NLand Austin - Trip Report

[TEXASS]

Sorry if this is a bit long winded I had a lot of unanswered questions when I booked so Im trying to offer up what to expect for others-

My Dad turned 88 on July 27th. Booked a Trip to Texas to see My Folks who live 2 and a half hours east of Austin. Got a good friend who lives there so instead of fling into Dallas or Houston I figured I better get my ass on this man made miracle before it or Me goes out of Business.

I started reading up on booking slots, east and west lagoons, reef wave, ect. I planned on booking two sessions in case I totally sucked ,hoping to at least bag a couple of waves.

I had no Idea east vs. west , rights, lefts ect and was a bit confused about such things before booking so to cover my bases I went for one east lagoon session and one west lagoon sesh

When I arrived ( Friday July 28th around 3:30 ) it was a mild 103 degrees YIKES forgot how hot it is here in July. I hoped I could hold up for two hours ,even tough I would be in the water.

I walked out onto the pier to observe and things became a bit clearer. The wave maker, what seems to be a ski lift type cable with some kind of submerged ski plow or giant shovel , runs the full length of the lagoon in one direction, then about two minutes later it goes the opposite direction. So, no matter if you book east or west lagoon you will be riding both Lefts and Rights if you follow the directions laid out by your "reef master" .

I was wondering if this would be like any other ocean surf sessions near a pier, or would we all be hassling for each wave?
Well, they give you an orientation a few minutes before you enter the water. Their are two or three guys that go out as lifeguards who keep things in line-"the reef masters"
their are three banners along the pier with the NLand logo. These banners mark the take off spots , one at each end of the pier and one in the middle.
They may book as many as five people to a session on each side of the Lagoon for the reef wave. The Reef Master will tell two of those people to sit under the end banners and send one to the middle banner. If the surfer at the beginning of the wave misses, the guy in the middle can hopefully catch the wave and get a shorter but good ride.
You then rotate turns under these banners. If you are really lucky it could just be you and another person

There are 24 waves generated in a 52 minute window. My first session was on the west reef with four people total. I caught six waves and missed the first. I was able to ride the whole length of the pier on all my waves, but I had a longboard and had to stretch five on the nose to keep speed at the end.
The wave is somewhat flat and harder to catch than I though. The reefmasters describe it as more like wake surfing than an ocean wave. I don't wakesurf so I cant compare but its not as steep as an ocean wave and really wants to push you away from the pier . If you get too faraway from the pier you don't have the speed and the wave will pass you by.

The only people allowed to ride hard boards are those surfing the reef , the bay area may have up to twenty people on it but it is physically impossible for the reef surfer to get onto the bay wave and vise versa.

So, now for the Trip report

the West Lagoon




The wave rolling in



Some Guy that had it figured out








and a quick edit




I did enjoy both sessions. I think the east lagoon has more punch and is a bit steeper. I would recommend this to a friend

[Long duc dong]

Nice! I'm really curious about all this stuff. Great report.

[406]

Interesting. I watched a video that popped up after yours of the same place, the water was blue-green and the wave looked larger. Do they have different plows or speed for making different waves?

[TEXASS]

Yeah I have see that video too. I don't know why the water was blue unless they added color to the water or what. But I grew up I Texas and the water in most places is that brown color
As far as a bigger wave I think they had a better camera angle
They may be able to pull the plow faster. It is a ski lift so they may not be running top speed when joe public is riding

[skideeppow]

I was there this weekend during ACL. 75k people at ACL. No one at Nland. SO much fun. Great place for beginners to work on their skills. Regretting not doing the Reef wave.

I sucked ass with the go pro.