20 Years in the Making, Kelly Slater’s Abu Dhabi Wave Pool Is A Tech Marvel

This week, the latest iteration of Kelly Slater’s wave pool design, Surf Abu Dhabi, announced that they’d be opening in October. The best wave in the United Arab Emirates, it’s the first time we’ve seen the Slater technology emerge outside of the California Central Valley backwater of Lemoore, and Slater’s even reportedly spent time at the new surf park tuning in the nuances of the wave settings.

But before the gates open and the U.A.E. becomes the next hot surfing destination, a primer on just how this facility, and moreover, how the wave came to be. For the better part of ten years Slater and a team of engineers quietly toiled away in Lemoore, designing their masterpiece. Built in an old, man-made waterski pond, they worked in complete secrecy before finally revealing the wave to the world at the end of 2015.

The science behind the wave at The Surf Ranch in Lemoore is largely the work of Adam Fincham, a researcher at the University of Southern California. Slater first approached Fincham with the idea back in 2006, around the same time he founded the Kelly Slater Wave Company. Fincham had limited surfing experiencing, instead focusing his scholarly energies on topics such as “digital particle imaging velocimetry for laser diagnostics” and “decaying grid turbulence in a rotating stratified fluid”—hardly the kind of surf banter one hears in the Malibu lineup.

Related: Kelly Slater Graces Cover of SURFER Magazine's New Print Issue

Slater and Fincham had to basically invent their own science to create the wave. Up against the laws of physics, they had to deal with forces such as turbulence and something called seiching. The only two scientific papers sited in their patent date back to the 1870s. In essence, they were making it up as they went along.

The experimentation process began in the controlled environment of a miniature wave tank in a top-secret lab. From there, Fincham concluded that a hydrofoil device would be the best mechanism for creating the wave energy. The thought was that the blade of the hydrofoil, engineered to create a solitary wave (what physicists call a soliton), would then be submerged underwater and pulled along the bottom, thus creating a perfect, peeling wave.

Once the team was satisfied with how the wave energy would be created, Slater stepped in to talk bathymetry and work out the nuances of the bottom contour. Applying the GOAT's lifetime of experience at surf spots like Kirra, Jeffreys Bay and Rincon, Fincham was able to fine-tune the model in the lab.

After endless experimentation and computer modeling the team was ready to take their show on the road. The artificial waterski pool that the team acquired in Lemoore proved to be a godsend. Measuring 700 meters long and 150 meters wide, it provided them with the room (and privacy) they needed to develop the wave. A full-size hydrofoil was built and installed under the water. The hydrofoil was then attached to a device that would pull it down the basin at an upwards of 20 mph. The size of several train cars, it’s rigged up with cables and pulleys and sits on a track on over 150 truck tires. It’s then pulled the full length of the pool. Once the hydrofoil is in motion it begins to create the wave.

Related: Watch: Kelly Slater’s First Wave at the New Pool in Abu Dhabi

The bottom of the pool features different slopes and contours to create different sections of the wave. The bottom of the pool has a spongy feel akin to a yoga mat.

One of the big hurdles to overcome was what to do with all the turbulent whitewater. Large gutters were installed to catch the water and minimize backwash. The hydrofoil is pulled from one end of the pool to the other creating a right-hander, then when the hydrofoil is pulled back to the other end of the pool it creates a left-breaking wave. It’s takes approximately three minutes for the water in the pool to calm down enough for it to be ridable again.

And now, this miracle of science and engineering, has expanded outside of Lemoore. It’s gone international. And similar to top-level pro events we’ve seen go down in the freshwater of California, the Abu Dhabi facility will be a stop on the 2025 WSL Championship Tour. No doubt, the Slater technology’s been a game-changer since he first revealed it to the world almost a decade ago, now we get to see what a fully visualized version of the dream looks like.

Related: First-Ever Pro Surfing Contest Coming to Kelly Slater’s Abu Dhabi Wave Pool