What about the Environment.
We improve the environment by taking old defunct and dangerous damns and replacing them with river surfing waves and fish ladders. Safer for fish and people. We would also like to build in the shadow of large dams where we would not disrupt the environment.
Who can ride it?
Due to our variety of waves almost anyone can ride it. Our easiest wave is like surfing a longboard on the gentle waves at Waikiki. Surf instructors will be able to teach most people who want to learn. Boogie boards offer a thrill for anyone intimidated by standing up. For any one already skilled at balance sports such as skateboard, snowboard, wakeboard, surfboard, or bike would have no problem learning or simply adapting.
How much does it cost?
Municipalities control the rivers. Some are open to the idea of river surfing and have already built waves through public funding and grants. These are free to the public to ride as community enhancement projects and public meeting spaces. Just like parks and playgrounds. I hope this tradition continues.
How much water flow is needed?
4,500cfs would give us a nice wide wave about 6ft tall. This can barrel or be a soft longboard wave. More flow can make bigger waves and less flow makes smaller waves.
Does it hurt to fall?
Mostly no. The largest safety feature on the Reef Pass System is the water depth. It is identical to real ocean waves and is no more dangerous than surfing in the ocean. Minus the sharks.
How do you get out after a wipe out? That's a lot of water pushing downstream?
Getting swept downstream will happen, but is harmless. The flow transitions from the surfing wave, to a lot of turbulence right behind the wave, then to a lazy river in a matter of feet and second. There will be a large settling pond or strategic eddies to get out at.
A few wise old men have had these next two concerns.
But I've river surfed. River surfing is different.
Waveloch, American Wave Machines, etc. have already done this.
Standing and sheet waves aren’t new, but nobody has done it with deep water and without a ramp or a wave shaped profile underneath the water flow. Waveloch, AWM, CItywave Etc. are all assisted hydraulic jumps. The Reef Pass System is the first to allow the wave to naturally coalesce as a pure hydraulic jump. Nothing underneath it. This is why the prototype pictures are prettier than anyone else’s prototype pictures. This waves shape is 100 % natural.
The others are all pumped water technologies. As such they have energy constraints and need to be water efficient. In a river we are free of those constraints. We use 30 times more water than a flow rider and make waves that match the speed and shape of ocean surfing waves. Our waves are deep and clean.
Relativity would say the board and water moving past it are unaware of which is moving, and which is sitting still. If the speed and shape are the same, the feel will be the same. I have done a lot of wake surfing and I am aware of the difference of the feel under your feet. The water moves too fast for such a small wave. The lip can’t push you back down onto the face like an ocean wave does so floaters don't work. The shape of the wave is wrong. If you go back and review every picture of a river wave or flow rider you will find the water is moving too fast and the shape is off or way off.
By getting the speed and shape correct River Surf Systems will feel more like ocean surfing. The experience will still be different, but so is Kelly Slater's wave pool.