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Lemoore Kelly Slater Surf Ranch

Kelly Slater Wave Co LLC
18856 Jackson Avenue
Lemoore, CA 93245
(858) 465-6468
kswaveco.com
Lemoore Chamber of Commerce  Member: Kelly Slater Wave Co develops and builds high performance surfing venues around the world. Our R&D facility is located in Lemoore with headquarters in Solana Beach, California.

Kelly Slater, with 11 world surfing championship titles, created Kelly Slater Wave Company (KSWC) in 2007.

The World Surf League (WSL) bought a major stake in the Kelly Slater Wave Company in 2016.   In 2017 Slater opened the best artificial wave pool in the world in Lemoore, California, not far from Fresno. It got its start under Slater and World Surf League Holdings based in Santa Monica now owns controlling interest.

Kelly Slater Wave Co

  • The Cocoa Beach surfer won a surf contest in an inland water park when he was only 16
  • Kelly Slater Wave Co LLC joined Lemoore Chamber of Commerce (produces the Pizza festival)
  • In February 2018 the City of Lemoore accepted a Surf Ranch Donation in the amount of $12,500
  • Interim City Manager Olson stated at a recent Council Meeting that the Surf Ranch requested a City of Lemoore flag to fly on their property. A flag was delivered and Assistant City Manager Michelle Speer had the opportunity to raise the flag. "The ranch is an amazing facility," she said.
  • $2 million - up: The costs of installing a surf park.

Surf Park Technology

  • Slater's wave machine creates the longest, rideable open-barrel man-made wave in the world.
  • Though not the first to be built, surfers say it's the best wave machine because of the way the wave mimics the movement of the ocean.
  • The first wave machine, version 1.0 was 10 years in development. It pumped 45-second barreling waves.
  • Version 2.0  can create left and right waves, and  bigger and stronger waves.
  • Plow-like hydrofoil moves on a rail in the water to create the wave. 
  • Powered 100% by the sun, Surf Ranch waves reportedly are created through PGE Solar Choice, a Green Tariff Shared Renewables Program (California Senate Bill No.43.)
  • Adam Fincham, an amateur surfer and aerospace engineer with a specialization in geophysical fluid dynamics,  became the head scientist for Slater's project.
  • The surf park's pool is 2,000 feet long and 500 feet wide. It is a man-made lake originally built for water skiing.
  • Surf Ranch employs hydrofoils that make the artificial waves rise up over the rectangular pool.
  • Supercomputers were used to perfect the contours of the lake.
  • Hydrofoils run 18 miles per hour along a track with the help of more than 150 truck tires.
  • Contour reefs cause the wave break after a swell hits  the lake's bottom.
  • Bounce-back  that occurs on the pool walls is mitigated by giant lateral gutters.
  • Three minutes: the time it takes for the surf pool water to calm down and return to a  static state.
  • Waves reach a maximum of 6.5 feet, but can also be adjusted to fit beginner, intermediate and advanced surfers.
  • Surfers are separated from the hydrofoils by thin netting.
  • Perfect waves are created by a machine on a 2,000-foot-long pond.

Australian surfer Matt Wilkinson visited the Surf Ranch and liked his experience. He looks forward to  getting a couple wave parks in Australia. More than a dozen wave park projects around the world are under development offering a superior experience to California's Surf Park with up to 1,000 quality, six-foot ocean-like surfing waves every hour versus California's 10.

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