MESA, Ariz. — Surf's up Arizona!
A new surf park is coming to Mesa very soon! On Friday, Arizonans can catch their first barrels from 3:00 – 7:00 p.m. at Revel Surf Park at Cannon Beach in Mesa for their high tide social VIP event.
This development has been four years in the making as construction and other hurdles made it a longer wait than expected. However, that wait is coming to an end. Pending one last inspection from Maricopa county, Revel Surf Park is set to open to the public on December 6.
“I've thought often that Arizona would be the perfect state if we just had waves. We're trying to fix that and here we are,” owner Cole Cannon said.
There’s a cliff jumping area with four platforms that range from 6 to 26 feet, a beach with cabanas, TVs, and sand from the panhandle of Florida and an infinity wave unit on the side. The surf pool is two acres of surface area with 3,000,000 gallons of water. To make it work Cannon and others invented their own wave technology that puts them in a class of only five others in the world.
“There are 21 wave bays. We time them in different staggering motions which creates different shapes, Cannon added. “We can have a beginner wave, a barrel wave, a frothy wave, a wall wave, all sorts of different shapes and sizes for the for the different users out here.”
They use hydro power to make the waves and the only way they lose water is through evaporation. According to Cole the land they’re on used to be an Alf alfa farm and the surf park consumes about 2 percent of what the farm used.
“More people are shocked to learn how little power and how little water we consume out here,” Cannon said. “We consume about the same amount of water as one hole of a golf course. Not a golf course, one hole of a golf course! Our power is that of maybe two Corvettes for our entire wave machine.”
This is for surfers at all levels where people can come on an hour-by-hour basis. About 80% of the time will be for beginners and intermediate levels, the rest for advanced. Trainers will be there for first timers and beginners and fun will be had by everyone.
“Like most of us inlanders we don't have access to the beach and want to try this really aspirational sport and give it a shot,” Cannon added. “Even down to our cliff diving lagoon.”
The surf park is inside Cannon Beach. Cannon Beach is a 40-acre, multi-use development with a movie theater, restaurants and more. That will finish construction soon. Memberships are available to purchase but are being capped.
Cannon’s goal is to open 10 of these surf parks nationwide, with potentially another in the Valley.
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