The Perfect Wave?

Wave pools were first invented in the 1920s. They create waves using paddles or pumps that move water. These waves aren’t as large or as powerful as ocean waves. They aren’t shaped like them either. Because of this, they can’t be surfed like ocean waves. Fincham thought if he could copy how natural waves form, he could make waves that could be surfed.

Natural waves begin as wind pushes water horizontally on the ocean’s surface. To make the wave pool’s water move in the same way, Fincham thought of using a hydrofoil (see Making Waves). This large piece of metal is pulled underwater. It’s like a snowplow. But instead of pushing snow, it pushes water. He tested many shapes of hydrofoils on a prototype wave pool. This working model was a quarter the size of an Olympic swimming pool. It took Fincham several years of tinkering with the hydrofoil’s shape to copy how ocean water moves.

The ocean’s floor also helps to form surfing waves. Fincham asked Slater which types of seafloors make the best waves. Then he gave the floor of his prototype wave pool similar conditions as the ocean floor

In 2015, Slater and Fincham built the Surf Ranch—a full-size version of the wave pool. And this year, it will be the site of the world’s first-ever pro competition on artificial waves.
“Everyone who surfs it is blown away,” says Jessi Miley-Dyer, the commissioner of the World Surfing League. She hopes the invention will help surfers practice their skills: “Being so far from the coast, in the middle of a field, and to know that a perfect wave is coming each time—it’s such a cool thing.”