Wave Loch Explained

Wave Loch LLC.
Founder:Tom Lochtefeld
Location City:9747 Olson Drive, San Diego, California, 92121[1]
Location Country:United States
Industry:Water attraction manufacturer
Products:SurfPool, FlowBarrel, FlowTour, Wave House
Homepage:Official Website

Wave Loch Inc. is a surf ride manufacturing company responsible for such water rides as the FlowBarrel, Flying Reef, SurfPool, Wave House franchises, and, formerly, FlowRider. These water attractions grew to mainstream popularity thanks to their use in many popular water parks and cruise ships.[2]

History

During the 1980s, Tom Lochtefeld was a partner in the development of Raging Waters water parks in the United States. He created a water park attraction to simulate the riding of waves in the ocean. In 1988, a patent was taken out for "a wave-forming generator for generating inclined surfaces on a contained body of water". This was the concept of a sheet wave, the basis of most of Wave Loch's rides. Lochtefeld worked with Charles Sauerbier, Carl Ekstrom and others to model the wave using wave tanks at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla.[3]

The first WaveLoch FlowRider opened at the Schlitterbahn in Texas in 1991. This was followed by the first FlowBarrel at the Summerland Resort in Norway two years later.[4]

In 1999, Wave Loch built a portable FlowBarrel, which was shipped around theworld to support the SWATCH and Siemens Wave Tours. This portable FlowBarrel visited Florence,Munich, Australia and other places. Wave House South Africa opened in 2001 with a double FlowBarrel called the D Rex, and two FlowRider Singles at the center of an entertainment, retail and food and beverage complex.[5]

In 2005, Wave House San Diego opened at the northwest corner of the Belmont Park amusement area in San Diego, where the company headquarters was located for ten years. By 2009, Wave Loch had sold more than 175 FlowRider sheet waves to locations around the world. In 2014, there were Wave Houses located in Durban, San Diego, Santiago, Chile, Sentosa, Singapore, and Mallorca. Additional locations are planned for Miami, Orange County, and three in China.[6] [7]

In 2014, Wave Loch sold the FlowRider IP and technology to WhiteWater West, although it retained the Flow Barrel and Wave House brands.[8] As of 2018, there are over 230 FlowRiders installed around the world.[9]

That same year, after ten years of R&D, Wave Loch introduced it's Surf Pool line of compressed-air-powered wave pools.[10] [11] [12] With its goal of making surfing an Olympic sport,[13] Wave Loch’s Surf Pool generates 2adj=midNaNadj=mid waves every ten seconds in a 5000m2 footprint.[14] [15]

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Czech . Wave Pools | Wave Machines | Surf Pools . Wave Loch . 2014-03-03 . 2016-01-29.
  2. https://www.npr.org/2016/08/30/490545030/surfers-and-scientists-team-up-to-create-the-perfect-wave
  3. Web site: Tom Lochtefeld in The Encyclopedia of Surfing . June 2013 . Matt Warshaw . January 23, 2014.
  4. Web site: Wave Loch – A short history of Wave Loch and Wave House & Surfing Machines . June 23, 2010 . Wave Loch . June 27, 2010.
  5. Web site: Making Waves . June 2008 . Wired . January 23, 2014.
  6. Web site: Wave Loch History . June 2008 . Wave Loch . January 23, 2014.
  7. Web site: 2010-12-28 . A wave pool in a beach town? . 2024-03-04 . Orange County Register . en-US.
  8. Web site: Wave Loch turns their attention to surf pools after selling their world-leading FlowRider sheet-wave product to WhiteWater West Industries. waveloch.com. Wave Loch. 20 November 2014. 27 February 2014.
  9. Web site: FlowRider® Official The Ultimate Surf Machine Buy A FlowRider. FlowRider The Ultimate Surf Machine Buy A FlowRider -. en-US. 2018-06-25.
  10. Web site: Beamish . Christian . Jumping In The [Wave] Pool |publisher=Surfline.Com |date= |access-date=2016-01-29].
  11. Web site: Wave Loch SurfPool IAAPA 2014 . https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/-zmuvP_dxAA . 2021-12-15 . live. YouTube . 2014-11-24 . 2016-01-29.
  12. Web site: Čeština . World's Largest Professional Network . LinkedIn . 2016-01-29.
  13. Web site: Tom Lochtefeld Discusses New Focus on Surf Pools at Wave Loch - PODCAST #1 . Surf Park Central . 2014-03-27 . 2016-01-29.
  14. Web site: Czech . Surf Loch SurfPools. surfloch.com . 2021-03-04.
  15. Web site: Technology . Surf Loch . 4 March 2024.