A testimonial by a stoked surfer on foiling in the AllWaves wave pool.
Surfing the wavepool on foil in the AllWaves R&D center in Knokke-Heist, Belgium was such a unique experience! I believe it’s the first time a foiler has ever surfed a wave pool and it exceeded all expectations.
In other wavepools it would be too shallow or not spacious enough, but the AllWaves technology generated waves which are perfect for foiling!
You paddle out to the middle of the lake and instantly get that ocean feel. There is no other structure or concrete walls around you. The waves start coming at you just like regular swell does, amazing!
In our session we were testing the ‘Waikiki’ setting. It’s a smaller wave than what we have seen before. The wave perfectly peels left and right, just like an A-frame wave does. As a foiler, you don’t need much more. From the first take-off, it felt exactly like surfing a clean two foot offshore day out at sea. Pumping back out, you see multiple waves being generated and you can timely choose the one that suits your speed. In the current testing facility, we were able to make two to three turns before pumping back out again and catching another wave.
Remarkable is the amount of waves generated in one sequence, an astounding 40 waves which all keep the same quality. The waves seem never ending and we weren’t able to catch all the waves in one sequence, our cardio didn’t allow. The amount of turbulence is minimal and the lake in general does not get affected by any backwash.
Looks like foiling has a future in wave pools! Who would have thought?
Testimonial by Tom Soupart, Belgian champion foil surfing.
Keep surfing!
