How to Build a DIY Wave Pool in Your Backyard (Video)

Originally posted on SURFER | By Dashel Pierson | Last updated Feb 6, 2025 7:35 AM ET

It took Kelly Slater, and his team of hydrodynamic engineers, 10 years to build the Surf Ranch…so the story goes. Not to mention the untold amount of dollars that went into such a revolutionary, game-changing, first-of-its-kind harbinger for the wave pool explosion in the years that followed.

Yes, creating the perfect wave ain’t cheap. Or easy.

But, if perfection, a hefty budget, and a massive footprint aren’t in your back pocket, what’s a surfer to do? Well, one dude in such a predicament decided to work with what he had, and he created a DIY, backyard wave machine in Brazil. Here’s Joao Francisco’s labor of love passion project.

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A post shared by Joao Francisco (@anossaonda)

First off, this is nothing close to Slater’s pool(s), nor any of the other big-name artificial surf parks popping up across the globe in the modern wave pool boom. But still – despite the short-lived ankle-slappers that Francisco’s pool produces – you gotta hand it to him. Not everyone is going to go to the effort to design, create, literally hand dig out a basin, and pray the thing works.

We caught up with Francisco to hear more about the project:

“I'm a surfer from the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. I don't have any academic training, but I have a lot of love for surfing, willpower, and together with my friends, I developed this project, which is every surfer's dream, to build your own wave pool. I decided to show the construction step by step on my social networks, and the videos reached a huge audience.

“The whole process took about 6 months, using cheap material, determination and with the help of friends, I developed a ‘real ladder model’ and managed to reproduce a wave, where although small, due to the dimensions of this ‘model,’ it was possible to show that it works and we surfed the wave.

“It works! Now we just need to improve, I'm looking for support to develop a second wave pool, and continue evolving within the expanding market.”

Dreams really do come true.

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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