First Look: 'The Best Wave Pool in America'

Over a few sweltering days in early July, the first testing sessions were held in the Virginia pool that is scheduled to open later in the summer.  Locals Michael Dunphy, Blary Barton,  fellow East Coaster surfers Cam Richards, and Mason Barnes were joined by local rippers Camden Hoover and Bella Faircloth.

Yet it was a West Coast blow-in, Jacob "Zeke" Zlensky, who was most effusive. Zeke has been a willing guinea pig at almost every new wave pool on the planet. While he’d probably turn up to the opening of an envelope, few surfers are better qualified to compare and contrast synthetic waves than the Californian.

“This is the best wave pool in America,” Szekely told SURFER afterwards. "And it has the best air section, by far.” If the hundreds of labourers, builders, architects, and landscapers working on the unfinished surrounding works stopped to watch, they would have seen Zeke pull out his wave pool toolkit. That included straight airs, a superman, an alley-oop with a lien grab, a passion pop shuv-it, and the lesser spotted, in the water at least, one-foot Madonna air.

Dunphy and Richards were more occupied with the fact that there were three days of solid, consistent surf at Virginia. “When it comes to surfing, Virginia Beach has a deep, rich history and a legendary crew of surfers,” said Dunphy. “What we’ve never had is good waves.”

The development is located just a few blocks back from the beach on 31st Street. Its waterfrontage, in the wave park sector, is unusual, if not unique. Existing commercial operations, be it Sydney or Sao Paulo, London or Lemoore, Munich or Melbourne, are all based inland.  

In Virginia, it’s a stone’s throw from the surf hub of First Jetty. In a description by Surfline, they said, “It is the best of surfing. It is the worst of surfing.” Atlantic Park might hit commercial success by plonking an artificial wave in an area surrounded by a population of visiting tourists and hardcore surfers, who endure and surf some of the worst, and most crowded, waves in America.

That dichotomy was probably best illustrated by local groms Camden Hoover and Bella Faircloth, who both said they scored the best barrels of their young lives during their very first session in the pool. “The issue of inconsistent conditions that East Coast surfers constantly face has just been solved,” said Richards, who spent large chunks of the sessions attempting a backside flip that he has been developing. The Richards Rodeo? FlyCam? Watch this space.

The kicker, of course, is that beginners will have to pay around $125 and experts $160 for each 55-minute surf, though that will vary depending on the wave session and the season. The success of the venture will depend on finding enough affluent locals and tourists who can afford it. Alternatively, they hope to attract enough lower socio-economic locals that, instead of being forced to travel to the West Coast or overseas to get quality waves, they will invest their hard-earned wages in packages in the pool.

It’s a question that will take a little time to find out. The surfing is just a crucial part of a real estate play that includes shopping, dining, residential units, and boutique lodging. Williams is also heavily backing the redevelopment of The Dome - a large cultural and live music venue that will be integrated into the facility.

He once sang that, “Sunshine she's here, you can take a break, I'm a hot air balloon that could go to space.” As of late summer, he will have played a part in providing consistent, year-round barrelling waves at VB, for the first time in its history. Only time will tell if it shoots for the stars or runs out of gas.