turns to: “what’s the wave like?” Wisemans will use wave generation technology from SurfLoch, backed by German engineering giant, Siemens. You might have seen this in action at a test facility in Palm Springs, and you’ve no doubt seen footage from a similar pneumatics-powered surf park at BSR in Waco, Texas. The Wisemans pool is significantly larger than either of these and promises to allow for waves in the 2-2.5m range on the main peak, with 10-12 second rides, an endless wave playlist and 12-15 waves per session. With an A-frame take-off and no mechanical parts in the water, it will feel more natural than surfing up against a wall or fence. There’s a secondary A-frame inside peak for intermediates honing their turns or kiddos taking off for the first time.
What’s under the hood? The technology starts out simple enough – valves change air pressure in a chamber, which basically sucks in water, and then pushes it back out to create a wave pulse. One pulse isn’t enough to make a fun wave though; the magic is to utilise a bunch of those chambers side-by-side, and fire them in a sequence so that all of the wave pulses join up down the line to make a surfable wave with a specifically shaped pool-bottom, much like a sandbank or reef. Wisemans will have 24 of those chambers and the different sequences on hand means complete flexibility in the wave shapes that can be created.
SurfLoch has used some very fancy programming technology to get their valve control down to a 1/1000th of a second accuracy. Unlike the Kelly Slater Ranch, which turns out the same perfect waves endlessly (but with a four-minute lull between them) to the point where the magic can fade, the SurfLoch technology allows for almost endless wave customisation and a 17-second interval so you’ll never be bored or waiting. Using a digital control panel, the operator can control the firing of each individual chamber, allowing for creation and positioning of air sections, barrel sections and the like. By doing this, the feel and performance of the wave can be changed at the touch of a button in a reliable and predictable fashion.
I’m excited about how this customisable technology fits in with the member community model. Whereas an amusement park wavepool needs to provide a standardised offering to a mass market and is incentivised to cash-in on every bum on a board, Wisemans has an exclusive membership it wants to look after for the long-term. This shifts the focus away from attracting mass market customer share, and towards best servicing Wisemans Surf Lodge members for the ultimate surfing experience, making the absolute most of all the technology on offer. I’m stoked to be part of that community and can’t wait to get in the water!
Disclaimer: Matt Ward is an investor in Wisemans Surf Lodge Property Trust