By Dan Walsh
Jack Robinson watched a stubbornly flat Pacific Ocean ruin his chance at an Olympic gold medal earlier this month, but believes hosting surfing events in a wave pool would be “repetitive” and “boring”.
Robinson returns to the Championship Tour this week at Fiji’s idyllic Cloudbreak after claiming silver behind Tahitian local Kauli Vaast at Teahupo’o two weeks ago.
The famed and feared wave produced one of the great days of competitive surfing when three-metre peaks had the likes of Robinson at times fearing he would drown.
But the Olympic final was marred by lengthy lulls that left both the Australian star and Brazilian bronze medallist Gabriel Medina waiting up to 20 minutes across multiple heats for waves that never came with medals on the line.
Medina, compatriot Filipe Toledo and legend Kelly Slater are among those surfers to propose the use of a wave pool for surfing at the Los Angeles Games in 2028, where California’s Lower Trestles (home to the WCT finals) and Huntington Beach are considered the leading options to host the event.
Slater’s own $30 million Surf Ranch wave pool in Lemoore, California has hosted four WSL events, with Medina and Toledo featuring in the first three mens’ finals.
Kelly Slater surveys the scene at his new wave pool in Abu Dhabi.Credit: Surf Abu Dhabi
Last week the WSL, which owns a major stake in the Kelly Slater Wave Company, also announced that Slater’s newly opened man-made wave at Surf Abu Dhabi will host the Middle East’s first CT event next year.
The obvious attraction of wave pool events is guaranteed quality waves for competition and proximity for spectators, though Robinson echoed criticism of previous Surf Ranch events that led to several high-profile withdrawals from the 2021 edition.
“Personally, if a [Olympic] host country has waves, then use them. America has waves in Hawaii and California,” Robinson told this masthead.
“Some people might prefer a wave pool because it suits their surfing but to me, working out the ocean is a big part of competitive surfing. It’s such a skill and you take that away in a wave pool.
Kelly Slater’s new wave pool in Abu Dhabi.Credit: YouTube
“And from a spectator point of view, personally I don’t think wave pools are great to watch. Maybe one day they will be. But right now, I think it’s very repetitive to watch. Mostly the waves can only handle so much size and if a wave’s quite long it gets boring, it’s the same manoeuvres and moves over and over again.
“I’m not writing off wave pools, I think one day they’ll have their place. But right now, for the Olympics, I don’t think so.”
Speaking to Surfer Magazine recently, Slater suggested that the Olympics format “should be held in a wave pool with a very specific outlined format to display compulsory manoeuvres and entire rides as a combination” to take luck out of surfing heats.
Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch wave pool, 130 kilometres from the coast of California.Credit: Getty Images
Robinson suggested his own revamp to schedule Olympic surfing at Hawaii’s iconic Pipeline break, which would require the event being held during the island’s winter season between November and April.
The Los Angeles Olympics are scheduled for the end of July 2028, which is closer to the annual WCT finals September dates in southern California.
“If you want the best show on Earth, it’s Pipeline, so why not?” Robinson said.
“I think that’d be the best show for spectators and the surfers ... but you would have to run it during the Hawaiian winter.”
Robinson can sew up his third-straight finals appearance in Fiji this week when 52-year-old Slater is a wildcard alongside 17-year-old prodigies Sierra Kerr (Australia) and Erin Brooks (Canada) in the women’s draw.
Australians Ethan Ewing (fifth) and Molly Picklum (fourth) can also earn finals qualification at Cloudbreak in an especially narrow fight for spots at the tour’s last regular season event.
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