Advertisement

Sleuth locates Kelly Slater’s secret wave pool

Eleven-time world champion surfer Kelly Slater drove the surfing world crazy over the weekend when footage of his secret wave pool surfaced online.

• Mick Fanning: from heartbreak to glory and back again
Mick Fanning misses out on world title

Described as the “first truly world-class, high-performance, human-made wave”, Slater has declined to even hint at its location.

However, armed with Google Earth, Street View and some crowd-sourcing on online forum Reddit, Sydney-based surf forecaster Craig Brokensha seems to have figured it out.

In a post to daily Australian surf report site Swellnet, Brokensha narrowed down the pool’s location to a former waterski park near Leemore, California.

Screen Shot 2015-12-23 at 10.41.37 am

“The address pointed to what looked to be a single ski water park over 110 miles (177km) from the coast, the same distance mentioned by Kelly in the clip,” Brokensha wrote.

To make sure, he referred back to the video to look for any defining features he could spot on Street View.

The technique Broadewif used to locate the wave pool: coparing images from the video with Street View images.

The technique Brokensha used to locate the wave pool: comparing images from the video with Street View images.

“The final clincher was a pulled-back shot showing a corrugated iron shed with a slight pitch, two doors on its side and an additional white box on top,” Brokensha said.

“A quick check back to Google Street View, and boom, there it was clear to see.”

In the video, Slater says he and his company, Kelly Slater Wave Company, have been working on the “elite-level wave” for 10 years.

“It’s a lot of pressure, working on something for 10 years and I think it’s a big thing for surfing … if done the right way,” Slater says.

“This is probably like when I won my first title and it didn’t sink in for quite a long time,” he says after seeing the wave roll in for the first time.

Screen Shot 2015-12-23 at 10.45.45 am

Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter
Copyright © 2024 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.