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Wavegarden Barcelona
A Dedicated Wavegarden Cove in BarcelonaAverage Reviews
Description
Plans for a Wavegarden Cove facility are coming together for Barcelona, Spain. The wave pool will produce waves that appeal to all levels of surfing, ranging from knee-high beginner waves to high-performance waves that measure 1.7m (6 feet) high on the face of the wave.
Very little is known about the project, and updates have been sparse since it was first announced in 2017, but we have heard from leadership that the team is continues to work on building permits.
Wave Size, Shape and Frequency
The team behind Wavegarden Barcelona told Magicseaweed that the wave pool will produce waves that measure up to 1.7m (6 feet) high on the face of the wave. However, thanks to the flexibility of Wavegarden Cove technology, the wave pool will produce waves that vary in shape and size making Wavegarden Barcelona attractive to beginners, professionals and every surfer in between.
Assuming that the 1.5 hectare (3.7 acre) Cove is similar to other Cove installations like The Wave in Bristol, it will be organized into multiple breaks that correspond to surfing levels. On each side of the pier, there will likely be an advanced, intermediate, and beginner area. The advanced area will offer high performance waves up to 1.7m (6 feet) high on the face of the wave. The shape of the advanced wave will vary during the course of a 1-hour session, offering high-performance turn sections, barrels and air sections. The intermediate area will be slightly smaller and offer an open face that is ideal for practicing turns, while the beginner area will provide knee-high whitewater rollers that are great for learning to surf.
The waves will be similar in shape and size to what we’ve seen at the Wavegarden Cove prototype, shown below.
Wavegarden R&D Center 
Wavegarden R&D Center 
Wavegarden R&D Center 
Photo: Wavegarden
Based on the Cove’s ability to produce up to 900 waves per hour, and Wavegarden Barcelona’s plan to put 108 surfers in each 1-hour session, we also suspect that each surfer will get to ride around 12 waves in each 1-hour session.
Wavegarden Barcelona is smaller than The Wave in Bristol and many other Cove installations, so we’ll have to confirm whether or not they will be able to host three different breaks on each side of the pier. We’ll update this page when we know more.
The price is expected to be relatively low, between €20 and €35 ($22-$38 USD) for a 1-hour session, depending on the day of the week and the surfing area selected by the customer.
The Facility
The €9.6 million ($10.5 million USD) facility will occupy almost 5 hectares (12 acres) of land. Thats relatively small to some of the other wave pool plans around the world. Verger told as.com that it will be focused on surfing, like a gym. There will be “no nightlife or parties because we do not want this to become a theme park.”
The facility will, however, include a surf school, changing rooms, lockers, showers and one restaurant. Operating the facility is expected to create 50 jobs, which will benefit the local community.
Wavegarden Barcelona plans to operate year-round other than two weeks dedicated to maintenance.
History
Felip Verger, the founder of Wavegarden Barcelona, has been working on the project for years. In 2013, they posted their first social media post was a picture of the Wavegarden Lagoon test facility at the Wavegarden R&D center. Wavegarden Barcelona bought exclusive rights to Wavegarden technology for the Catalonia area, but Verger makes it clear that their use of the Wavegarden name is only symbolic; they are not related to Wavegarden, the wave pool technology company, beyond the customer-supplier relationship.
Things were quiet, on the public front, until 2017 when a flurry of news was released about the project including images that indicated a projected opening date in spring of 2018 and switch from Lagoon to Wavegarden Cove technology.
In July 2018, social media went silent after a post requesting that all questions get directed to info@wavegardenbcn.com. Since then, we’ve only heard that they are making progress on building permits and, until they have permits in place, there there will be little-to-no news released. We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.
Sources: Magicseaweed, as.com
