Wave pool

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The outdoor wave pool of Mt. Olympus Water & Theme Park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.

A wave pool is a swimming pool in which there are artificially generated, reasonably large waves, similar to the ocean's. Wave pools are often a major feature of water parks. Sunway Lagoon Water Park in Malaysia is home to the world's largest outdoor wave pool.

History

Several locations claim to have developed the first wave pool in the United States, including Big Surf in Tempe, Arizona, in 1969 , and Point Mallard Park's Aquatic Center, in the city of Decatur, Alabama.

Wave pools go as far back as the 19th Century, as famous fantasy castle builder Ludwig II of Bavaria electrified a lake to create breaking waves.

The first wave pool was designed and built in 1927[1] in Budapest, Hungary in the known Gellért Baths, and appeared in a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer documentary (James A. Fitzpatrick's Traveltalks) about the city in 1938, as one of the main tourist attractions.[2] On the other hand, in Palisades Amusement Park, a famed center atop the New Jersey Palisades across the Hudson River from New York City, had a salt-water wave pool during the 1940s. This was a huge pool whose waves were generated by a waterfall at one end. The pool in Point Mallard Park was developed in the early 1970s after Mayor Gilmer Blackburn saw enclosed "wave-making" swimming pools in Germany and thought one could be a tourist attraction in the United States. J. Austin Smith, an Ohio wave pool manufacturer, worked with the city of Decatur to design and install the wave pool in 1970. The first indoor wave pool in the U.S. was opened at Bolingbrook, Illinois, at the Bolingbrook Aquatic Center in 1982.[3]

Operation

The outdoor wave pool of Boulder Beach at Silverwood Theme Park

Wave pools replicate the movement of the ocean one of two ways, depending on the size of the pool and the size of wave desired. In small wave pools, pressurized air is blown onto the surface of the water, or a paddle creates force in the water, creating small ripple-like waves. Other techniques utilize an "accordion mechanism" which opens and closes in order to suck water into its belly (opening) and push it out (closing) to cause waves. However, in high-volume wave pools, a large amount of water is quickly allowed into the far end of the pool, forcing the water to even out, generating a sizeable wave. In these large wave pools, the excess water is removed by being channeled through a return canal where it can be used again to generate another wave.

Types and locations

Generally, wave pools are designed to use fresh water at inland locations, but some of the largest ones, near other seashore developments, use salt water. Wave pools are typically larger than other recreational swimming pools and for that reason are often in parks or other large, open areas.

Safety

Wave pools are more difficult to lifeguard than still pools, and there have been drownings in a few. For example, the pool at New Jersey's now-defunct Action Park cost two lives, and kept the lifeguards busy rescuing patrons who overestimated their swimming ability. On the first day they opened their wavepool, it is said that up to 100 people had to be pulled out.[4] The moving water, sun glare, and other factors make them difficult for lifeguards. Computer automated drowning detection systems do not work in wave pools.[citation needed]

Appearances

See also

Further reading

  • Carl Hoffman, "Endless summer", Wired 12.05

External links

  1. ↑ http://muemlekek.info/muemlek/gellert-furdo.php History of the Gellért Thermalbath
  2. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40Bfpi0ZxlU In 1929, a Pathe Pictorial there is film of "Indoor Surfers" frolicking in small, artificially-generated waves in a swimming pool in Munich, Germany. The waves were created by agitators which pushed waves through the diving area and into a shallow area - where kids were bodysurfing little waves: "This is the new kind of swimming bath that is becoming the rage of Germany," one of the captions reads. "No more placid waters for bathers - the mechanism behind the netting keeps everything moving." In 1939, a public swimming pool in Wembley, England was equipped with machines that created wavelets. Not for riding, but to approximate the soothing ebb and flowing motion of the ocean. Video of Budapest from 1938
  3. ↑ "The History of Bolingbrook". http://www.bolingbrook.com/index.php?page_id=58. 
  4. ↑ "The Most Insane Amusement Park Ever - Part 2" [A documentary on Action Park] http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x13qzgb_the-most-insane-amusement-park-ever-part-2-of-2_tech
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