Just over a year ago, our very own Juan Hernandez wrote a quick little story about something called the WaveWrecker. “The WaveWrecker is a suit that essentially turns a person into a surfboard,” he explained. “Fins built into a wetsuit act as rails and, well, fins, to streamline the body and make you buoyant in places your body tries not to be buoyant.”
At the time of that writing, the WaveWrecker bodysurfing suit was a bit of a pipe dream–a Kickstarter campaign and a dream, but that’s about it. Well, the suit just became a real thing that someone can buy. The problem, though (still unaddressed), is that it looks ridiculous.
Somewhere around six years ago, a guy named Dr. Nicholas Noel Gadler had the idea for the WaveWrecker. After a patent, the Kickstarter campaign, more than a little online bashing, and maybe a SharkTank shot (best video ever!) last month WaveWrecker celebrated its soft launch in April.
According to the press release, the idea “came to Nick Gadler when he was in his backyard swimming pool treading water for a long time while encouraging his son to swim to him in the deep end. Growing tired treading water, Nick glanced around and spotted foam pool noodles and grabbed a couple of them to help him stay afloat. They added better floatation and allowed him to be more patient while coaching his son. Before long, he imagined what it would be like if a person had augmented floatation when body surfing. The idea grew from there.”
He went on to mess around with nearly 30 different prototypes, eventually hiring a Hollywood costume design company to “make the suit a natural extension of the human body with appealing aesthetics.” What they came up with is basically a Batsuit, only without a belt that shoots grappling hooks and shit.
So the WaveWrecker is a real thing that you can buy now. Going for around $400, it remains to be seen whether you’ll actually see one in a lineup near you, and it’s hard not to laugh at the thought of it. But the person you’re laughing at won’t care because apparently, the suit works really well.
After testing it, Makena Magro, the 2015 World Champion Bodysurfer, said “I felt a lot faster in the water, and the suit’s added buoyancy made it much easier to concentrate on maneuvering across the face of the wave. WaveWrecker let me spend less time and energy treading water, and let me focus on catching waves.”
Check it out yourself at WaveWrecker.com
