The dream of the perfect artificial wave is turning into a nightmare for Coors brewing heir Doug Coors and his crew at Autin, Texas’ NLand Surfpark.
After clearing numerous legal hurdles regarding dunking people into a pond of standing water, the Wave Garden park opened on October 7, 2016 only to close three weeks later after they were forced to drain the pool to make repairs (flooding local streets in the process), according to a story on KXAN. The park hasn’t been open since.
“While this is disappointing for us all, we turn our focus to 2017 and the exciting plans we have in store. One hint: hops,” founder Doug Coors, whose relatives started Colorado-based Coors Brewing Company, said. In an email to KXAN, a spokesperson confirmed there will be a brewery on site sometime in 2017.
Ah yes, beer — the international problem solver. Sounds like an NLand Brewery might have been a better idea than a surf park. If there’s one thing everyone loves it’s beer. Wave pool surfing in brown water? Not so much.
The developers of NLand Surf Park in Austin, Texas aren’t going to let the financial deaths of roller skating rinks, pay-to-skate skateboard parks, nor indoor ski domes slow down their plans to get the hordes on board with the grand opening of what they are calling the “America’s first surf park,” on October 7, 2016.
“This is an historic moment for surfers around the globe as our second Wavegarden facility is launched. Together, we have scaled this project to a level never before seen,” Wavegarden CEO Josema Odriozola said. “The NLand Training Center is a state-of-the-art surf school with a talented staff of surf coaches from around the world who offer accelerated training for surfers of all levels.”
For now they’ve gotten around a series of ordinances regarding water quality and filtering (according to a story in the Houston Chronicle) and all they have to do is get people to come surf. That may be the tough part because like it or not surfing is hard. Luckily, the park was built by Coors brewing heir Doug Coors.
Current rates to surf the “reef” waves are one hour for $90. Pretty cheap when compared to a trip to Tavarua. Mabye Mr. Coors has something here. Wonder what the “birthday party” package costs? It’s gotta be better than a trampline park, right? For the official word from Nland Surf, follow the jump. [click to continue…]
A master at the notorious Banzai Pipeline on the North Shore of Oahu, one of the world’s most dangerous breaks, Lopez says he continues to surf “pretty much any time it looks good,” even though doing so requires making the four-hour drive between his home in Bend and the distant waves off Pacific City.
Seems a great surf icon is always good for a story, and for business.
We can’t even count the times when we’ve been stuck a lift freezing our asses off during a monster Sierra storm and thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to be sweating it out with two naked Fins in a sauna right now?”
Now we can. And you can to if you visit Ylläs, a resort in the Lapland Province of Finland. They apparently have replaced one of the cars on their gondola with a sauna car and nudity is recommended. You listening Mammoth?
Kauai surfer Keoni Lucas, 35, died Saturday night March 29, 2008 in Santa Monica after falling asleep at the wheel in Santa Monica, California.
Hailed as always positive, outgoing and born for the water, mourners for North Shore surfer Keoni Lucas will honor the 35-year-old who passed away Saturday by dedicating this year’s Annual Irons Brothers Pinetrees Classic to him. The event occurs this weekend.
A Kelly Slater affiliated Austin, Texas wave pool development appears to have hit a snag recently as seven contractors have filed $4.6 million in liens against the project, according to a story in The Austin American Statesman.
Publicly available filings indicate seven companies claim they were not paid for work completed in late 2025 and early 2026. . . That work includes water treatment, plumbing and control systems, HVAC systems, aquatic filtration materials and equipment, engineering, concrete, sand and rock, among other items. . . The claims come as the project’s ownership group, Austin Surf Club Venture LP, confirmed to the American-Statesman that construction work is pausing for now.
The project is a redevelopment of a previous wave pool failure, NLand Surf Park which closed in 2016 due to reported regulatory issues. The new development was said to feature muli-million dollar homes around the wave and has reportedly attracted purchases from Tony Hawk, Drew Brees, and Matthew McConaughey.
Is living by the actual ocean so hard? We never will understand much of the whole wave pool business model, but stay tuned as we continue to stumble along.
The Palm Springs Surf Club will reportedly “undergo a city commission review July 22, 2025” after loads of noise complaints and occasional mechanical problems which have led to pool closures, according to a story in the Palm Springs Post.
Since late 2023, the surf club has generated 66 noise complaints from approximately 16 individual residences in a nearby neighborhood, according to a city staff report. Code enforcement officers have cited the business six times, with four citations resulting in fines that have been paid in full.
The inland surf dream is a costly, difficult thing to make real, apparently. Riding a wave in the ocean seems so much more efficient, right? For more details on the story please click the link.
After 35 years in downtown Encinitas Mike McGill has moved his legendary McGill’s Skate Shop a couple blocks inland and sandwiched it right between Lazy Acres supermarket and Jersey Mikes at the northwest corner of Encinitas Blvd and the 5 (as they say in SoCal). The perfect spot if you’re looking for an organic salad to compliment your corporate sub and Birdhouse Skateboard. It was also the perfect spot for a 35th anniversary party on March 18, 2023 with most of the Bones Brigade and whole host of skate heads.
Everyone was there and thanks to Malik Jones we can see it all: Lance Mountain, Tony Hawk, Stacy Peralta, Hosoi, Stevie Cab, Kevin Staab, Grant Brittain, Paul “The Professor” Schmitt, Don Brown, Steve Van Doren, Alphonzo Rawls, and apparently of dumpload of professional autograph hunters doing business.
