4 days ago
Potential Wave Pool Project Targeted for San Francisco Bay Area
Wave pool projects are proposed all over the world on a regular basis. So much so that it's tough to keep track of them all. Actually, it's impossible to keep up. But even when a potential project is in its earliest stages and years away from opening (or even breaking ground), it can grab our attention simply for its scale or prominent location. Neptune Surf Club fits the latter — a wave pool targeting a 2029 opening in Alameda, California, an island in the San Francisco Bay.
The name is an homage to a depression-era amusement park nestled in the bay between San Francisco and Oakland. It was once a popular waterfront destination in the area until the late 1930s, but the new concept holding the historic 'Neptune Beach' name would offer an entirely different attraction a century later. A web page for the park doesn't offer many details about the project, but a Wave Pool Mag feature highlighted plans for a $50-million, privately funded development anchored by an Endless Surf wave pool. The park will also house a canoe club, camping/glamping, food and beverage, sailing center, shoreline trail, pump track, and boat launch ramp, according to Wave Pool Mag.
While that list sounds like a lot, design specialist William Duncanson told Wave Pool the park will follow a 'go small or go home' approach, 'as a way to focus on the core offering (surf) and strip out any big diversions that don't add to the surf experience that we're trying to deliver to the community.'
Notably, this would be the Bay Area's first surf park. The drive from Alameda, across the Bay Bridge, into the city, and out to Ocean Beach, San Francisco is about 40 minutes, if the traffic is manageable. Santa Cruz is about 90 minutes south, while Half Moon Bay is approximately an hour south of Alameda. That puts the proposed surf park within range of three prominent surf zones and, by virtue, a wide range of surfers.
On top of this, Duncanson seems to suggest that the project fills another need as well: capitalizing on land that currently isn't accessible to the public.
'The city has been anxious to have a plan for this area so they can create a capital campaign and implementation timeline,' he said. 'They see us as a catalyst for this effort. Separately, this area just has so much potential. It is already a vibrant community with services, activities, and businesses which we think we can plug into and amplify that ecosystem.'
