[Closed] Surf Snowdonia

Had a nose at it the other day as we were passing. The place isn't 100% complete, but is up and running. The consistency and size of the waves is (for a non surfer) bloody impressive.

I'd love a go but I'm sure I read somewhere itl'll be £90 for a session.

I wonder what they'll do in winter as the lake will be a lot colder than the sea.

Probably heat it using wave generated power 😆

jam bo - Member
I'd love a go but I'm sure I read somewhere itl'll be £90 for a session.

Depends on what you mean by session http://www.surfsnowdonia.co.uk/prices/

Ok. £79 for 2 hrs. I wasn't far off

It works out about £3/ wave.
Kinda expensive

For apparently guaranteed perfect waves, whenever you go? Personally I don't think its bad value.
The cost of putting it all together must have been quite something. They're a company, there to make money. They financed, designed, built and now operate it. How much would you charge?
According to my mate who went there, its great.

I'll probably book a session next time I'm up with the in-laws.

There is one on the cards for Bristol as well.

Or I could just drive 30mins to bude...

I think this is amazing - and 80 quid for a couple of hours isn't too bad, particularly as the waves are consistently "perfect" and you don't have to paddle out against the tide/current.

Half the fun of surfing is trying to read the waves and you'll never beat the relaxation of sitting on your board at sea waiting for the next set to roll in. It all seems a bit clinical to me, but I suppose I enjoy BPW as much as all the natural trails we ride, so horses for courses.
£80 seems a bit steep though. I'm staying at Croyde for four days for less than that.

Sadly at that sort of money it'll be a visitors only attraction. North Wales isn't exactly renown for sloshing around with cash and very few could afford to develop a regular habit at that sort of money. 5 hours surfing a month would not be unreasonable if surfing was your 'thing' but few could justify £190 a month.

A brilliant place to go to learn to surf though - guaranteed waves of the correct size and shape - with a range of sizes as you develop - perfect for your first few hours.

They financed, designed, built and now operate it. How much would you charge?
According to my mate who went there, its great.

Maybe its because im spoilt as i already live in Pembrokeshire.. 2 miles from a decent surf break

It'll become part of the fake outdoor activity circuit in snowdonia, a day doing zipline, bounce below and then learn to surf.

I don't think the price is [i]too[/i] bad seeing as in 2 hours you can probably get 3 days worth of waves at the beach. It lacks the soulful thing of being at the coast though.

To be fair its a good way for people to learn to surf/ improve their skills in a safe location ( a bit like a bike park ). As for cost, well you could argue that traveling to the coast and not being guaranteed good waves is expensive. There are quite a few places in North Wales now which offer fairly decent outdoor activity centres so I'm assuming that they are viable and as I'm at most and hour and a half away from them the more the merrier !.

Thinking about it again, if it's not careful the launch footage might be the first and only time you see that many people who can actually surf there at the same time unless they manage it properly. The place will need some aspiration for the learners and 'activity tourists' to get attracted by. I suspect there'll be some local 'sponsored' guys or kids that work there a few hours a week to gain access to make the place look a little busier with vaguely competent surfers.

Amazing that this has happened to North Wales, wish them all the luck in the world.

It works out about £3/ wave.
Kinda expensive

Really? I paid £45 for my session and they reacon 20 waves during that time, so that's just £2.25 per wave. Bet you'd think nothing of pissing £45 up against the wall in town on a Saturday night? Plus my regular surf sessions at the moment involve driving best part of 100+ miles to the coast, maybe getting 3-4 really good waves if I'm lucky and then driving 100+ miles back again. Fuel alone must be £45, for far less waves.

Great location, great idea, great pastime if you are in the area for any lengh of time, great if you want to learn surfing and get instruction before you go play in the Sea, great if you are bored one day and fancy doing something else, great for swallowing gallons of rain water instead of Seawater.

I like it.

I won't use it.

Looks fun but probably wouldn't use it. With the wake behind the wave reminds me of tanker surfing they do over in Texas.

the fake outdoor activity circuit in snowdonia, a day doing zipline, bounce below

Riding Antur Stiniog not on your list?

I think its brilliant. Cost wise its pretty decent value for money and as £45 in peak season and about £30 off season mean you get a fair few waves compared to the time and money spent trying to find that on the beaches of north wales in summer!

This kind of thing will only encourage people to surf in the sea. I think comparisons to trail centres and bike parks are justified but I do not see that as a bad thing! I love trails centres and bike parks. I also love surfing in the sea but given how inconsistent it is in North Wales and working full time so cannot drop everything when there is a wave, this is a tremendous option. I am sure it will get a lot of use and rightly so. I read a lot of negative comments on magic seaweed about how its bad and its not real surfing and how its missing the point. Well I don't think it misses the point. It will be a lot of fun, people will get a lot out of it, how is that missing the point?

Thing is you have to book it and it could be howling onshore winds (bad for surfing) when your turn is. Anyone know which way it faces, hopefully into the prevailing sw'erly. I'm ambivalent about the idea, I'll give it a crack if I'm in the area but not massively fussed either way. A few friends are going up soon but I'm working. I wonder how much different buoyancy will be given that its fresh water?

One of my mates just surfed there and reckoned he got 15 waves / hour.. and thats someone whose pretty good. He said it was good fun though and just like the sea... the wind can easily effect it

it'll be bloody great for learning on.

(learning to surf involves a huge amount of thrashing around uselessly in waves that are much too big and fast to gain any meaningful experience)

i'll probably go.

i wonder if they can adjust the wave size for beginner/intermediate/advanced sessions?

learning to surf involves a huge amount of thrashing around uselessly in waves that are much too big and fast to gain any meaningful experience

and/or a huge amount of thrashing around uselessly in waves that are much too small and mushy to gain any meaningful experience.

If the waves face the wind they get bigger 8)

Beginner, intermediate and advanced surfers can all use the same wave I think. It just depends which bit of it you line up on. Well thats my understanding....

beginner/intermediate/advanced sessions

It's on the film - tiddlers on the outside and bigguns in the middle.

makes sense, nice.

(watched it with the sound off)

nedrapier - Member

learning to surf involves a huge amount of thrashing around uselessly in waves that are much too big and fast to gain any meaningful experience

and/or a huge amount of thrashing around uselessly in waves that are much too small and mushy to gain any meaningful experience.

which is how you get fit, develop ocean awareness, learn to read waves, sets, line-ups, learn to duck-dive etc etc. I wonder whether in a few years, if they spread throughout the country, we'll have a bunch of 'sufers' who rip in pool waves but can't surf wonky cross-shore beach breaks for toffee.

we'll have a bunch of 'sufers' who rip in pool waves but can't surf wonky cross-shore beach breaks for toffee

It's the trail centre vs. bridleway debate for MSW to chew on, instant gratification vs. working for your fun. Both have their place.
I'd give it a go if in the area, but I'd rather live near an inconsistent beach or have a weekend on the coast than go specifically.

which is how you get fit, develop ocean awareness, learn to read waves, sets, line-ups, learn to duck-dive etc etc. I wonder whether in a few years, if they spread throughout the country, we'll have a bunch of 'sufers' who rip in pool waves but can't surf wonky cross-shore beach breaks for toffee.

Maybe, but for those of us who already surf in the sea and sre trying to improve this will be a real asset, allowing us to perfect take offs, turning, cutting back etc on a consistent wave, so that when you get out to the real ocean, you'll not go through the long process of paddling out, positioning, timing, wave selection etc, only to then be let down by patchy basic skills when you do actually get on a good wave.

The only thing it misses is sitting out back chatting to mates waiting for the waves, still fancy a go.

ferrals - Member

which is how you get fit, develop ocean awareness, learn to read waves, sets, line-ups, learn to duck-dive etc etc. I wonder whether in a few years, if they spread throughout the country, we'll have a bunch of 'sufers' who rip in pool waves but can't surf wonky cross-shore beach breaks for toffee.

considering the price, i'm fairly sure most people will use this facility for focussed sessions of practise. They'll still spend hours at Cayton/Hell's Mouth/Broughton/wherever, getting rinsed all over the place.

with their increased skills, they'll have more fun when they do get in the ocean.

I wonder whether in a few years, if they spread throughout the country, we'll have a bunch of 'mountainbikers' who shred at trail centres but can't ride steep muddy rooty bridleways for toffee?
The jury is still out 😉

In my view, surf Snowdonia offers 'wave riding' but does not offer 'surfing' as many of the elements that make up surfing have been removed.

I imagine there will be an increase in bank robberies in North Wales...

as many of the elements that make up surfing have been removed.

What the changing into a cold damp wetsuit in a windswept November carpark, driving for 2/3/4/5 hours only to find that the surf forcast was not accurate and then spending the day paddling round in wind chop waiting for waves that never materialise or drinking coffee instead, battling through the hoards of beginners on foam boards clogging up the South Wests best beaches, swallowing a mouthful of suspect water and having to drink a can of coke afterwards to prevent a tummy bug, getting onto the perfect wave only to find some vocal local giving you the evil eye, having the same said vocal locals bagging almost all the waves and not giving you a look in, leaving you with scraps because they know the spot better than you and have a right to do that because they live there? 😉

/\ that is surfing.The standing up bit is a bonus.

Speaking as someone who is crap at surfing - I am desperate to go for a lesson or two there! I kinda think it will be a bit of a fast track to mediocrity 😉

But hey, mediocrity would be a massive step up from where I currently am, so I can live with that! At least when we got to the proper surf we could make the most of it!

It is now very broken and shut down till next spring. Most of the staff have been laid off.
Some kind of major failure with the motor.
I also hear that they cant produce enough waves as it takes longer than anticipated for the pool to settle between waves. Annoyingly my boss bought me tickets a few weeks ago but ive now kindly asked for a trade in for BPW vouchers

I went there to watch the redbull comp a few weeks ago and it was very impressive. There seemed to be a few mins wait between the waves to allow the pool to settle, but I assumed this was standard? Who knows.

Shame about the lay offs. However if closing it now and getting all the problems sorted means it will be back bigger and better then there will be more work come the spring. I think with it being the first of its kind there was always going to be teething problems. The wave it generates looks very nice, plus the facilities on site were great too. Definitely going to go surf there in the spring.

Bummer.
That's not going to help their PR much.
Shame about the locals jobs too.

The problem is they rushed to open, the site looked and felt half finished come opening week. Waves were a bit more mushy than I was expecting, not really the glassy barrels promised and lots of surge and backwash after each wave passed - still fun though. Expensive wooden cabins looked plonked in rows onto a gravel car park, no landscaping, not attractive or welcoming. Cafe and restaurant were piss poor to be honest, food looked like a school canteen, even the coffee we had was weak and watery.

However, I think this place has so much potential, shutting isn't good, but if it gives them the time they need to get things right (and if they have the foresight to take peoples feedback on board) then they should be on to a winner. To make money though then it's not just about the surfing - I suspect they will need to attract a lot of non-surfers to use the cafe, play area, splash n slide etc. To do this they also need to get these things running properly too, plus create more of a vibe about the place, BBQ, outdoor bar and live band in the summer might help?

Here's a really good and realistic review from a lad I've surfed with a bit.

http://community.magicseaweed.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=43859

I know others who've been and I'd give it a go when it reopens.

[img] [/img]

According to the news it doesn't appear to be terminal. I presume the staff were on contracts which were due to end when their season finished anyway, so it's pretty bad news for them, but presumably no reason why they won't be re-employing the same number when they reopen.

Does have a feeling about it as the Bournmouth wave pit did a few years ago..
That ended in failure and at huge taxpayers cost.
Hope it doesn't turn out that way, I think it has great potential too.

You would have thought they would add salt to the water as it wont evaporate so should be a one time deal and surely most of the lack of float problems are down to the fresh water. I guess maybe some of the equipment has been specified for fresh water only.

You would have thought they would add salt to the water as it wont evaporate so should be a one time deal and surely most of the lack of float problems are down to the fresh water. I guess maybe some of the equipment has been specified for fresh water only.

I would have thought that the salt would corrode through the sledge pulleys and cable mechanism in no time. Pretty pleasant to wipe out and not end up with a mouthful of salt water (for a change) too.

I can see why you would not put salt in the water because of corrosion etc. but if it means that you can't ride your normal board in a normal way its a bit of an home goal.

Or just ride a more appropriate board with a bit more volume?

Don't get me wrong, I think it is an incredible achievement so far, I think they had always planned to close over winter, they just had to bring the closure forward, which is a shame for those booked in but for the project to be great they need to have time to perfect the technology. I am happy to ride a more buoyant board as long as they are available to use. I hope they come back in the spring with lots of the little problems ironed out and can offer the kind of service that will make it great value and brilliant place to visit.

Do people know if they plan to close every winter, just out of interest. I guess the water in a relatively small pond will cool down much more than the sea and probably in that location freeze relatively frequently.

I can see why you would not put salt in the water because of corrosion etc. but if it means that you can't ride your normal board in a normal way its a bit of an home goal.

But it's a different experience from sea surfing anyway?

Not a scientific calculation but they say the lagoon holds 33,000 m3 of water. Sea water contains 25kg of salt per m3, so they'd need 825 tonnes of the stuff to make the water like the sea. Say sea salt costs £60 per tonne (Google figure) that's a whopping £50,000 each time the pool was salted, plus the transport to get it there, so add on another £20,000 for haulage.

How many times has the pool there be drained and refilled already? Roughly three by my count, so if they'd have used salt then that would have been £210,000 down the drain (or down the River Conwy to be more precise) already.

I don't know if they intend to close every winter. From what I understand from talking to one of the guys there was that they were always going to close this winter to finish off the place (as mentioned it looks a bit unfinished in places). I was asking him when high and low seasons are so I would assume that they intend to stay open further into winter in the future as that would be a low season. It would make sense to keep it open all year round. It would have to be very very cold for everything to freeze up and I think the water circulates in the pool anyway. Its a pretty big pool.