ARTIFICIAL WAVES FOR FREO’S PORT BEACH

The Sunday Times reports today that Flow House has applied to Fremantle council to install a wave simulator on the former Ampol fuel depot site at Port Beach about fifty-metres north of Salt on the Beach. Flow House already runs wave simulators in countries like the UK and USA. WA has only one wave simulator in Kalgoorlie.

Whilst I have been asking for years for more tourist attractions for Fremantle I am not sure that creating artificial waves at a beach with natural waves is something I would get excited about. Wave simulators are great in cities that are not near an ocean. For me it’s a bit like the gimmick of making a beach at Forrest Place in Perth. That might be a good idea for places like Berlin, that are hundreds of kilometres away from the ocean, but for a city like Perth that is built along the coast it is rather silly to have an artificial beach in the CBD.

Roel Loopers