URBNSurf
It's a bit of fun when the surf is shite. I had nearly 2 weeks in Melbourne/Mornington over Jan and the surf was onshore the whole time. Did 2 days of 2 sessions in the pool and really enjoyed it. Depends on the mode you choose as well. Heading to the Ments in August so will do a couple of sessions on the Lefts in 'beast' mode to get some practice on BH tubes as not many where I live on Sydney's NB. Doesn't compare to a good 'natural' session though!
Think you've summed up the feelings of a lot of people, Beard man.
Till they jumped in a tub, I reckon a lot of people took surfing's natural setting for granted.
For mine, one of the more interesting things is how many people DON'T have that response - i.e they just couldn't care, or at least can easily overlook, the artificiality of it all.
"Torquay kook". Lol.
To be honest it sounds like you went into the experience of it all wrong. Your gripe with it was that it wasn't the ocean. No shit. I view it as a fun option to break the tension after a prolonged run of shit surf, which if you live and surf in Vicco you'll be very familiar with. Probably been 15 or so times and all bar one session the vibe in the water was great. It's a weak-ish wave that allows for 1-2 fun turns or a short small barrel. Just take it for what it is and leave your 'the ocean is so pure and I'm one with nature in all it's natural glory" attitude at the scan in.
Andrew Kidman, an unexpected fan of urbnsurf.
https://surfsplendorpodcast.com/460-andrew-kidman-big-sky-limited/
Summary?
Didn't light me up at all, but my son is keen to go, so I'll end up there again at some stage.
Maybe Sydney because it's closer.
I found the whole experience weird and off-putting too- the way you end up wedged in a corner with a whole bunch of people.
No-one is directly hassling you, but it feels like people up in your grill the whole time.
Been a while since I listened to it - but board testing/experimenting/limiting the variables, and etiquette were the main points from memory.
IMO, this is for people outside Melbourne/Sydney - don't travel a long way just to surf it. If you are in Melb or Sydney (when it opens), book a couple of sessions while you are there and incorporate into your visit.
Don't do just one session. You'll get the hang of it in your last couple of waves of your first session so you'll need at least two.
If you can surf it with mates or family is more fun than on your own as well.
The ocean is and always will be better but you can still have fun there.
I had a very similar experience and a lot of the comments above i can relate too.
I was frothing on surfing it even after a mate said he wouldnt go back.
But for me everything felt wrong from the minute i walked in and got a wrist band and suited up then the school type safety talk, then stepping into the concrete pool, paddling up a wire fence, almost bumping boards, then the noise of the city and the machine.
But i thought okay it doesnt matter, wave looks fun, then comes my turn, and somehow i fkng miss my wave and go to the back of the line, then every wave after just felt weird and threw me and i felt like a total kook, i felt so disappointed in the whole experience and how i surfed and it left me feeling flat and bummed out.
Next day back home i surfed some pretty average onshore reforms, but everything felt right, only two others out, sand under my feet, the smell of the ocean, salt, seaweed, birds flying above and im looking up the coast at this beautiful landscape, the wind changing, the tide changing.
I didn't have the best surf wave/surfing wise i still wasnt surfing my best, but i surfed much better and i still came out of the water happy and refreshed, looking back at the ocean and landscape taking it all thinking yep this is what surfing is
And it really made me appreciate that surfing is much more than just riding a wave or how good the waves shape is, thats only one part of it, its all something much bigger and the ocean and nature for me is really important aspect.
Id honestly never go back even if i had a free session.
That said i think some of the other wave pools like that one in QLD might be more enjoyable as just seem more natural and not a concrete pool in the city, and just being able to see the waves coming and not looking at some concrete machine waiting for a surge.
indo-dreaming wrote:And it really made me appreciate that surfing is much more than just riding a wave or how good the waves shape is, thats only one part of it, its all something much bigger and the ocean and nature for me is really important aspect.
Amen.
indo-dreaming wrote:That said i think some of the other wave pools like that one in QLD might be more enjoyable as just seem more natural and not a concrete pool in the city, and just being able to see the waves coming and not looking at some concrete machine waiting for a surge.
More natural? What? You mean the one with the gigantic hissing plunger? Ok mate.
lostdoggy wrote:IMO, this is for people outside Melbourne/Sydney - don't travel a long way just to surf it. If you are in Melb or Sydney (when it opens), book a couple of sessions while you are there and incorporate into your visit.
Don't do just one session. You'll get the hang of it in your last couple of waves of your first session so you'll need at least two.
If you can surf it with mates or family is more fun than on your own as well.
The ocean is and always will be better but you can still have fun there.
Spot on advice, LD, and freeride, I'm not gonna die on any hill in regards to defending a wave pool, but you only tried it on intermediate, yeah? There's not a lot of push in that setting to get excited about. The advanced settings are pretty fun, though the last advanced turns setting gets pretty washy.
Reckon your overthinking beardman.
Once you stop comparing it to the ocean and realising you’re in a pool for a bit of fun then it might be enjoyable.
In saying that though I’ve been 5 times and the last 3 I’ve come in early, was that bored I didn’t last the full hour.
Surfing in a privately owned, profit driven concrete cesspit can eat a syphilis riddled dick.
Hiccups wrote:indo-dreaming wrote:That said i think some of the other wave pools like that one in QLD might be more enjoyable as just seem more natural and not a concrete pool in the city, and just being able to see the waves coming and not looking at some concrete machine waiting for a surge.
More natural? What? You mean the one with the gigantic hissing plunger? Ok mate.
Yeah sure its still a man made wave in a man made water body with this big ugly plunger, but the Yeppoon wave pool environment still looks much more natural.
It's in the country and the backdrop is bush and hills id expect you can smell the bush hear birds etc, and even the wave looks more natural in the way it appears in swell lines and how it breaks, even the water is more natural looking, id expect there is even fish and eels in there.
While there is nothing natural about Urban surf it's in a city near a busy highway under a busy flight path, all concrete, metal wire and chlorinated water, even plastic grass.
With the plunger cropped out this could be a real wave breaking into an little inlet somewhere
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Not sure if I’m seeking your views or just here to share an experience. Recently got gifted a session at URBNSurf in Melbourne. With no expectation I was quite curious. Watching vids online, reading reviews. It left me somewhat stoked. Once I arrived I was pretty impressed with the set up. Pretty slick. Once in the water, I felt a discomfort. Similar to the discomfort of meeting your wife’s friends you don’t really care about. I’m no Harry Bryant but also not some Torquay kook. Sitting crammed in that corner waiting for the machine to deliver this ‘perfect right’ I couldn’t help but feeling a little lonely. A whole line of competent surfers behind me, eager to rip shit apart, I missed the ocean. I missed waiting for that one perfect wave. Perfect not because it breaks perfect. Perfect because everything aligns. The sun (or rain) on my face, the wobble, the rip, in short the ‘imperfection’ nature serves us. I left as I felt I betrayed my true love. A lady working at said establishment asked me if I was alright. Actually, I was not. I was sad. Sad I didn’t appreciate this perfect right. Very mixed feelings. Interested in your experience with wave pools. No judgement, no right or wrong.