''To what extent does something innovative and “inclusive” really bring positive aspects and impacts on a larger scale? The paradigm behind wave pool.''
Yo. Ciao Ciao Surfhive!!! All good comunity?
My name is João Pedro Parmagnani, it's always great to have all of you here. I've been a surfer since I was 14 years old, where I learned to surf in a poor outskirts of Brazil, where I was robbed, kicked out of the water and much more bad situations.
Today I am a surf businessman and I try to highlight in my projects points that I consider really important in terms of aspects that structure the sport and surfing movement.
And this often consists of bringing information or a more globalized "vibe" to those who have less access to information, just like bringing the "truth" about surfing to those who inflate their ego and want to buy everything and fuck the next one.
Let's talk about Wave Pool. Enjoy the ride.
Is a wave pool cool or not?
Well, basically everything in life has the potential to be cool or boring, good or bad, it depends on the way it is used, appreciated and when it is included in a given environment.
So let's talk about the positive sides first?
With the arrival of wave pools, I believe that surfing in terms of performance and evolution of equipment, biomechanics of surfers will be something that will evolve a lot, as it will assimilate more from skateboarding, snowboarding, I mean, static obstacles, the same , where you can go back and forth and try the same movement several times in the same energy line.
I also believe that the business of the surfing world will benefit from these new psychology, as it involves large investors, a nervous structure, as well as great technology to manage all this activity.
Another interesting factor is that it allows those who live far from surfing, or have difficulty surfing at certain natural times due to everyday demands, so they just have to pay to catch their waves.
Another factor to analyze is the possibility of Independence in the face of natural conditions. Have you ever imagined how difficult it is to catch a sea in ideal conditions? wind, tide, swell, sandbar? Now you can pay a big company and choose the level of wave you want to surf, along with the category.
The truth is that there are several other positive points to be analyzed, but that would be speculation, as it is a new movement in Brazil, which I am referring to.
So if I were to list here for you some of these points they would consist of:
Performance evolution of sport and equipment.
Growth in the surfing market.
Flexibility and access for those who live far away or who have difficulty surfing at certain times of the day
Perfect and equal waves without needing to experience the explorer, studious or connection side of surfing. (I don't know if this is beneficial) but it will help those who are just arriving or those who have more difficulty understanding this dynamic.
So now that I've talked about some interesting points with the arrival of wave pool without going into too much depth, I'm going to talk about the negative points, or the ones that few people notice, or the ones that they don't want to hear.
The first point I'm going to talk about is money. As I said above, the market will be heated, but yes, the surfing market, with more famous people learning to do their rips or get their tubes, but where are these pools generally? What is the cost to keep operating? Who has the opportunity to surf these artificial waves? Well, let's go.
Outside the country, like in Dubai, there have been wave pools for a long time, and it was there that I met, watching a film captured through the lenses of Joe G, DJ Struntz, Beren Hall, and Grady Archbold. Motion & Still. Film & HD. The story will be told through the pages of our global media partners and through this short film directed by Joe G. , called ELECTRIC BLUE HEAVEN the images were incredible, the vibe that the waves passed by was something utopian, cinematic, in the middle of a desert.
And it's not just in EUA, Dubai, Europe but several others already existed, such as the surf garden, and others. However, different hydrodynamic models, turbines, and engineering that generate the formation of the wave itself.
Straight to the point, without beating around the bush: wave pools have an absurd monetary cost, from construction to wave generation and maintenance of the space, water treatment, and more.
So, what alternative are surfing billionaires looking for? Masking this heavy side, behind the curtains, through apparently healthy advertisements, surfing museums, as was done in the pool created by Kelly slater, partnerships with luxury condominiums, partnerships with influences in the surfing area, creating as many good images as possible of the project, more or less how a capitalist mind works.
So, there are different technologies to form the perfect waves from wave pool, however, the truth is that they all have an absurd cost and a certain impact on the planet's energy, since very few of them use renewable or clean energy sources. to cover most of its cost.
Another important point to make is that generally these condominiums built in the middle of nowhere, in order to provide the user with a paradisiacal experience, need to destroy nature, or environmental heritage to achieve this. Stop and analyze, this is how it is in general condominiums, they simply sprout in a space that is generally rich in nature, occupying a large territory. Of course, environmental devastation.
So, what has the most impact? a pool in the middle of the city or in a paradisiacal place?
Another point to discuss is the opportunity to catch the waves since the value for a half-yearly, annual plan, prior investment or simply catching a few waves is a value that does not appear to be coherent with the economic reality of the country, therefore once again favors the richest, generating something bad in surfing that has existed for some time, called "Division"
In addition to generating this division between those who can and cannot attend an artificial wave pool space, understanding about the intrinsic truth of surfing is also compromised. Surfing came from an old movement, with a lot of culture, pain and now with globalization, the Olympics and more, it is proving to be a sport that is less frowned upon by society.
What I'm seeing after living in Europe for a while is, people making a lot of money over others who don't understand much about the sport, creating surfing development handouts, crazy classes and now wave pool programns, changing the evolutionary linear and understanding of those who experience the sport in nature.
It's incredible how society tries to replicate nature's movements as much as possible, sometimes it even comes close to doing so, but at a much greater cost and the installed disorder.
Another point to consider is, the sea is something medicinal, the salts contained in the sea have healing potential, they act like crystals in our physiology, bringing a feeling of gratitude, well-being and connection to the simple and complex fluid aspects of the sea, wind, sand, sun and general elements of nature. It's like climbing a tree and picking a fruit or going to the supermarket and buying a banana wrapped in plastic.
Unlike the positive points, the negative points prove to be much more impactful in the world of surfing as in nature. So I'm going to list here, as I listed above, the negative points of a wave pool.
Very high monetary and energy costs for the construction, maintenance and dynamics of wave pools.
High potential for deforestation and exploitation of environmental areas for construction.
Division in the sport, between those who "can and those who can't", this point is decisive because it gives rise to a new culture or way of thinking about surfing.
Lack of connection with nature, intrinsic learning of life.
This is a more elaborate speech, as it involves the social, economic and environmental side, and despite being an engineer, nature defender and surfer, I have my points of view, unlike many other people, which is why conversations or texts such as that demonstrate importance in the media.
For example, I still can't go to the wave pools, it's a high price and I don't want to save money and spend on it at the moment to catch 10 waves while I can wait for nature's moment, study previously and dance with the natural waves. This is for me, it doesn't mean it's for you.
Maybe at the right time i'll try to record a surfing video showing some areas with my asymmetrics on these artificial tracks to experience this bizarre technological innovation in surfing. Must be amazing? But that's it, Mac Donalds proves to be incredibly delicious for many people, not for me.
We can only follow this technological boom, without letting ourselves be fooled by the media, as we know very well how it works, trying to alienate as much as possible those who consume for more profit purposes. And of course most importantly, in order to preserve the true nature of life.
Planet Earth with fever? 🤒
To finish the text, I would like to talk a little about this moment we are living in: basically the planet is in a fever.
This is being aggravated due to a series of events that have occurred in recent years, especially in the forests and devastation of nature. Another super relevant point is the amount of waste present in the soil, melting of glaciers, and the combination of a year of the "El Nino" phenomenon and the phenomenon of solar eruptions.
If you don't know much about solar flares, I'm telling you that it's something that yogis, wise scholars of the macrocosm, just like space quantum physicists already know. The period of solar eruptions has now begun, and every time the planet goes through a period like this, it receives an extra stimulus in all the energies that act here, with a great impact on the planet's magnetic field, that is, a higher level of reception and sensitivity, so this is a crucial point for me to have involved the factor of wave pools, because as a surfer yogi researcher, I can see a gap in connection between these points.
Imagine that your body is feverish, in the same way you are more susceptible to good and bad things, due to the opening of the physiological structure and you decide to do a triathlon or a big marathon while smoking several cigarettes? It seems that the account is not closing again, yes or no?
In the same way that we work with data for better understanding, inner understanding proves to be the key to maintaining completeness, and not letting this external cause great turbulence in our peace, in the same way, remaining confident doing our best in the face of these situations is smart and frugal.
I hope you enjoyed the text, any comments or questions send a message, I'm at your disposal here at Web3.
View nature as a sacred heritage and not as a source of resource to be explored to obtain more fleeting and superficial feelings.