Crystal Waves, Silver Lining

URBNSURF’s attractions for the experienced and beginners.

Damon Tudor explains the progress of URBNSURF attractions and how the business is returning to a ‘cautious normality’

Surfing is an iconic Australian sport and pastime, offering an attractive lifestyle, with millions of active participants.

But surfing is challenging. Typically, you need an ocean, and the elements to align - swell, tide, winds, daylight - to score good, let alone perfect waves. And if you want to learn, or are chasing surf, you have to commit time to driving to a coast, checking multiple spots, and be willing to battle crowds at popular breaks.

There’s also the risk of marine hazards, including rips, the occasional shark and, in places, overcrowding.

At URBNSURF, we think we have a solution. As the operator and developer of Australia’s first urban surf parks we have made surfing available to people of all ages and abilities.

With URBNSURF Melbourne, our first venue, and with URBNSURF Sydney at Sydney Olympic Park, set to open in 2023, and with further projects planned around the country we are advancing with our goal to develop world-class urban surfing locations around Australia, to help everyone be in a position to surf more (#surfmore).

Despite challenges of lockdowns, which began just weeks after the opening of URBNSURF Melbourne in January 2020, we have welcomed over 100,000 unique guests to the park. Over this period over 200,000 sessions and lessons have been sold.

We also offer a Surf Academy supported by trained surf coaches, tailored instruction, female-only surf sessions and, through summer, opportunities to swim in gentle waves patrolled by our trained lifeguards.

URBNSURF is a versatile space, with the capacity to hold up to 4,000 people within our event areas while still operating the lagoon publicly.

Events already hosted have included the “For The Love” Event Music Festival Series (Global IAAPA Award Winner), the Ferrari F8 Spider Launch, the Melbourne Fashion Festival Runway (down the middle of the lagoon’s pier), our Outdoor Cinema Series, Halo Trailer Filming, Australian Boardriders Battle, Rip Curl Grom Search National Final, Mercedes Benz customer activation and the Rip Curl Summer Campaign launch.

Beyond that, the park offers facilities for guests including, retail, hire centre, cabanas, change rooms and photography and video services. Food and beverage is provided by the famous Three Blue Ducks restaurant.

In operation, we have continually been evolving and building new waves based on feedback from customers and members to ensure there is a perfect wave in the park for everyone.

As a result, there are currently six different wave settings available at URBNSURF, for all levels from beginner to expert.

The experience of URBNSURF Melbourne is also shaping our new $50 million development within the Sydney Olympic Park precinct.

Set on 3.6 hectares, URBNSURF Sydney will utilise Wavegarden “Cove” technology – which currently powers both left and right-hand waves at URBNSURF Melbourne, generating a wave every eight seconds, enabling surfers to catch 10-12 waves per hour.

Scheduled to open in 2023, over two million Sydneysiders will have access to the park within 30 minutes of the CBD, providing an alternative break that will pump perfect man-made waves regardless of the conditions for all ages and abilities.

It’s been a challenging journey for URBNSURF and since opening two years ago, we’ve been closed for half that time.

Six lockdowns have taken their toll on the business and our teams. The pandemic has been an exercise in resiliencebuilding for all, especially for our youthful employee generation of mostly 18 to 30 year-olds who had so far been spared global, life-changing adversity.

For me, I have found myself navigating through unprecedented challenges these past years while guiding our people to stay the course through the crisis.

I can only imagine the mental and emotional stress that our younger employees have been, and are still, feeling.

As the saying goes, ‘what doesn’t kill us, makes us stronger’. This pandemic has enabled the upcoming generation to hone their adversity armour and steel themselves against future challenges.

Research shows that coping in a crisis can strengthen your resilience, manifested in increased empathy, the experience of positive change in your life, and greater self-confidence. Surviving hardship helps us to reframe stress as a challenge, sharpening focus and performance while reducing anxiety.

This has to be the COVID cloud silver lining.

The role of a leader at any time, but certainly in a time of crisis, is to guide their teams with constant positive engagement, always spotlighting the end goal. We also must be honest about the tough times and acknowledge we can all be vulnerable.

Throughout this time of turmoil for our people, my focus has been to help them stay engaged and connected with the company. Not an easy feat, with many working just a few days a week as lockdown followed lockdown. It’s been tough, but with weekly online team meetings, one-on-one regular check-ins and a consistent focus on our strategic plan we have retained our key people.

As we return to cautious normality, it’s time for leaders everywhere to shift from survival mode back into growth mode, but gradually. With a customer-experience business like URBNSURF, it is tempting to quickly scale operations back up to 100% to make up for lost time and money.

The reality is that employees and customers may not be quite ready for a life as-it-was situation. The leisure and hospitality industries have more challenges ahead to return to pre-pandemic levels, and where our leaders might be feeling excitement and hope, their teams are feeling anxiety and fatigue. A gradual adjustment is needed that acknowledges the need for re-familiarisation. We risk losing talent and compromising productivity if we don’t make employee wellbeing a priority.

For us, this means promoting a positive mindset at work, focusing on simply getting customers into the pool and taking the time to reconnect with each other through conversations and our fun, monthly staff surf sessions. Nothing like sausages and surfing to heal the soul.

We are incredibly excited to be able to share the amazing experience that is surfing with our second park in Sydney. No doubt there will be plenty of challenges ahead of us, but we know we can continue to create memorable moments in people’s lives despite the challenges we have faced. Damon Tudor is Chief Executive of URBNSURF.