Surfing a wave up to two meters high, it will be possible in a few years ... at the regional leisure island of Vaires-Torcy, in Seine-et-Marne.
If it is already possible to rowing and canoeing on the site which will host the Olympic events during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, an artificial wave of surfing called Okahina will take place on part of the basin of rowing and near the whitewater stadium, which was the first Olympic venue to be delivered in 2019.
This Thursday, the Ile-de-France region, which owns the leisure island, has in fact signed a 20-year temporary occupancy authorization with the company Waveriding Solution, which is developing and will operate this artificial wave.
"We had launched a call for expressions of interest in September 2019. Two candidates had come forward but we selected the Okahina project for its characteristics avoiding any ecological damage", explains Patrick Karam (Libres!), Vice-president of the board. region in charge of sports and recreation.
A circular and removable wave
Unlike conventional artificial wave projects, Okahina is a circular wave generated by a demountable installation.
"It is not a wave pool but a partially submerged floating atoll that generates circular and centripetal waves", insists Laurent Hequily, founder of Waveriding Solution.
A surf enthusiast himself, this adopted 57-year-old Girondin had the idea of this new wave generator concept many years ago.
But he began to develop it by founding his company in 2015 and was able to test the wave in 2020 with his teams on a twelfth scale in his laboratory in La Défense.
“We noticed that there were more surf enthusiasts in the big cities than in the coastal regions, with a breeding ground in Ile-de-France.
Thanks to these waves, we prevent these practitioners from taking the plane to surf on distant spots ”, explains Laurent Hequily.
Promote the biodiversity of the water body
But the ecological benefits of this new concept of artificial waves are not limited to the reduction of the ecological footprint.
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“This technology does not require digging the ground or artificialising it by pouring concrete.
It also does not require pumping from the water tables and makes it possible to preserve or even improve the biodiversity of the water body.
About 80% of water bodies in France are in a situation of eutrophication
(Editor's note: asphyxiation of aquatic ecosystems)
.
The wave oxygenates the water and prevents the filtering of cyanobacteria and microplastics.
Fish nurseries will also be installed under the atoll with our partner Ecocean.
The wave will be limited, it will not disturb other users of the body of water and will not threaten the stability of the banks, ”explains the entrepreneur who patented his invention.
Another advantage of this news: low electricity consumption to generate the wave thanks to the modest size of the installation.
“The creation of a wave of 1.20 m high requires only a power of 35 Kw / h, which is the equivalent of the motor of a small Autolib electric car and a wave of two meters high that of a Tesla.
Our wave generator is only three meters long, which is far less than artificial wave generators like the one created by Kelly Slater in California which is the size of a train and a footprint of seven hectares of swimming pool!
Ours will also be powered by green electricity produced nearby by Akuo Energy.
"
A human-sized facility
"Environmental associations are very careful about these aspects and all conventional projects are experiencing difficulties or have fallen into the water", indicates Laurent Hequily.
Among these controversial projects, that of the artificial surf wave of Sevran (Seine-Saint-Denis) which had to be rethought.
Unlike these titanic projects which run the risk of becoming white elephants, Laurent Hequily wants the Okahina Wave project to remain on a human scale.
“The installation will occupy 9,500 square meters on the water to generate a wave 110 meters in diameter every ten to eleven seconds and which will have a maximum capacity of 420 surfers.
Our goal is to set up the atoll at the end of 2022 for operation during the 2023 season. It will be the second or third site of its kind that we will open after the Futuroscope site at the end of 2021 and around the same time as that of Libourne-Saint-Emilion (Gironde) ”, details the entrepreneur, who confides that three other similar wave projects are about to materialize, including one in Ile-de-France.
Cost of the installation: approximately 20 million euros entirely payable by the company.
Delegate activities to the private sector to boost leisure islands
"This project does not cost the region a cent and should even bring in some money because the operator will pay a fixed fee of 5,000 euros per year to which will be added a variable fee capped at 70,000 euros per year", explains Patrick Karam, who explains that this equipment is part of the region's policy to boost its leisure islands.
"To ensure their financial balance we have chosen to entrust the activities that can be to the private sector as well as the investments", specifies the elected representative to the regional council for whom the equipment will make Vaires-Torcy " a major tourist destination ”.
“Our wave will be able to adapt to both beginners and experienced surfers and will be accessible with prices between 20 and 40 euros depending on the formulas,” says Laurent Hequily.
If the equipment will not accommodate the Olympic surfing events in Paris 2024 which will take place on the natural waves of Tahiti, the best professional riders will be able to come and train there.
"Many professional surfers like Damien Castera appreciate the tube-shaped wave that we managed to generate in the laboratory", rejoices Laurent Hequily.
