Surfers Build Top-Secret DIY Wave Pool in Finland (Video)

Originally posted on SURFER | By Dashel Pierson | Last updated Oct 6, 2025 2:03 PM ET

One of the primary complaints, in the burgeoning world of wave pools, is homogeneity. Whereas the ocean provides a unique canvass like a fingerprint, in the pool, the waves are all the same. This leads to fatigue, desensitization, perhaps even boredom.

The good thing is: No two wave pool operations are the same. And all the major players in the synthetic surfing biz have a “menu” of wave options.

And, as the wild west of wave pools continues to progress into a full-fledged industry, more operations are continuing to emerge – both big and small. Speaking of the smaller side, there’s a crew in northern Europe, who have created a manmade wave setup at a top-secret lake location. Check it out below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Yle News (@yle.news)

“I went to Portugal with the family, and saw all the grandparents teaching their grandchildren how to surf on a flat day,” explained Atso Andersen, founder of Artwave Surf, about the inspiration for his manmade wave creation. “I realized that we have cross-country skiing in Finland; they have surfing in Portugal. Our ocean is dangerous, but we have lakes and we should do something.”

Unlike a lot of bigger wave pool businesses, which use pneumatic systems to create the waves, this pool is more akin to the Kelly Slater Wave Company. They use a set of “wings” underneath the surface of the lake, which are pulled by a winch, which creates the wave.

Also, this operation is moveable. But the prototype in a Finland lake? That’s top-secret.

Recently, we covered another, more DIY wave pool project. This one was out of Arizona, dubbed The Wave Source, and after the world got its first glimpse at the proof-of-concept site, via surf vloggers Blair Conklin and Ben Gravy, the guys behind it decided to put the wave and land up for sale for $15 million. Read more about that one here.

So, what do you think? Will the future of wave pools be like skateparks, where there’s a public one in every town, then folks building backyard mini ramps as supplements?

Time will tell.

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

More must-reads: