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43-462: The FlowRider and the FlowBarrel are artificial waves that are called "sheet waves". In order to create a sheet wave, water is pumped up and over a surface which is engineered to replicate the shape of an ocean wave. The result is a stationary wave in which a rider can mimic the movements of other board sports, such as moving up and down the wave, carving, and jumping. Since the wave does not move forward,

86-441: A surfboard in that it is much shorter (typically 100 to 110 cm (39 to 43 in) in length) and made out of different types of foam. The modern board consists of a foam 'core' encapsulated by a plastic bottom, a softer foam top known as the deck, and softer foam sides known as the rails. The core is made of dow/ polyethylene , arcel, polystyrene , or Polypro/ polypropylene . The bottom is made of Surlyn, HDPE or Bixby. The deck

129-413: A bodyboard include prone, dropknee, and stand-up. Riding prone refers to when one rides the wave on their stomach. When the bodyboarder goes left, they place their left hand on the upper left corner of the nose and place their right arm halfway down the rail of the right side of the board. The opposite is true of when the bodyboarder goes right. Dropknee is when one places their preferred fin forward on

172-675: A breaking wave. Bodyboarding originates from an ancient form of riding waves (surfing) on one's belly. Indigenous Polynesians rode " alaia " (pronounced ah-lie-ah) boards either on their belly, knees, or feet (in rare instances). Alaia boards were generally made from the wood of Acacia koa and varied in length and shape. They are distinct from the modern stand-up surfboards in that they had no ventral fins . Captain Cook recorded seeing Hawaiian villagers riding such boards when he came to Hawaii in 1778. The boards he witnessed were about 90 to 180 cm (3 to 6 ft) and were ridden prone (on

215-525: A contract and investment from Swatch to create the first mobile FlowBarrel, built specifically for a promotional tour. The first event took place in Munich, Germany where Bill Bryan took home the prize as the champion. By 2000, 25 FlowRiders were available around the world, in countries such as Mexico, Japan, South Korea and Germany. In 2001, the first Wave House venue was established in Durban, South Africa and became

258-507: A line on a wave and turn/snap. On the other hand, the benefit of not having fins underneath the board is that a rider can spin 360 (forward and reverse). Stand-up consists of standing upright on the board and performing tricks on the face as well as in the air. While it isn't quite as popular as the other two forms of riding a bodyboard, three notable figures that popularized it are Danny Kim, Cavin Yap, and Chris Won Taloa. The bodyboard differs from

301-452: A relatively small area. The curved surface of the FlowRider machine matches the actual curvature of a wave, and the curvature changes throughout the surface in order to provide a more realistic wave. The water is then pumped from the bottom up along the curved surface. These pumps project a layer of water at speeds ranging from 32 to 48 km/h (9 to 13 m/s). The biggest difference between

344-423: A speed of 32 km/h to 48 km/h on a padded, inclined surface. At full capacity, 410,000 L (108,000 US gal) of water per minute can amount to waves as high as 1.8 m (6 ft). With this technology, flow riders, those who lie, kneel or stand on a board, attempt to balance on these artificial waves, called sheet waves, and more professional riders seek to perform tricks. In 1987, Lochtefeld

387-584: A static surf simulator but is less realistic than surfing wave pools due to the static wave. Wave pools are more difficult to lifeguard than still pools as the moving water (sometimes combined with sun glare) make it difficult to watch all swimmers. Unlike passive pool safety camera systems, computer-automated drowning detection systems do not work in wave pools. There are also safety concerns in regards to water quality, as wave pools are difficult to chlorinate. The original 8-foot-deep (2.4 m) Tidal Wave pool at New Jersey 's Action Park cost three lives in

430-491: A swimming pool in Munich, Germany. The waves were created by agitators which pushed waves through the diving area and into a shallow area - where kids were bodysurfing little waves: "This is the new kind of swimming bath that is becoming the rage of Germany," one of the captions reads. "No more placid waters for bathers - the mechanism behind the netting keeps everything moving." In 1939, a public swimming pool in Wembley , London ,

473-468: A wave face. However, progressive bodyboarding has rendered use of such skegs obsolete due to the looseness required for maneuverability on a wave. For such reasons, skegs are rarely used today and, even then, almost exclusively by dropknee or stand-up bodyboarders. Tail shapes influence the way that boards perform in the line-up. Crescent tails provide the greatest amount of hold in steep waves. Crescent tails are generally preferred by drop-knee riders because

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516-501: A world class level. Stephanie Petterson won the first official World Championship of Women's Bodyboarding at Pipeline in 1990. It was the first women's event ever held there and initiated the longest running women's wave sport event in the world. 2009 marked the event's 20th anniversary. From 1982 to 1993, the winner of the International Morey Boogie Bodyboard Pro Championships at Pipeline, Hawaii

559-429: Is a swimming pool in which there are artificially generated, large waves, similar to those of the ocean. Wave pools are often a major feature of water parks , both indoors and outdoors, as well as some leisure centres. The origins of wave pools go as far back as the 19th century, as famous fantasy castle builder Ludwig II of Bavaria electrified a lake to create breaking waves. In 1905, the "Undosa" swimming platform

602-456: Is a wave whose amplitude reached a point where the wave energy is transformed into powerful kinetic energy. The breaking wave simulation attracts bodyboarders and surfers. Generally, the surfers move in a downward direction as the wave moves forward or they can move relative to the wave and execute certain movements. Flowriders get their speed from the energy of the water flowing at them and can perform basic to sophisticated turns and tricks within

645-556: Is made of 8LB or CrossLink. Each type of foam core, deck, or bottom material gives a bodyboard a different amount of flex and control. Speed from the bottom turn is increased when a bodyboarder bottom turns and the board flexes and recoils, releasing energy. If the board flexes too little or too easily, speed is lost. Dow (polyethylene) cores are best suited to cooler waters as they can be too flexible in warm water. Arcel and Polypro (polypropylene) cores are best suited for warmer waters due to their increased overall stiffness. Most boards on

688-560: The Canary Islands . Bodyboard Bodyboarding is a water sport in which the surfer rides a bodyboard on the crest, face, and curl of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore. Bodyboarding is also referred to as Boogieboarding due to the invention of the "Boogie Board" by Tom Morey in 1971. The average bodyboard consists of a short, rectangular piece of hydrodynamic foam. Bodyboarders typically use swim fins for additional propulsion and control while riding

731-623: The "Surf-a-Torium", was the first wave pool accessible to surfers (though only for 15 minutes every hour). Several locations claim to have developed the first wave pool in the United States , including Big Surf in Tempe, Arizona and Point Mallard Park in Decatur, Alabama , which both opened in 1969 (Point Mallard Park opened in 1970 so their claim would have to be inaccurate as is the information previous to this about them.) The first outdoor wave pool in

774-613: The 'stand-up board' in flowriding. Boards differ in shape, materials, lengths and the angle at which the board curves. Generally, they take a similar appearance to that of a wakeboard and can be further categorized into strapped and strapless boards. Boards with foot straps are generally used only on the FlowBarrel, but strapless boards are used on both the FlowRider and FlowBarrel. Flowboards range in length from 90 to 110 cm (35 to 43 in), and in width from 28 to 35 cm (11 to 14 in). They weigh between 1.4 to 2.8 kg (3 to 6 lb). Bodyboarders ride standard bodyboards in

817-734: The 1980s, and kept the lifeguards busy rescuing patrons who overestimated their swimming ability. On the first day they officially opened their wavepool, it is said up to 100 people had to be rescued. The world's largest wave pool by area is 13,600 square metres (146,000 sq ft) and located in Bangkok 's Siam Park City . The largest indoor wave pool, "Blue Thunder", is 42,000 square feet (3,900 m ) and located at World Waterpark in West Edmonton Mall , Edmonton, Alberta . The world's largest artificial waves, measuring up to 3.3 metres (11 ft) in height, can be found at Siam Park in

860-586: The United States opened in 1982 at the Bolingbrook Aquatic Center in Bolingbrook, Illinois . Opened in 1989, Disney's Typhoon Lagoon is one of the world's largest outdoor wave pools and the strength of the waves makes it possible to bodysurf . Wave pools replicate the movement of the ocean in different ways, depending on the size of the pool and the size of wave desired. The mechanism that creates

903-481: The United States was opened on Memorial Day 1961 (May 29) at Oceana Park in Newbury, Ohio . One of three owners of Oceana Park, Miklos Matrai, holds US Patent 3005207 , filed on January 13, 1959, and patented on October 24, 1961, which describes a specially constructed swimming pool having means for producing simulated ocean waves. An aerial photo of Oceana Park in 1966 can be viewed here. The first indoor wave pool in

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946-490: The belly) or on the knees. Alaia boards then evolved into the more modern " paipo " (pronounced pipe-oh) board. Paipo boards were either made of wood or fiberglass. Fiberglass boards usually had fins on the bottom. Tom Morey hybridized this form of riding waves on one's belly on a paipo to his craft of shaping stand-up surfboards. Bodyboards are shaped to the rider's specific needs and preferences such as height, weight, and form of riding. Three basic forms of riding

989-470: The board with the momentum of the wave and then swinging it back), backflips, ATS (Aéreo Thiago Schmitd) and variations/hybrids of these maneuvers are also performed. Phylis Dameron was the first person, man or woman, to ride big Waimea Bay on a bodyboard in the late 1970s. During the early 1990s in Brazil, Mariana Nogueira, Glenda Koslowski, and Stephanie Petterson set standards that pushed women's bodyboarding to

1032-461: The bodyboarder's weight rests further up on the board. Boards with more parallel rails or a narrow nose tend to be more ideal for drop-knee and stand-up riding as the rider's center of gravity tends to rest further back. Most modern boards are equipped with channels that increase surface area in the critical parts of the board which, in turn, allow it to have varying hold and control on the wave. Originally, skegs were installed to decrease slippage on

1075-489: The front of the deck with the opposing knee on the bottom end of the board with their fin dragging in the water. Dropknee was first pioneered in the late 1970s by Hawaii's Jack "The Ripper" Lindholm and sometimes referred to as "Jack Stance". Unlike fiberglass stand-up surfboards, the bodyboards dropknee riders use don't have fins underneath to help maintain a line on the face of a wave or to stop them sliding out so dropknee riders rely on weight transition from rail to rail to hold

1118-587: The largest ones, near other seashore developments, use salt water. Wave pools are typically larger than other recreational swimming pools and for that reason are often in parks or other large, open areas. Some wave pools like those made by Wavegarden at Surf Snowdonia and NLand are expressly designed for surfing rather than for swimming, and accordingly, create much larger waves. Other surfing wave pool projects, some of which can be in lakes, include Surf Ranch from Kelly Slater Wave Company, Surf Lakes, Webber Wave Pools and Okahina Wave. Surfing can also be done on

1161-414: The machine and an actual ocean wave, is that the flow rate of the water being pushed along the surface of the FlowRider is much larger than an actual wave. Finally, a vacuum helps keep the riders from skipping dangerously along the surface of the water. The sport has two different types of boards that a rider can choose to ride on. These are the flowboard and the bodyboard . The flowboard is also known as

1204-419: The market today contain one, two, or three rods (usually of carbon or graphite), referred to as stringers, to strengthen the board, reduce deformation, add stiffness and recoil to the core, thus providing greater speed off bottom turns and transitions on the wave. If a single stringer is used, it is placed in the center of the board running parallel to the rails. If two are used, they are placed symmetrically about

1247-504: The movement of the rider is derived from the water flowing over the stationary surface. Although the first artificial waves in a pool were developed back in the 19th century by King Ludwig of Bavaria , they required a completely different technology from that of flow riding. The activity of flow riding is closely associated with “FlowRider”, a technology created by Tom Lochtefeld, founder of Wave Loch that shoots more than 410,000 L (108,000 US gal) of water per second, with

1290-668: The opportunity to build up enough points to qualify for the World Flowboarding Championships (WFC). Each year FLOW hosts the WFC at a different Wave House around the world. It was held in Utah in 2012 and Singapore in 2016. Within the WFC there are two events: one on the FlowRider wave and one on the FlowBarrel wave. Each Wave House is responsible for finding two men's Flowboarders, one female Flowboarder, and one Bodyboarder to represent their region. Artificial wave A wave pool

1333-467: The past decade the industry has shifted from a primarily American to a global industry phenomena. The sport has grown into a worldwide industry with growing strongholds in Australia, South American countries like Peru and Chile, Japan, Canary Islands (Spain), South Africa, and so forth. The evolution of maneuvers and waves in which it is being done have rendered it one of the most extreme wave riding forms in

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1376-585: The perfect, easy-to-ride, continuous waves. After multiple trials on miniature FlowRiders, in the 1980s, Lochtefeld started testing a FlowRider prototype at Raging Waters water parks. In 1991, the first FlowRider machine was successfully installed at The Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels, Texas. Along with this success, a new type of FlowRider, the “FlowBarrel” was unveiled at Summerland Resort, in Bø, Norway in 1993 and received instant popularity. In 1999, Lochtefeld secured

1419-556: The prone, kneeling, or drop-knee position. Each position forms the basis for its own set of tricks. In most competitions, bodyboarders are required to do tricks in both prone and kneeling positions. The Flowriding League of the World (FLOW) which was established in the early 2000s is the main competitive league for flowriders. FLOW breaks up the world tour into sub-tours in the United States, Europe, Asia and Canada. FLOW hosts multiple tour stops in each of these regions in order to give competitors

1462-534: The prototype for other venues in the future. 2006 marked the first time when a FlowRider was added on the deck of the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Freedom of the Seas . From then on, every one of Royal Caribbean’s ships has a FlowRider on its sports deck. In 2015, there were in total more than 200 FlowRiders available in 35 countries. There are seven different types of sheet waves that can be used for flowriding however

1505-488: The shape interferes less. Crescent tails are also preferred by beginners, due to being able to perform well in varying conditions. Bat tails provide looseness for rail to rail transitions. Prone riders tend to prefer bat tails more than dropknee riders. From the conception of the modern bodyboard in 1971, bodyboarding has experienced spurts of rapid growth both as an industry and extreme sport. With its origins in America, over

1548-480: The two main wave structures which are recognized at a competitive level are the FlowRider Single and Double and the FlowBarrel. The technology made by FlowRider, Inc. grants the ability to simulate different forms of ocean waves. This company is the only one that produced a device that is currently available in the market. At first, the devices were able to provide the simulation of breaking waves. A breaking wave

1591-522: The waves is usually located at the far end of the pool, usually where it is deepest. With some wave pools, the floor can be deeper in front of the wave machine, before quickly rising up, creating the wave shape, for example World Waterpark's Blue Thunder Wave Pool. Other techniques utilize an "accordion mechanism" which opens and closes in order to suck water into its belly (opening) and push it out (closing) to cause waves. Generally, wave pools are designed to use fresh water at inland locations, but some of

1634-461: The world. Bodyboarders have been accredited with pioneering some of the world's heaviest, most renowned surf locations in the world: Teahupo'o , French Polynesia; Shark Island , Australia; El Fronton, Spain; Cyclops, Australia; Ours, Australia; Luna Park, Australia; etc. In addition, bodyboarders place strong emphasis on aerial maneuvers on bigger, heavier sections of waves. These include aerial 360s, ARS (Air Roll Spin), el rollos, inverts (tweaking

1677-437: The y-axis. Triple stringers are a combination of the placement of both a single and double stringer. Deck, rails, and bottom are bonded via various hot air lamination techniques to the core. Previous to the lamination technique, shapers accomplished this by using glue. The shape, or curve, of the board affects how it rides. If the wide point of the board is nearer to the nose, the board tends to be best suited to prone riding as

1720-665: Was built on Lake Starnberg in Germany, which used large pontoons to force the lake water to make waves. It has since been converted into a restaurant. In 1912, the "Bilzbad" in Radebeul , Germany was the first public wave pool built on the ground. It used a wave machine, also called "Undosa," first exhibited the previous year at the International Hygiene Exhibition in Dresden . It still operates. Another early public wave pool

1763-599: Was designed and built in 1927 in Budapest , Hungary in the known Gellért Baths , and appeared in one of James A. Fitzpatrick 's documentary Traveltalks films about the city in 1938, as one of the main tourist attractions. It remains open. The natatorium at Bayocean, Oregon also had an early wave-generating machine, before it was destroyed by natural ocean waves in 1932. A 1929 Pathe Pictorial film featured "Indoor Surfers" frolicking in small, artificially-generated waves in

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1806-569: Was equipped with machines that created wavelets to approximate the soothing ebb and flowing motion of the ocean. In the 1940s, Palisades Amusement Park , located on the Hudson River Palisades across from New York City , installed a large waterfall at one end of its salt water pool, the largest of such in the world at the time, which generated small waves much like those in Wembley. In 1966, Akiruno , Japan 's "Summerland Wavepool", nicknamed

1849-602: Was inspired to create this technology when he observed waters seemingly flowing up a wave in La Jolla. It seemed that the wave was traveling backward. A second inspiration came to him when he saw surfers ride shallow waves without touching the ocean floor. The upward motion of water through a shallow wave then became the essence of the Flowrider, shooting a thin sheet of water up a curved surface. To perfect this design, Lochtefeld hired Carl Ekstrom, known for his surfboard designs, to create

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