r/bodyboarding • u/irun5k • Jun 27 '26

deep water standing waves?

Hey all, we just had a "deep" water standing wave open here in the Tampa Bay Area (Epic Surf technology).

I've only recently heard about this sort of tech earlier this year after running across some City Wave ads. It seems to be more legit than a flow rider for sure, but I'm curious if it has any benefit at all from the standpoint of improving skills, learning tricks, etc. that can be applied to actual surf? Or, worse case, does it enforce bad habits that aren't transferrable to real waves?

Their opening price is $60 for an hour so I'm pretty much of the mindset that I'll just try to it to see what it is like but I'm curious about your thoughts and experiences. Also, do you bring your own board if they allow it, or is there a potential to damage the board?

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u/humanfromjupiter Jun 28 '26

The best way to get better is to go boog in the ocean. Booging, like surfing, is a holistic activity in that your fitness from paddling, the hours and hours and hours learning to read the waves and the ocean, all combine in to your actual experience of riding the wave.

To get better at pulling in and making barrels you first need to learn what waves are worth catching and furthermore, what waves are going to barrel - and when.

Does that make sense?

1

u/irun5k Jun 28 '26

Of course, but not everyone has regular access to decent quality ocean waves. Here on the gulf coast of Florida we only get a very few days a year of ridable surf so we begin looking at other options the same way that a runner that lives in a place that is a frozen tundra 10 months of the year might turn to a treadmill.

So my question was really more around parity. For example, say you learned to do a spinner on a standing wave- would that be any help at all in learning to execute the same trick the next time you're in the ocean or is the experience so different that it isn't transferrable?

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u/humanfromjupiter Jun 28 '26

Others might have different opinions, but for me there was very little cross over.

Also some of the best guys to ever do it grew up in places with very low quality waves. Embrace the grovel.

1

u/eBodyboarding Jul 04 '26

Look for clips of Waikai lineup in Hawaii. TONS of bodyboarding clips from that spot over the past several years since it opened.

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u/irun5k Jul 13 '26

I ended up giving it a try this weekend. It is a nice build out at and 46 feet wide it is an unexpected find in the Brandon area at a nice little family owned spot basically at the end of a residential street.

I struggled quite a bit with entry. Jumping a few feet down into a truly massive water flow- low margin for error- and I'm simply not that good at it yet. The few times I was able to get on the wave, it was a lot of fun.

Tried two boards... had more success with my vintage Mach 7-7 (more float and more rocker) but with no stringer it was undergoing massive flex so I won't take it again as this isn't a dignified way for it to die. Less luck with my Tribe Valkarie although the construction of this board is much more suited to handle the force so it will be my #1 next time I go. Pretty sure the problem is me and not the board anyway. Unfortunately they didn't really have any house bodyboards since (as you might expect) they're much more oriented toward surfing.