Few images of summer are as iconic as skilled surfers riding through barreling waves. The problem is, these waves are a lot harder to see, or experience, than beach movies leave us to believe.
Surfers from far and wide test out Surf Loch’s surf-able wave pool. (Video courtesy of Surf Loch.)
Surfers are lucky to get five good waves an hour. To experience these waves, they must travel to, or live near, specific coastal spots where the right weather, wind and surrounding geography mix to produce surfable waves. Then they must compete with a crowd of people trying to catch these waves. It’s these challenges that make the sport hard for newcomers to enter, enthusiasts to master and now, Olympians to compete in.
“Paddling to catch a wave, dropping-in, getting covered by the barrel and spit out into the sunshine is one of most exhilarating experiences that a person can experience on planet Earth,” said Tom Lochtefeld, founder and CEO of Surf Loch. “This was the inspiration for Surf Loch.”
Utilizing Siemens PLM technology, Surf Loch can replicate, or tailor make, the perfect wave within specialized pools. As a result, surfers have a chance to catch the exact same wave, every nine-seconds, in a setting that perfectly mimics the open ocean.
“Facing the same wave gives one the opportunity to minimize the variables that are ever-present at the beach. Learning to surf or practicing a new maneuver is already a difficult endeavor,” said Lochtefeld. “To have a consistent wave over and over helps you to focus on the minimum number of elements to achieve success.”
So how did this rad company use engineering software to tame the waves and bring them anywhere on earth?
How Surf Loch Took the Wave Pool Concept to Make an Akaw (aka Awesome) Surfing Paradise?
The basic mechanics behind Surf Loch aren’t new—water parks and city pools have had wave technology for decades. What sets Surf Loch apart is their ability to repeatably make bigger, surfable waves with pinpoint accuracy.
Lochtefeld explained, “Although both the traditional wave pool and a Surf Loch surfing pool use pneumatic technology to generate their waves, a traditional waterpark wave pool replicates a mixed sea-state, with a multitude of unfocused smaller swells less than one meter (3.3 ft) in height. That bounces the participant up-and-down in the pool and laps upon the shore.” As one can imagine these weak, playful waves are not surfable.
He added that instead of those playful waves, “a Surf Loch surf pool generates an over two meter (6.6 ft) high surfable wave. Replicating a long period swell [that is] progressively breaking in an oblique fashion, for a sustained time-period, towards the beach. Epic!”
Another difference from traditional wave pools is the amount of control Surf Loch has on the waves it produces. “We can control all aspects of the wave,” said Lochtefeld. “Wave period, height, frequency, direction and related interference patterns. We have complete control, within our customer’s design specifications.”
This means that the pool is the perfect place to learn how to surf, perfect the skill and hold competitions. The waves can be customized to a surfer’s skill level. And they can practice, or compete, on the same wave until they can land a 360/aerial without bailing.
The Tech That Gives Surf Loch Waves Their Juice
Surf Loch worked with Siemens to access the control, IoT, simulation, PLM and digital twin technology that makes this amped wave-pool possible.
“We primarily use wave simulations to define the applied pneumatic pressures, as well as architect the dimensions and bathymetry of the surf pool,” said Lochtefeld.
Surf Loch uses PLM, digital twin and simulation technology to control the waves produced by its pool.
He added that once all the conditions to create a specific wave are determined, “variable speed blowers and valves cause variable pressure forces (positive and negative) applied to the water columns, within our wave generating caissons. This is communicated through a slot opening into the deep-end of the surf pool, resulting in controllable propagating wave forms throughout the surfing pool.”
In other words, Surf Loch has made a digital twin of the mechanical pneumatic systems that produce the waves within the pool. The system was validated across a series of tests to ensure the waves produced in the twin matched the real waves. A similar validation process is also performed when new pools are commissioned.
“This ensures that the system is functioning as contracted, critical to our business success,” said Lochtefeld. “To ensure proper PLM, Surf Loch uses Siemens Teamcenter to track our project data and processes.”
Each pool is also equipped with a series of Siemens MindSphere IoT sensor technology to assess how the system is running. This performance monitoring program (PMP) ensures the safe operations of the pool and helps predict maintenance issues.
Lochtefeld added, “Our PMP provides Surf Loch technicians with continuous data acquisition, via cloud connectivity, to track and monitor the equipment during use. We identify potential issues and proactively manage equipment health to maintain peak operational condition and performance. The benefit of the PMP is to assure licensees that the equipment is operating safely and efficiently while reducing the time and cost spent on repair and avoiding disruption, system failure or serious accident.”
Will Surf Loch Change the Sport Forever?
This new wave-pool isn’t Lochtefeld’s first attempt at recreating the surfing experience. He’s created FlowRider, which is akin to a water-based treadmill; and FlowBarrel, a similar technology that adds a barrel to that treadmill. Additionally, he co-created the Raging Waters theme parks. But it’s clear that his 40-year dream of recreating the surfing experience has truly come to fruition with Surf Loch.
The Tokyo Games debuted the sport of Surfing. Here are the rules. (Video courtesy Tokyo 2020).
What is potentially most thrilling about this new wave-pool technology is what it can do for the world of sports. In 1999, Swatch and FlowRider started to popularize the sport of flowboarding. And this year, marks the debut of surfing at the Olympic games. Much like the newer sports featured in the X-Games, surfing is becoming a serious competition in the global consciousness.
Winners of the Tokyo Surfing event were the USA’s Carissa Moore (for the women’s) and Brazil’s Italo Ferreira (for the men’s). No doubt these athletes deserve their gold, but the significant problem with the sport’s current scoring system is that it is based on the difficulty of the waves and the difficulty of the trick. If an athlete is unlucky, and doesn’t get any choice waves, they can lose the event based on random chance.
Not to mention that the pacing of the live event is governed completely by a random phenomenon. If the waves are choppy or flat, there is no event. If the choice waves are intermittent, then the event will be slow and arguably, unfair.
Additionally, by limiting the sport to natural waves, The IOC limits the locations it can select for future Summer Games (assuming it wishes to keep surfing around).
In comparison, when figure skaters get on the ice, it’s the same ice, and the tricks they perform are well choreographed, which adds to the viewing experience. Surf Loch technology can offer the Olympics and its athletes this same consistency.
This level of standardization can not only speed up the pacing of the live event, it can also streamline the scoring and potentially add choreography to the mix. It also ensures that any city in the world can host surfing at the Summer Games.