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CHLORINE DREAMS
Wavehouse debuts Bruticus Maximus -- the best fake left tube ever?
(Click images to enlarge.)
Oahu's Jaime O'Brien leans nonchalantly back into a deep backside tube, backhand dragging, riding the foam ball. Five seconds pass then 10 and 20. Finally, O'Brien comes shooting onto the shoulder to throw a big fan of spray, only to set up another backside tube. Another 20 seconds in the tube and into a backside method air. Is it the superbank? In a manner of speaking, yes.
It's a fast, meaty left with a wide shoulder and an endless standup tube. The bottom is forgiving and the current drops you right into the channel. In fact, you actually walk back to the takeoff spot and just drop in as soon as you're ready. Crowds? You can schedule a private session. Pure adrenaline and pure fun. Unnatural? You bet.
Its creator calls it Bruticus Maximus and it's been traveling the world for almost a decade as the world's premiere man made mobile standing wave. Now the wave has made its final home on the shore of Mission Beach, The Wavehouse at Belmont Park to be exact.
Last night, under June gloomy clouds and fluorescent lights, Bruticus Maximus debuted to the public. And what a debut, Jaime O'Brien, Kalani Robb, Mark Healey, Christian Fletcher, snowboarders Terje Haakonsen and Andy Finch, and skimboard/flowrider legend Bill "Breaker" Bryan, showed how fun this wave can be. Barrels, carves, flips even lipslides along the pool coping. The guys were absolutely ripping the wave apart.
Christian Fletcher even demonstrated how much fun it is to ruin your friends on the wave, tossing bodyboards, debris and even his body at his fellow riders to send them into traction.
But is it surfing? Yes and no, its essence and appearance are surfing, but riding is more akin to skimboarding, primarily due to the absence of skegs on the board. Standing wave amateur Kalani Robb, "It's only my second time and it's really fun, but its kinda weird, you have to really heel-toe-it, not like surfing, really move your hips."
And the wave is just the main attraction; the Wavehouse has transformed the Belmont Park beachfront into a swinging beach club with all the resort amenities. Boardwalk, beach bars and quant palapa seating, all with a perfect view of the wave so you can cheer or heckle your bros as they tackle the perfect left. One formula for paradise?
"What I'm hoping for is that this connects to the roots, to the people that live the surfing lifestyle because that what makes this all legitimate." Says Bruticus Maximus creator Tom Lochtefeld, "what we're doing here is a simulation of surfing. Its fake but at the same token it brings the uninitiated in and up close and, I think, they can really begin to appreciate what surfers do on the real waves."
Wavehouse and Briuicus Maximus are open for business, but bring some nose plugs cause you'll get a lot of water up your nose.
RELATED LINKS:
wavehouse.com
What Lies Beneath? Bonus interview with Tom Lochtefeld, circa '99
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Mike Howrigan
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