10 Years of Surf Ranch: How Kelly Slater Changed Surfing Forever

Do you remember where you were, what you were doing, when you first glimpsed what would later be christened, the Surf Ranch? I do. I was sitting on an ex-girlfriend’s couch in Hollywood, sipping coffee. The gentle winter sunlight glinting through the window shades.

It was December 18th, 2015, and the first video of waves breaking in the middle of nowhere, Lemoore, California, popped up on my screen. I watched, and watched. Baffled.

The video showed something previously believed impossible: the perfect wave. Even Slater was mystified by what he saw. “This is like when I won my first [World] Title. It didn’t sink in for quite a long time. Seeing that, I’m 100 percent positive that our team built the best wave that anyone’s ever made. It’s a freak of technology.”

And also, it would change surfing forevermore.

Turns out, the video (and the first waves surfed by Kelly himself, of course) was actually filmed on December 5th, 2015. When it dropped on December 18th, it was the day after Adriano de Souza won the World Title, which led to speculation about Kelly stealing Adriano's thunder. But more likely, it was just coincidence.

At the time, Alex Poirot was serving as an R&D Engineer on the project – though he’s since moved on as CTO at Crest Surf Clubs, with their first project coming soon to New York. But Surf Ranch was a special one for Poirot. Speaking about that day, he said:

“I had a pretty good idea of what I was about to witness, but I had no idea it would turn out to be this captivating and that we were about to change so many things forever. Science, surfing, and maybe even the definitions of freedom and inner peace…This place feels like it's a completely different universe, it isn't affected by anything that is going on the outside.”

Michael Schwab, heir to the financial investment empire, was also involved early on with Surf Ranch. From his recollection and commemoration of the Ranch’s 10-year anniversary, he and Kelly were in Fiji when they got the call that waves were breaking in Lemoore, CA. And so, they quickly hopped on the first flight back to Los Angeles. Schwab recalled:

“The direction of my life changed that day. We blew every surfer’s mind on the planet and nearly broke the internet in the process.”

And since then, surfing would never be the same. Surf Ranch was the spark, igniting the fire for the current inferno of surf parks popping up across the globe. It’s something that will go down in history as a turning point, a crossroads, for a new era of synthetic, manmade surfing. After the first project was a success, they also didn’t stop in Lemoore, CA; the Kelly Slater Wave Company has opened another pool in Abu Dhabi, and another coming soon to Austin, Texas.

So, cheers to Kelly – and his team, which deserves huge credit – for ushering in a new era, changing the trajectory of the sport, and bringing surfing to more people than ever before.

Check out that first video below, and take a walk down memory lane.