Switzerland: Surfing at the Edge of the Alpes

Sports enthusiasts will be able not only to buckle their snowboards in the city of Sion, which is the capital city of the canton of Wallis in southwest Switzerland. In this city with around 35,000 residents, an 8,500 square metre-large artificial surf pool named Alaïa Bay is currently under construction. The installation type “Wavegarden Cove“ supplied by Basque company Wavegarden will be the first of this type on the European mainland. It will produce up to 20 different wave types which will suite beginners as well as professional surfers.

The project, the construction of which started in November 2019, is realised by Switzerland-based Alaïa Group, which is specialised in exclusive leisure sport experiences such as the Alaïa Chalat, where guets are able to experience and learn skating, scooter driving and snowboarding. "Our teams have put a lot of enthusiasm into this project and we are thrilled to be able to keep the schedule as planned. Despite the public health situation, which required the introduction of certain restrictions, there has been very little disruption to the construction and we can now reveal the dates for the next stages of the project,” said Adam Bonvin, Alaïa’s founder.

Josema Odriozola, Wavegarden’s creator, explained, “It is a crucial phase. The calibration and testing phase is a technical challenge for our teams in weather conditions that we have never experienced before. […]” Alaïa Bay will also provide visitors with a 300 square metre-large “retail shore“, including retail shops for surf equipment as well as a surf school and a restaurant. The opening of the facility is scheduled for March 2021.

Inland surfing is also possible in Bristol (GB) offsite the British coasts thanks to “The Wave Bristol“, another Wavegarden installation, which was opened in November 2019 (cf. EAP issue 2/2020). (eap)