Image: Surf Snowdonia
How much are you willing to pay to surf perfect man made waves? If it’s lower than £40 (60USD) per hour, then it looks like you can forget it — the first of the UK’s two Wave Gardens to open, Surf Snowdonia, has recently released its list of pricing in anticipation of their July opening date.
Photo: Courtesy of Patrick Rowhan
As someone who has been following the Wave Garden’s progression since I first caught a glimpse of the teaser video from the Basque Country in 2010, the price list didn’t come as a shock but more as deflating kick to the crown jewels. I’ve been so intrigued by the pricing because as a landlocked surfer I was amped at the prospect of potentially being able to score perfect waves regularly.
The thought of surfing before or after work on the daily like I did when I lived on the coast was heady stuff. I can’t stand the sterile atmosphere of gyms so I don’t have a membership, but I would’ve been happy to pay a steep monthly debit for the one thing I love doing more than anything else. I even considered how much I’d be willing to pay for it and it was around sixty pounds (90USD) a month. But looking at Surf Snowdonia’s pricing, even if they were to introduce a membership, it would be a tad over my budget seeing as a peak hour on the wave is £45 (68USD).
It is important to take into account the costs of such a project — the land, the materials, the labour and then the technology — which must all be a frightening prospect for their book keeper.
I can understand that it must have massive financial implications on the founders and this had to be reflected in the prices. I am also grateful that people have taken the plunge and made this happen because it’s pioneering stuff: they’ll be the first to open a public use Wave Garden in the World with the second, The Wave Bristol, to follow next year. However, my concern is that the price will mean that it’ll probably be more of a one-off event for surfers rather than a regular occurrence. At £45 an hour I know I could only justify going a few times a year.
So I suppose my deflation is born from the idea that the running costs will turn them into surfing theme parks and not a surfer’s equivalent to the gym. They will attract thousands of people that have never surfed before, but for surfers they won’t give us that regular fix that we crave.
All that being said, I can’t wait to try it. But for the moment I think I can stop dreaming about my lunch breaks in land-locked Bristol spent surfing glassy perfection.
Image: Surf Snowdonia
