Surf Park

Fiendybob

glide wrote: »

and do you actually think that any council in the coutry is going to let you plant two pylons on any beach in ireland

just learn to surf then you will get outback!!

Just build on to the groins in G-town! Never mind knocking them down - make them bigger!!! - horse on a few pullys and sorted. I always knew them groins would come in handy one day...

TheTubes

Fiendybob wrote:

Just build on to the groins in G-town! Never mind knocking them down - make them bigger!!! - horse on a few pullys and sorted. I always knew them groins would come in handy one day...

groins are gone already.

useurename

why not a huge catapult on the beach and just lob yourself out there:cool:

TheTubes

Pfft, catapults are so middle-ages,
you should look into some sort of transporter system.
Google "star trek transporter how to/tutorial"

bagus

Burgerman55 wrote: »

this is a business venture at the end of the day..

I for one am dead set against your plans. Don't underestimate the resistance you will face from surfers in Ireland if you are serious about this nonsense.

Do us all a favour and put your energy into a charity or something useful, preferably non-surfing related.

donga_perkins

Whats with the negativity? I reckon most surfers would be delighted with something like this. There's no real downside, more waves for everyone!

tedshredsonfire

The downside of it is that you will have a lot of people who can surf the waves but not paddle out to them. When they go to another break with no pulley system they will be in **** creek imho. paddling out and learning how to get out the back is an integral part of surfing and makes you more confident and more importantly more competant in the water.

bagus

donga_perkins wrote: »

Whats with the negativity? I reckon most surfers would be delighted with something like this. There's no real downside, more waves for everyone!

By most surfers I assume you mean raw beginners who don't mid an eyesore on a beach, that will be dangerous, very quickly fail as an idea, and be left there to fall to ruin, and become even more dangerous.

Getting out the back is a skill that a beginner needs to learn.

eiresurfer

I'm not sure who's serious or who's taking the píss in this thread. I'd imagine Burgerman55 is laughing away to himself, having wound up everyone with this (obviously ridiculous) idea.

frag420

The idea of a pully system is just plain wrong. There are numerous reasons why posted here so i wont go on about it.

I would however be in favour of an indoor type wave machine in a central location. All ya v to do is look at the vids posted about them to see how much fun they are. How often do we moan about no swell eh?? Anyways untill such time i will continue my paddle out the back...............

frAg

NothingMan

In Munich they surf in a stationary spot on the river. Now that's a way to do it that involves no paddle out!

I would post youtube vids, but I am in work and the evil IT guy blocked it.... Wait that's me... HAHAHAHAHAHA.

donga_perkins

I thought it was an inland surf park he was on about. That'd be great if they put it in Dublin, keep all the Easties off the West coast

Crumble Froo

inland surf thing would be awesome alright.

but paddling out really is such an important part of surfing, not just for the beginner trying to find teh sweet spot on their board, not to mention building up muscles for paddling for clean waves when they do get out the back... but even from a safety perspective, feeling the water, the tides, the rips, the drifts. feeling the different ways the waves break at different tidal points (my local just slams straight down at low tide, i'd much rather learn that on the paddle out, than when im nosediving into shallow water, tbh.)....

i'd imagine many of us have joked about it at certain points, that we wish someone could just drag us out, or we could magically transport to the line ups with no effort... but i wouldnt pay a tenner to get there (or use it at all, tbh)

Burgerman55

just to clarity what i have envisaged and am in the process of designing

up to 20,000 people every year take up surfing
roughly 3 out of every 4 people within this group fail to surf more than 2 times in a given year, therefore there is an extremely high rate of drop-outs
this is fuelled by the difficulties beginners face in getting into position to catch a wave, getting upright does not appear to be so much of a problem

clearly the system will work best in surf schools although i will not restrict it to these on a location basis
it will enable a high number of beginners to overcome the challenge of paddling against the waves, its a definate money spinner and this is evidenced by the fact that we have already had interest from 2 schools in ireland and 1 in portugal

the major challenge behind this project is ensuring that the apparatus required is aesthetically pleasing and sufficiently flexible for use/setup in a range of different locations

you'll recall our original design involved erecting concrete foundations and building the pulley system around that. we've drastically improved the design and now the system is capable of operating on a specifcally desugned floatation devise with minimal permanent structures required on the beach front

PM me for further details or for investment opportunities.

gerk86

lol good one.

You should also have a facility out back that will pull you through a sneaker outside set that is about to annihilate the line up.

You could charge a nominal fee of lets say 50c. Pop your change into the machine as the monster set looms all the while the que behind are telling you to "HURRY THE F**K UP". Hold tight onto the rope and get dragged over the top to safety just as you hear "FOOOOCK, I LEFT MY WALLET IN MY CHINO-OOOoohs......"

ronanoc

While I have joked about this in the water before, I would be horrified to see something like this on Irish beaches. (I can't speak for other countries but I'm sure the same goes)

Along with all the points mentioned previously about it being irresponsible, part of the beauty of surfing in Ireland is the view of the landscape. When I'm in the water for a while I always take a few minutes to take in all the surrounding and I can't imagine this being spoiled by a mechanical device.

Getting out to the waves is part of learning to surf, it's not something that should be seen as a barrier to surfing. It's like someone saying they want to play football but don't like running so put some motorised wheels on your boots.

kodute

Burgerman55 wrote: »

this is evidenced by the fact that we have already had interest from 2 schools in ireland and 1 in portugal

I would like to know which schools have endorsed this and how many (total) you have approached with this idea?

Crumble Froo

Burgerman55 wrote: »

up to 20,000 people every year take up surfing
roughly 3 out of every 4 people within this group fail to surf more than 2 times in a given year, therefore there is an extremely high rate of drop-outs
this is fuelled by the difficulties beginners face in getting into position to catch a wave, getting upright does not appear to be so much of a problem

have you actually surveyed any of these 15,000 people to ask why they dont surf more often? could it be that they live inland, that they lack the transport/funds to get to the beach, or to buy/rent a board and wettie?
could it be that they only went as a holiday once off weekend thing?

catching waves isnt hard, especially as a beginner, when you're mostly catching whitewater. it's a lot harder to catch clean waves out the back. and you'll never catch waves out the back if you can't paddle like hell... and guess the best way to develop your paddling?

the major challenge behind this project is ensuring that the apparatus required is aesthetically pleasing and sufficiently flexible for use/setup in a range of different locations

not to mention that it's not getting in other surfers' way.

tedshredsonfire

burgerman I've already pointed out my views as a surfer so now purely from a business point of view how have will you overcome the implications of having such a device on a beach ie. planning permission, potental injurys to people using or not using it ( simply crashing back into it). if it involves pulleys and ropes/cables etc it could be a hazard if you surf back in towards it again or take a tumble then get washed into it.

neon_glows

I cant believe this thread is still going, i cant believe for one minute that any of it is serious, it sounds like complete nonsense and id be gobsmacked to think any surf school would want involvement in something like this.

Cprh

Burgerman55 wrote: »

has anyone come across this idea before

for beginner to intermediate surfers the toughest part of the experience is continually battling the waves to get out far enough to catch a decent run
i would like to develop a surf park with pulleys to drag you out through the water - kinda like in skiing

good idea if i can get planning permission?

If you're gonna spend money, then spend it on one of these.

Watch the video on this page.

http://www.isasurf.org/OlympicSurfing.php

Reef

Yer bigger eejits to actually be discussing this crap :rolleyes:

One Cold Hand

Burgerman55 wrote: »

up to 20,000 people every year take up surfing
roughly 3 out of every 4 people within this group fail to surf more than 2 times in a given year, therefore there is an extremely high rate of drop-outs
this is fuelled by the difficulties beginners face in getting into position to catch a wave, getting upright does not appear to be so much of a problem

Do you not think this is as much to do with peoples location? Three quarters of the population lives in Dublin, and only the very dedicated are going to make the trip west on a regular basis.

I think this is a ridiculous idea, if only for environmental reasons. You're proposing to install large lumps of concrete and machinery in the middle of some of the most beautiful and unspoilt area of the country. Nice one!

Bicker

A fool and his money are easily parted.....................

How long do you think it would take the locals to dismantle this piece of cr*p you propose to foister on us for the benefit of idiots who can't be ars*d to have enough respect for themselves and the very essence of surfing as to make an effort to paddle out so they might catch a real wave. What next ? A beach side alloy wheel polishing machine to keep your 4 x feckin 4 nice and sparkly ?

<No personal abuse - Next time its a ban - c -13>

paddybar

ahhh lads c'mon, its a pisstake ffs.Speaking as one of the aforementioned "bic wielding weekend warriors" I know my limitations and if I cant get out to a break how the hell am I going to get bsck in if I get in trouble,so why would I pay some twat (not aimed at op)to pull me out of my personal safety zone.

the other pedro

what a really stupid idea:mad: whats the point Burgerman55 i'ed hate to turn up at my local break and see fcukers who cant surf getting pulled out the back by this thingy :mad: and only for someone else to risk their life to save the stupid fcuker whos paying to drown just to get out in surf they cant manage or surf in the first place :mad::mad::mad:

Burgerman55

on a weekend like this, do ye honestly not think that i'd have queues lining up beside my surf-support machine?

imagine the pleasure of catching 10ft waves every few mins without rupturing every ligament in ur shoulders trying to get out there

its a no-brainer as far as i can see

initial discussions with Clare Co Council have been promising, albeit it is very early days
we've found a natural home for school 1 with a surf-support-system in place - spanish point, just outside lahinch.

whynotwhycanti

You're obvioulsy ripping the piss but this is entertaining noetheless so let me give my pennies worth.

I would love if you had this thing up and runnig this weekend, pulling lazy feckers out in a 9m swell, they'd never come back again and your infrastructure would need a bit of maintenance after this big low hits. Serioulsy though, you have to be joking because there is no way it could be runnig this weekend if it existed with the size of the surf. Either you're joking or deluded and know nothing about surfing.

In reality though, if you ever did manage to get something like this up and running i would be the first to vandalise it. It is such a horrendous, disgusting idea that could only be the brainwave of somebody having a laugh or somebody who knows nothing about surfing. There is no way a true surfer would ever wnat anything like this along the coast.

If you have rang the council, don't believe what they tell you on the phone. I have to deal with them alot in my work and the only decicion that counts is the final official one, not what somebody tells you in a phonecall.

Good man though for starting a thread and getting everyone riled up, at least we know we are passionate about what we do.

kodute

Brainwave guys... to make it easier to get out past the breaking wave, how about instead of pulley system you could give each surfer some sort of sail or a kite and let the power of the wind pull them out?

It would be environmentally friendly and probably qualify for a government grant of some sort.

You could even change the name of the sport if it becomes successful...like sail surfing or kite wave gliding... :pac:





(patent pending) :cool:

potsy11

I have seen something similar in the US.

It was for kite boarders and water skiiers.

Its a pully system on a network of lines and it was located in a large lake.

I went to ahve a go each morning and there were just queues of people. Skatemoards, kite boarders, surf skiiers etc....

Cool idea but no way will it work for surfing....In fact I will eat my hat if this ever happens.

I would say take your idea and bring it to a lake / holiday area and your onto a winner. Its a water version of a skate park. Hmmmm perhaps I have now stumbled upon a business idea.....stop reading.....:eek: