Winning In Waco

An all-time group of friends (and Surf Station teamriders) take over the BSR Surf Park in the middle of Texas for a day

One of the most memorable days I’ve ever had surfing happened in the middle of Waco, Texas, is not something I ever expected to write.

But, alas, it’s the truth.

Before experiencing the BSR Surf Park in Waco for myself, I was a bit of a wavepool skeptic. I just wasn’t sold on traveling halfway across the country to Texas to go surfing, when I live five minutes from the actual ocean in California. But, when Jimmy Wilson caught wind of a deal BSR was offering in October that allowed 18 of us to rent the park for a 10-hour day, I had to say yes. Especially when the crew included longtime friends and Surf Station team riders Chris Ropero, Gabe Kling, Ross Howatt and Ryan Riopko, one of the east coast’s best surfers of all time in Ben Bourgeois, pro surfer turned famous DJ Paul Fisher, as well as Michael “Gibby” Gwiazda, Billy Eckert, Blake Jones, Jay and John Dodson, Dane Jeffries, Jody and Matt Davis, Blair Marlin and Stu Brown.

A crew of dudes just doesn’t get much better than that.

We arrived in Waco from all over the country. Jay, Billy, Ben, Fisher and I from a weekend of debauchery at the Austin City Limits music festival, where Fisher had played a show. While the 5 of us limped in licking our wounds after very little sleep, seeing the pool and epic crew light up with energy gave us a much needed second (or maybe third) wind.

For 10 hours, we had the place all to ourselves. We split up into 6 person groups, so every surfer got three full hours in the water, plus a bonus hour at the end. And let me tell ya: It’s exhausting. Unlike the ocean, where you spend the majority of your time paddling and hunting waves, in the pool the sets come like clockwork. Three waves, every 30 seconds. Rip, rinse and repeat.

And the best part is there’s a wave for everyone. Ready to switch from a three wave set to a two wave air section? Just yell up to the control tower. How about a slab barrel instead? Yep, coming right up. With the push of a few buttons the wave changes entirely. Left to right, air to barrel. All day long.

While it’s strange paddling for a wave one foot from a cement wall, once you get used to the aesthetics of the whole thing, it just feel like…surfing. Except, rather than hoping you luck into a few good waves, your opportunities are guaranteed. Bog your first turn? Blow a perfect air section? Get lipped pulling in? All good. There’s another 10 opportunities coming up every hour.

From 9am to 7pm we switched between surfing and heckling one another, and cheering and high-fiving every completed air. Blake did the best frontside spinner of his life. Gabe did two huge air reverses. Jimmy was sticking frontside lien grabs. I landed the best air I’ve done since….well, I can’t even remember.

Consider me a pool skeptic no longer. Already, I can’t wait to go back.

– Zander Morton