We’re just two weeks out from Surf Park Summit 2025, and one of the most anticipated sessions of the event: Surf Park Sharks.
This competition gives emerging surf park projects a chance to step into the spotlight, showcasing their development plans, challenges, and future goals. In return, a panel of seasoned industry experts and real estate investors offers feedback, insights, and ultimately crowns one project as the winner.
Here’s a first look at this year’s finalists:
Boca Surf Park
1. Tell us about your park project.
Boca Surf Park is a community-driven surf and recreation destination proposed for Boca Raton, Florida. Anchored by Wavegarden Cove technology, the project will deliver year-round, high-quality surf experiences for all ages and skill levels. Designed under a public-private partnership with the Greater Boca Raton Beach & Park District, it integrates sustainability, accessibility, and education, creating a one-of-a-kind recreation and tourism asset for the region. The 24-acre site will feature a central surf lagoon, clubhouse, food and beverage, and multipurpose community spaces, with future phases including wellness, events, and youth development programs.
2. What was the inspiration behind the development?
The project was inspired by a lifelong connection to Boca Raton’s surf culture and the recognition that South Florida lacks consistent, high-quality surf experiences. As locals, our founders saw an opportunity to merge surf innovation with community values, building a space where recreation, wellness, and environmental stewardship coexist. The guiding idea has always been “For Boca, By Boca” a park born from local roots and designed to give back to the same community that shaped it.
3. What has been the largest hurdle so far?
The most significant challenge has been navigating the complex public-private partnership process while maintaining full transparency, environmental alignment, and community support. Bringing a large-scale surf lagoon to a municipally controlled park required extensive collaboration with local agencies, design professionals, and stakeholders. Balancing innovation with compliance, community considerations, and long-term stewardship has been a demanding but rewarding process that strengthened the project’s foundation.
4. What are you hoping to accomplish by sharing your project during Surf Park Sharks?
We aim to showcase Boca Surf Park as a new model for community-based surf development where local leadership, private investment, and public benefit are aligned. By sharing our story, we hope to connect with strategic partners, investors, and operators who share our belief that surf parks can serve as cultural and economic catalysts. Beyond funding, our goal is to build relationships that help Boca Surf Park set a precedent for sustainable, inclusive surf destinations across the United States.
The Break
1. Tell us about your park project.
The Break – Surf & Stay is South Australia’s first destinational surf resort — a place where world-class waves meet wellness, accommodation, and lifestyle. Anchored by the Endless Surf ES36 technology, the project is designed as more than a wave pool: it’s an ecosystem that blends surf sessions with boutique villas, a lagoon-front Beach Club, wellness experiences, and events. Located just 40 minutes south of Adelaide and at the gateway to McLaren Vale wine country, The Break is set to become a flagship tourism asset for both locals and international visitors.
2. What was the inspiration behind the development?
Surfing is central to Australian culture — yet it’s often unpredictable and inaccessible. The Break was inspired by the idea of combining guaranteed waves with a full resort experience. Our team saw the opportunity to build waves and create a destination that reflects global megatrends in wellness tourism, active travel, and experience-driven leisure. With a decade of involvement in the surf park, wellness and tourism sectors, we designed The Break to be a case study in how to deliver surf parks right — blending passion with rigorous execution.
3. What has been the largest hurdle so far?
The biggest challenge has been navigating the unique complexity of surf park delivery — from technology selection to utilities, approvals, community led court challenges and construction risk. Surf parks are not “cookie-cutter” projects; they require discipline across multiple industries. Our approach has been to de-risk every element — advancing design to 80%+, locking in a Tier 1 contractor at a guaranteed maximum price, and embedding ROI thresholds from the outset. These hurdles demonstrated our resilience and clear roadmap to delivery.
4. What are you hoping to accomplish by sharing your project during Surf Park Sharks?
We want to showcase that surf parks can be investable, scalable, and globally relevant tourism destinations — not just standalone wave pools. By sharing our story, we aim to inspire confidence across the industry, attract like-minded partners, and demonstrate the future of surf parks as destinational ecosystems that integrate surf, stay, wellness, and lifestyle. For us, Surf Park Sharks is not just about pitching — it’s about helping shape the next wave of surf parks.
Crest Surf Clubs
1. Tell us about your park project.
Crest is building the first private surf club platform — a vertically integrated model that combines proprietary wave-making technology with luxury hospitality and a membership-driven revenue engine. Our New York flagship, now shovel-ready and with over 50% of memberships pre-sold, is the launchpad. But the bigger vision is a network of Crest Surf Clubs across high-value domestic and international markets, creating a new category of surf-lifestyle assets.
2. What was the inspiration behind the development?
At its core, Crest was fueled by our selfish desires as surfers — we wanted consistent, quality waves in our own backyard. But we’re also entrepreneurs, and the opportunity to marry passion with business was compelling. We believe deeply that the vertically integrated private-club model is the best path forward: it gives us control, flexibility, and positions the platform for long-term economic viability. Crest is about creating something we wanted for ourselves, and scaling it into a sustainable, global business.
3. What has been the largest hurdle so far?
As with most first-of-its-kind projects, the capital raise has been the greatest challenge. Large-scale experiential developments in the U.S. have faced headwinds in the current market, but Crest has stayed ahead by securing significant membership presales, advancing construction readiness, and structuring creative capital solutions. The project is fully excavated and shovel-ready, with contractors and manufacturing partners in place — our final hurdle is closing financing to pour concrete and begin the build.
4. What are you hoping to accomplish by sharing your project during Surf Park Sharks?
Our goal is twofold: first, to attract the capital partners who can help us get the New York flagship across the finish line; second, to connect with strategic partners for future development both in the U.S. and internationally. Crest is designed as a platform to be scaled, and Surf Park Sharks is the perfect stage to showcase that vision and align with those who want to help us build it.
Learn more about last year’s winner.
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