Fred’s Wave

A brilliant humanitarian named Fred built a wave pool in central Java that produced 10-second, knee-high, straight-handers that were loved by the local community. Unfortunately, it was recently decommissioned.

As you can see in the videos above, Fred’s Wave was powered by humans (or small truck motors), which raise a very heavy block about 8 feet into the air at the back of the pool. The block is dropped suddenly, displacing water and creating energy which runs toward the shallow end of the pool.

Fred is currently looking for investors to help him build a commercial pool. His concept drawings and some land tentatively identified near Prague. We’re cheering for him…

History

Fred grew up between Holland, Indonesia and Australia. He discovered his love for surfing at an early age, outside Australia. But as an adult, he was disheartened by the crowds. So Fred decided to build his own wave pool, and started uploading videos of his tests in 2008.

It took $85,000 and three years to complete the prototype, and in 2012 he released a video of the pool, including local Javanese kids surfing it and having the time of their lives.

As described above, the pool has since been partially disassembled while Fred seeks additional investment for a commercial pool.

Sources: Streamer, CarverMag.com Surfer, The Inertia, Fred