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Image: WHoW
Image: WHoW
Image: WHoW
WHoW Aquasports Park
A Wavegarden Cove in a Water Sport ComplexAverage Reviews
Description
Plans are coming together for a water sports park in North Canterbury, NZ, that will include a Wavegarden Cove wave pool. The team behind the project, WHoW Charitable Trust, is currently working on pre-feasibility studies, and if things proceed as planned, they hope to be open to the public in early 2023.
Limited details area available about the wave pool, but we do know that it will produce waves that it will cater to all skill levels. Using the flexibility of Wavegarden Cove technology, they will produce waves that appeal to advanced surfers, beginner surfers and everyone in between.
The team has yet to confirm the size of the waves that will be generated by the wave pool. Given what we’re seeing at the Wavegarden Cove R&D pool (pictured below) and other Cove installations like The Wave in Bristol, we expect the WHoW Aquasports Park wave pool will produce left and right-hand waves measuring up to 1.9m (6m) high on the face of the wave.
Scott Kotoul, spokesperson for the WHoW Chartable Trust behind the project, said they expect the wave pool to produce 1000 waves per hour. That’s standard for a Wavegarden Cove installation. The team has yet to provide additional details on the size of the pool which will directly correlate to the ride length and the capacity of the pool.
In addition to the wave pool, the facility will host a wakeboarding cable park, a whitewater rafting course, aquaplay facilities for kids and a restaurant/cafe. It could make WHoW Aquasports Park the first in the world to combine surf, wake and whitewater into a single facility.
The WHoW Aquasports Park expects to attract around 150,000 visitors per year including locals and tourists, but that number could change as part of the pre-feasibility studies.
The WHoW Charitable Trust is leading the project. The team is comprised of Nick Mooney, who leads the wave pool team, with the help of Andrew Ross, a private consultant from URBN Surf Melbourne. Nick, Andrew and Scott are joined by a team of professionals with lead the project in other areas such as architecture, white water sports and wake boarding.
The first stage of the project will be overseen by Jason Mill from Pivnice Architecture and Tony Joseph from Joseph & Associates (surveying and project management).
The team hopes that the project will help invigorate and unify an area that was torn apart by a 2011 earthquake. The facility will be located in a “Red Zone” that was devastated by the quake.
Kotoul also says that WHoW has great support from the Waimakariri District Council and Enterprise North Canterbury. In October 2019, WHoW successfully raised $125,000 NZD ($80,000 USD) from a crowdfunding campaign, some auctions, and other private donations. That money will be used for a pre-feasibility study that will include reports on transport, planning and land use, as well as cultural, market research and financial assessments. The pre-feasibility work is expected to be completed early next year. If that pre-feasibility study goes well, the Waimakariri District Council and Enterprise North Canterbury have indicated they will support project and potentially offer funding.
Sources: Stuff.co.nz, WHoW Charitable Trust
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