Photo: Crest Surf Clubs
Surfing and social clubs — the kind you pay membership dues for access to waves, amenities, and an exclusive social network — aren’t exactly a common pairing. In fact, the two have probably never been paired together at all. Plans to build a 35-million-dollar wave pool in Long Island, New York are introducing that business model though, with development details announced by a company called Crest Surf Clubs this week.
“We are thrilled that, after seven years, we now have our approvals, our expert team, and our first site ready to go,” said co-CEO Chris Portera. “We’ve traveled the world visiting wave venues and private clubs, hired the best designers and engineers, and put together a best-in-class team, and tonight we announce the fruit of our labor: Crest Surf Clubs will be the only combination social club/surfing venue in the world.”
What exactly does a social club/surfing venue look like? Plans for the Long Island venue include amenities like a glass-enclosed restaurant overlooking the facility pool, a spa, access to surf coaching, and a concierge. Think SoHo House built around a chest-high peak, all within a 20-minute drive from the Hamptons (and presumably the clientele living there). Owners of the company may not be aiming for that SoHo House association while building a brand of their own, but the connection seems pretty fair. It’s meant to be luxurious, and while that doesn’t jive with every corner of the surfing population, there’s still arguably a large market for it. Social clubs are business-focused places where members often weave their personal and social lives. As contributing writer, Ben Mondy pointed out, the wave of surf pools being built all over the world is creating an entirely new culture within surfing itself.
“The Swiss pool (Alaia Bay) has become a melting of the tribes; snowboarders from Germany, skaters from Austria, and Scandi surfers cross-pollinate in an action sports soup or given the water temps, a GoPro gazpacho,” he pointed out, adding that “nineties pro skater Elissa Steamer once said the difference between surf and skate culture was that, ‘surfing wants fewer people and skating wants more.’ In the pools, that difference is eliminated. The wave pools need to attract numbers to survive, and they’ll need non-surfers to make that happen.”
Construction for Crest Surf’s first venue is expected to start by the end of this year or early 2023, with 2024 targeted for completion with plans for future clubs in places like San Francisco, Chicago, and Los Angeles, according to a company video.
