Like Disneyland, the wave pool experience is real. But not really real. Art: George Mussell
Is the continued development of competing artificial wave technologies a blight on surfing’s soul or a logical extension of the sport in the modern age? It depends who you ask, apparently.
In a recent study in the International Review for the Sociology of Sport, researchers Michael Roberts and Jess Ponting explore the notion of authenticity in modern surf culture that has roots in two different schools of thought, both of which have divided surfers since the introduction of competition and professionalism.
The crux of the article? What is real surfing, anyway? Does riding a wave in a wave pool constitute surfing, as Kelly Slater might likely argue, or is it something else altogether as former editor of SURFER magazine Steve Hawk and many others contend?
What’s important to Roberts and Ponting is not so much the answer to that question itself, but rather understanding how and why surfers are answering that question at present.
So finding an answer to the following thus frames the researchers’ theoretical intervention and empirical analysis: “What will become the main referent for the culture of surfing?” ask the authors.
When the first glimpse of Kelly’s wave in Lemoore California hit the internet, it turned the surf world at large on its ear. Photo: Kelly Slater Wave Co.
Since Kelly Slater Wave Company first released footage of its creation amidst the dusty, cow-pie smelling pastures of Lemoore, California, you needn’t go far to see natural waves compared to his creation. The key difference, of course, is that one is entirely man-made, engineered by humans to create a perfect wave every time. The other requires not just favorable natural features, but a confluence of natural weather patterns to come together at the opportune moment. Which is precisely what makes surfing a perfect wave in nature so special – knowing that the stars aligned for a single fleeting moment.
Not to get overly technical or esoteric, but Roberts and Ponting’s analysis hinges on the work of acclaimed postmodernist and theorist Jean Baudrillard – specifically, his concept of the hyperreal. An example Baudrillard often cited as the epitome of hyperreality was, and is Disneyland.
“The Disneyland imaginary is neither true or false: it is a deterrence machine set up in order to rejuvenate in reverse the fiction of the real,” wrote Baudrillard in his opus Simulacra and Simulation. “It’s meant to be an infantile world, in order to make us believe that the adults are elsewhere, in the ‘real’ world, and to conceal the fact that real childishness is everywhere, particularly among those adults who go there to act the child in order to foster illusions of their real childishness.”
In other words, Disneyland isn’t a “real” place in the traditional sense of the word. The intention is that it feels real and that we enjoy ourselves. Is that good or bad? Baudrillard doesn’t exactly say. But the Disneyland example does mirror the wave pool experience, doesn’t it?
The world’s longest lazy river, massive water slides, and a wave pool are all ways you can get your kicks in Waco, Texas. Image: BSR
When surfing in the ocean, some of the predominant frustrations are as follows: crappy waves and crowds. Artificial wave tech mitigates both problems by creating predictable, quality surf and in many cases capping the number of surfers in a session, leaving plenty to go around.
But, claims a so-called “soul surfer” – it ain’t the same. You’re not “riding ocean-transported sunbeams,” as Matt Warshaw writes. And therein lies the divide. Not just from surfer to surfer, but for surfers within themselves. The opportunity to surf Kelly’s wave was the chance of a lifetime for me, but processing the experience was a crisis of conscience. Was it real? It sure felt like it. But, really real? No, I guess not.
“In our research, we have found that soul surfers’ opposition to wave parks is consistent with previous generations of soul surfers who have criticised the ways in which commodification of surf culture has defiled the sacred aspects of surfing,” conclude Roberts and Ponting. “On the other hand, we see in our research how authenticity is challenged by a separate group of stakeholders who have a financial interest in the growth of artificial wave pools. These companies are compelled to challenge the soul surfers’ notion of authenticity in order to sell tickets to their wave parks.”
In between these disparate groups, there are a number of surfers who exist on the spectrum. From go-hards who will ride anything without a shred of guilt to those who want a taste (and maybe get one) but something inside is telling them it’s wrong.
The most compelling conclusion of all, however, is the phenomenon that machine has officially surpassed nature as the benchmark for the perfect wave in our humble sport. A perfect reeling right-hander in Huntington (an anomaly, to say the least) is now just as likely to be compared to the Surf Ranch as it is to Snapper. Is that a good or bad thing? I’ll leave it to you to duke it out in the comments. That’s the reality, though, in our strange little surf bubble, and the machines are here to stay.
