On Friday 15-Mar-2024, three SCLU members traveled to Waco, TX to join a SurfAid event at the wave pool (Photo below from left to right: Mark Seasholes, Rory Howland, and Zoey Howland). We started the weekend with a one-hour public “intermediate session” on Friday.
The wave is a blast! The waves came so frequently that we had many chances to practice, miss a couple, and try new turns. The waves are short-period and come in sets of three or four … and sets repeat every 90 sec. With a max of 12 people in the pool for an hour, you basically are getting a wave at least every 6 minutes. Typical format is 30 min of rights followed by 30 min of lefts.
Left to Right: Zoey!!!, Rory Covered Up, Mark - board shorts are possible!
Saturday was the main SurfAid event day and we had three hours of private time. Started with 45 min of the Beginner wave … good for warm up and longboards but not much other than that. We then progressed to Intermediate and Advanced settings.
Rory with Big Carve and Zoey was ripping! She was the standout!
Scheduling private sessions is amazing. You get to surf with friends. You choose the wave settings and direction. You don’t have randos falling in front of you or pulling otherwise unexpected moves.
For those who want technical details: The waves are created with compressed air and a system of chambers. There are many different settings including some that have barrels and ramps (for airs). A quick YouTube search will turn up pros ripping this wave to shreds. Regardless of the setting, legs were burning at the end of sessions. There really was no shortage of waves.
Zoey exhibiting her style and Me (Mark) smiling inside.
The SurfAid Waco event was a big success and raised over $38K for mother and child health in remote areas that many of us visit (Indo, Nias, Sumba, Rote, …) If you are interested in contributing or getting involved, there is a SurfAid event in Santa Cruz on Sunday 28-April-2024.
Learn more about SurfAid Cup Santa Cruz (QRCode) and pic from last year's event!
Or join SurfAid Santa Cruz and all the fun at:
The Santa Cruz event has three, one-hour blocks scheduled in conjunction with the Log Jam event. For the SurfAid portion, participants have the opportunity to surf uncrowded Pleasure Point, raise money for worthy causes, and choose any board they like (shortboards, longboards, oldies, whatever you like).
Written by Mark Seasholes