
The High Stakes of Surfing’s Wave-Pool Arms Race - ohaikbai
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/10/surfs-up-world/572839/
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calebsurfs
A glaring omission from this article is mention of the surfer who died from a
brain eating bacteria [0] after visiting the pool in Waco.

The wave pool there is classified as a 'lake' so normal rules for chlorination
and filtration don't apply.

[0]: [https://www.nj.com/atlantic/index.ssf/2018/10/brain-
eating_a...](https://www.nj.com/atlantic/index.ssf/2018/10/brain-
eating_amoeba_that_killed_nj_man_likely_came_from_texas_water_park.html)

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RandallBrown
Tests came back clean according to the BSR Cable Park website.

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mcafeeryan92
"Clean" is definitely not a word I'd use to describe this finding:

“Although the N. fowleri was not detected in the Surf Resort, Lazy River, or
the Royal Flush, the presence of fecal indicator organisms, high turbidity,
low free chlorine levels, and other amoeba that occur along with N. fowleri
indicate conditions favorable for N. fowleri growth”

They're being charitable in their interpretation of the CDC's findings, to say
the least.

[https://www.surfline.com/surf-news/cdc-finds-brain-eating-
am...](https://www.surfline.com/surf-news/cdc-finds-brain-eating-amoeba-bsr-
not-wavepool/36537)

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rurban
What the article misses is the long tradition of river surfing all over the
world. Championed at Munich Eisbach since the late 70ies, and then all over
the world since the 90ies, esp. in Canada, Austria, Germany, USA and
Switzerland. There's no need for an expensive and commercial pool with pumps
if you just need to throw some big rocks into a river, or use a canal. It's
also helping to save bridge piers, which otherwise need to repaired every 10
years.

In Montreal or Munich there are usually 200 surfers a day, surfing for free.
With incredible tricks, previously only seen on a skateboard.

[http://riverbreak.com/](http://riverbreak.com/)

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gamblor956
I have close friends working at all of these companies. Nice to see the
industry growing!

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bennesvig
Really hoping one of these wave pools makes its way to the midwest.

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angry_octet
They had better keep the wave programs in a .wav file.

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angry_octet
Come on, no sense of humour?

