After Belgian beer and chocolate, now Belgian waves too
Across the globe, companies have designed installations imitating waves. In Europe, surfers can currently only find such installations in Bristol and Sion. But soon, there may be one in Belgium too.
The Ostend company AllWaves is currently developing a completely new generation of wavemakers in the context of the WaveLake project. The aim is to bring the installation to the market once the ongoing tests have been finished. Blue Cluster is helping bring this project to fruition.
Planning
This summer, the works for the artificial lake in Knokke-Heist will start. The municipality will make an R&D site available on which a wavepool of 100 metres by 100 metres can be dug.
From autumn onwards, professional surfers will be invited to test the waves under the supervision of Ghent University. This phase will probably take a couple of years.
The current aim is to to look for a suitable location to open a surfpool to the general public. Knokke-Heist could become one of the first surfparks in Europe.
Stakeholders
Various actors are involved in the WaveLake project and the realisation of the surfpool:
- the companies AllWaves, Surfers Paradise, Lakeside Paradise, VAPO and Sioen;
- the Provincial Development Agency West Flanders;
- Ghent University and the Coastal & Ocean Basin;
- the municipality of Knokke-Heist.
The WaveLake project is financially supported by Flanders Innovation & Entrepreneurship (VLAIO) and facilitated by Blue Cluster.
