Wavegarden: South Korea will build a 2.1 billion euro project that feature a wave pool | Illustration: Wavegarden

Wavegarden will start building the world's largest man-made surf park in Turtle Island, South Korea.

The Spanish wave pool company announced that, in November 2018, they signed a contract with Daewon Plus Construction, one of South Korea's largest real estate and theme park developers.

The formal event took place in the presence of the Governor of the Province, Siheung's City Mayor, and the Secretary General of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Korea.

Both parties have been working for a year on the design and planning of the new artificial wave lagoon. The project is expected to open to the public in 2020.

Located just an hour away from Seoul and constructed on land reclaimed from the ocean, Turtle Island is a new international waterfront destination, which will have different water and landside leisure facilities, including hotels, convention centers, and marinas.

The centerpiece of the €2.1 billion avant-garde mixed-use development will be the Wavegarden Cove surfing lagoon.

The Cove, with its enticing turquoise waters, is capable of producing up to 1,000 ocean-like waves per hour, which unfurl across a range of different surfing areas.

Each area offers waves of different sizes and power specifically designed to provide ideal conditions for everyone, from professional surfers to newcomers picking up a surfboard for the first time.

The Cove: Wavegarden's 2.0 wave pool formula | Photo: Wavegarden

10.8 Million Tourists

Apart from riding waves, Turtle Island offers various other aquatic activities like kayaking, SUP, and swimming in zones with and without waves.

"We are delighted to be working with Daewon and to bring the incredible sport of surfing and beach lifestyle to South Korea," says Fernando Odriozola, Chief Commercial Officer of Wavegarden.

"With consistent waves of different sizes and shapes, Turtle Island is going to be the new beach of Seoul and the place to surf for families, professional surfers, and everyone in between."

With a beach spanning almost one kilometer and the capability of hosting thousands of visitors, Turtle Island is set to become Korea's premier surfing and water activity destination and a must-visit for the large resident market and the 10.8 million international tourists that visit the region annually.

A project of this magnitude doesn't come without highly complex challenges. Specialized technological solutions are required in wave generation, water treatment, and civil works.

However, after years of R&D at the demo center in Northern Spain and having constructed many full-scale facilities, the team at Wavegarden believes it has perfected all the essentials to design and implement a venture of this scale.

The machinery can produce millions of waves per year and is designed to recover part of the energy used in the wave generation process to attain the lowest possible energy consumption.

The water treatment system, developed specifically for wave lagoons, will keep the water transparent and clean throughout the year.

Its intelligent design uses the energy of the waves to acquire the highest level of energy efficiency available nowadays for large recreational water bodies.

The announcement comes at a time when two Wavegarden facilities are currently in construction in Melbourne, Australia, and Bristol, England, with another 28 contracts signed and in various stages of development in five continents around the world.

Top Stories

The small fishing town of Bathsheba in Barbados is home to one of the most surprising right-hand reef breaks on the planet. Here's what makes Soup Bowl such an incredible wave.

Kelly Slater and Kalani Miller announced they are expecting a baby. It's a boy.

Surfing is all about working the unbroken wave face and maximizing riding time. But how can you optimize and balance these two goals that cancel each other out?

"I'm at the lake. The wind is forecast to pick up through the day with some moderate gusts, but we have a small weather window to paddle. I think it's fine!" pings a WhatsApp message one late April morning.