Surfing a chest to head high, glassy and perfect wave sounds great, doesn’t it?
Well how about if that wave turned on when you want? If Dayton Beach, Florida’s Kevin Roberts has his way, we’ll be surfing 365 days of the year in perfect conditions with a new mega-contraption he has conceived, called Surf the Ring. Roberts has invented a man-made wave that appears to propagate around a ring. Picture a donut (mmm!), where the middle is a circular beach island, with a racetrack of water surrounding it. The wave is generated perpendicular to the ring itself, which allows it to create a perfect, breaking right. Or a left, if a switch is flipped.
And before you think “Oh god, another Flowrider” – this man-made wave is the real deal. I’ve seen a 
prototype in action – a 1:36th scale model – and I was impressed with what I saw. A video is below, and you can see the photos and judge for yourself.
Here’s how Roberts explains it: “Each wave is actually not traveling around the ring, rather towards the beach. However, the waves are continually being propagated so that each surfer is riding on a newly created wave that is perfectly synchronized with the wave he or she is already riding. In sci-fi terms the ring creates a warped sine-wave imbalance in the ring shaped pool that is reflected and focused towards the islands’ shore to produce multiple endless dynamically changing “living” waves.”
Whoa. Trippy. But real and if you close your eyes and tap you heels, you can definitely imagine Surf the Ring some 36 times bigger, and at a park near you.
The distance from the point the waves break to the shoreline is about 25 feet, and Roberts has said that the water is quite deep. Because of the nature of the wave, Roberts is confident kooks and victims of rail-catching will be swept to a safe part of the ring, and away from other surfers that are ripping the wave up.
Roberts speaks like a man who has got the cred to make Surf the Ring work. He hails from a family of inventors, and while he’s not an engineer, Roberts may as well be. So what are Robert’s plan for Surf the Ring? He is seeking inves
tment in the project – a project that should be on President Obama‘s stimulus package list of must dos. Says Roberts, not skipping a beat: “It will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million to go from scratch to surfable wave.” Roberts is confident that there’s a huge market for his idea. And he might be right, given that his ring is not a flow rider, not typhoon Lagoon, and doesn’t need 3 minutes to reload. Still, in the economic sh!tstorm, it may be difficult to finance a project of this magnitude. But when it comes out – watch out.
Will we someday have our first ASP World Tour Champ born and raised in Kentucky? With Surf the Ring, it’s not so far fetched.
Check out a video showing a 1/36th model, and see for yourself. Despite the video quality and a dollop of cheese factor, the concept is definitely workable.
DailyStoke.com believes, and is stoked!
For more information about Surf The Ring, check out the Surf The Ring website, and contact Kevin directly if you’ve got some coin to spare for a project every surfer will love.
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Are you joking? Who does this guy think he is? This concept was ACTUALLY invented by an aussie guy who was towing his friend around on a surfboard from the back of his boat at a rivermouth; the water went from very deep to very shallow and he noticed that when he drove his boat close to shore it produced a perfect barrel from the wake of his boat onto the shore. He subsequently pulled his friend into these barrels and they tucked into them all day. He later took this concept into design and made blueprints of what you see here, a ‘ring style wave machine’.
I’m not sure about the patent rights of this, because as it says in the article above, but really? do you really want this guy trying to forge the way for surfing progression; “Imagine live surfing contests, and for the first time, we’ll actually be able to see who’s the best surfer…” Who does this guy think he is?
Fine, its admirable that someone is stepping up to take control to get something like this made, and god knows this is one that is a dream come true but on the contrary its also what is bullshit about surfing these days. I doubt he has ever picked up a surfboard in his life and has stolen someone’s idea as a chance to make some big profit. This guy wouldn’t fight for surfing, he doesn’t turn to surfing as a way to forget about life’s problems, so who is he to talk about surfing in such a shambolic way.
Wouldn’t you rather see the plain old aussie guy step up and see his dream come true of having such a machine built? Rather than this guy who’s got some welding skills try to make a quick buck.
I can say, having interviewed the guy, he is the real deal. He’s pretty optimistic, despite the economic times, and I’m fairly confident in his engineering ability. He definitely comes across as a dude in his garage coming up with crazy ideas. Also, given the price tag, this won’t be a get rich quick kind of thing…
I can’t see this working on a large scale. What will happen is the waves will be moving so fast that nobody will be able to surf them. It will take a complete revolution in surfboard design. Plus, I’m confused as to how it works exactly. Is there water being pushed somewhere, dumped in somewhere or does the whole thing spin????
I made the same call about the RonJon surf park in Orlando. An adjustable floor? Come on! Besides, do we really want the popularity of NASCAR with surfing? I can see some kid who’s never even been in the ocean who rips on this ring thing trying to paddle out at Pipeline and he immediately drowns because he can’t even swim!
It should be regulated.
I wrote the article, and frankly, I’m a bit confused as to how it works, exactly. However, what I do know is that the wave is generated perpendicular to the ring, not “around” the ring. It’s some crazy feature of physics that causes the tube to form, and propagate around the ring. This definitely has promise, particularly if the wave will be clean, and doesn’t run into the wave ahead of it.
it would be a different sport, not the surfing we know. plain and simple.
that ‘aussie’ guy is actually greig webber. You may or may not have heard of him?
Why not share the love and passion of surfing with dude in Montana? Spark their interest and teach them about the ocean, its beauty, its power, its giving of life, and just maybe there will be a chance to save it. Surfing is for everybody, not just the privledged few who get to live next to the ocean, but everybody. I moved from the empty waves of the east coast to crowded lineups of LA County- but love it just the same. As long as we teach respect for the ocean, for your fellow human and surfer, all will be well. Waves are eternal.
Very interesting concept indeed. Im sure there are a ton of queries, but my main concern is that when someone wipes out, do they just wait around and paddle for another wave or must they get out of the way(recommended)? I think it could definately go mainstream though. I mean, $20 Million, for a big corp? Even the listed surf companies can afford that at this stage of our economy. Also, what will be the running cost, and how much water will get wasted will also be a concern with the world leaning towards green etc. Time will tell, but I reckon this guy has a pretty good thing going. Hell, put it near the ocean to compensate for the flat days!
When he said “Think of how much experience you could gain in one wave” what about paddling out? Navigating currents?
The guy likes to think of himself as some sort of Steve Jobs. You all know how SJ introduced the iphone by first talking about how apple revolutionized the PC, then music, and today the phone!
The sad thing about the patent system in general is how it encourages people to do things for money or fame, and give them a disproportionate sense of importance by blocking others with the same idea from doing anything about it.
I think the idea is genius and it would be insanely cool to ride a never ending wave like that, but can you imagine how many people will become surfers because of this? Can you imagine the crowds of people that don’t belong in the sport? Can you imagine all the assholes, A-Hole urban skaters, kooks, nerds, cholos, and all those people who will infiltrate the peaceful sport of surfing? The entire surf culture will be lost! The idea will revolutionize surfing, but everyone will be a surfer, whether you live in Idaho or Hawaii, you will be a surfer. I definitely agree with “glsurf” about the whole NASCAR popularity thing and the fact that it definitely should be regulated so people cannot copyright the idea and so all those people who aren’t surfers will not be there (i.e. No longboards allowed will keep beginners and poser surfers out of there, but thats my suggestion). Also, i think the sport of surf racing sounds stupid. Surf racing doesn’t require skill, therefore it should not be a sport. It also would not be interesting to watch. It would be like watching NASCARs going a max of 20mph over and over and over and over again. BORING!
Please take this into consideration because the sport of surfing will be ruined if you don’t. I could imagine all those kids at my high school in the San Fernando Valley who are stereotypical to surfers and surfing and do not know the first think about surfing and surfing culture, who will be showing up at places like this and wanna give surfing a try.