[Music] The WavePool Mag Podcast is made possible due to support from WavePool operators, technology providers, and the growing list of companies doing business in the surf park space. For commercial opportunities, reach out to us at
[email protected]. Thank you and stay stoked. [Music] When I was trying to figure out, like, what do I want my career to be in, you know? At the time, I thought I wanted to be like a wildlife biologist. First, she must perfect her mating core. [Music] A seductive soul. [Music] It's thought that she deliberately selects parts of the sea bed which amplify the sound. But will anyone answer? In the meandering career path of working at a surf park, one must entertain several plan B options. For Nate Stevens, the thought of being a wildlife biologist, briefly entered his mind. Just briefly though. So you won't hear Nate describe the mating call of a blue whale like our friend David Attenborough. Instead, you'll find Nate overseeing multiple department operations including staffing, guest services, marketing coordination, booking systems, and operational policy development. Yes, that's a lot. And during peak season, Nate oversees more than 65 employees at Atlantic Park Surf across operations and coaching. Something almost as challenging as translating whale songs from the deep. [Music] Okay, and welcome to the Wave Pull Mag podcast. My name is Brian. And today I am on site at Atlantic Park Surf in Virginia Beach with Nate Stevens. Nate, hello. Hey Brian, we are happy to have you here. Nice to join us. Thank you. It's great to catch up with you. I was here in September and now it's almost May and so much, I mean, it's like a different city. The department's finished. You've got the hotel. A lot has happened. But we'll get to that. What I want to do is first is tell people who you are and what you do here. Yep. So Nate, as you just mentioned, I am the general manager at Atlantic Park Surf. Started out working on this project in November of 2024 as director of guest experience. And really my initial responsibility was kind of building out the booking platform, which is Wave 7 is what we use here at Atlantic Park Surf. And then developing all of the operational policies and procedures for really focusing on the guest services department. So check in, reservation fulfillment, building out our initial surf session schedule, things of that nature. And then naturally progressed into the general manager role, just like maybe a week or so after opening in August of 2025. So it's been a very exciting journey to date. And really like we've just continued picking up momentum. And it has not slowed down at all since opening. Yeah, yeah. Notice that you there's just a lot going on and a lot of activations happening now. And there are a lot of activations when I was here in September. So as your role in general manager, let's get some some background on you first. Like you started this isn't your first surf park. Not the first surf park. Yeah. So very fortunate to be involved in this industry for gosh, it's been 10 years. I guess actually in 2026. So I started at inland surf park in Austin, Texas. That was a really kind of just like look at the draw almost opportunity to where I just moved away from Galveston Island, which is a little barrier island. Very similar to the outer banks here. I was just say it's you know, little less money moved to Austin did not have a job a job lined up. And I knew inland surf park was being developed and I was like, I've got to get involved with this project. And I don't know what way shape or form or capacity that's going to be in. And so I developed this super cheesy kind of pitch deck that I had to get in front of anybody. And there is a you know, there were only a few people that were really like publicly working on that project. I could find an email address online and so I was kind of bombarding them and I was like, hey you know. Yeah, but I'm going to stop you here. Yeah, why is surf park? Why were you like? I've been a beach person you know forever. I actually so I grew up two hours away from a beach. But I had family in Galveston Island since the early like 1915 and 16. So it's been a lot of time you know at the beach as a kid. And you know, I guess getting super deep into it. When I graduated high school two hours away from the beach and I moved to Austin, Texas for the first time. And that's where my sisters had gone to college and so I kind of followed them. And I was like, I don't know what I'm doing or who I am really like you know you're young. So you're trying to figure out what you know what your identity is. And I moved to Austin and everybody loves Austin. And Austin is a great city. You know, I was like, this is okay. Like I'm not finding myself. So I'm, I was like, I'm going to move to the beach. And so I moved to the beach and I loved it. And I was like, then that's where I really like seriously picked up surfing. I started working in a surf shop. Something's pure surf shop which is still around. And then I started working on the beach. And so I'm like 20 you know, 21 and I'm working on the beach. And I started renting out jessies and paddle boards and doing the total like kind of surf rat you know beach bomb lifestyle essentially. And I would do that you know seven months out of the year. And then I would do construction in a winter time. And then you wait for the you know spring and you're like end up back on the beach. So I do this for like four and a half years. At a certain point you're like, can I do this forever? Right? And that's when I happen to meet my now wife on the beach. And then she was one that she's like, hey, I'm finishing up grad school. I've got my clinical rotations lined up in Austin. Are you staying or are you coming? And I'm like, okay, I can keep renting out jessies and paddle boards and surf boards and chairs and umbrellas and things like that on the beach forever. Or I can follow this woman back to Austin. And so I picked I was actually made I think a smart decision. And I was like, I'm gonna follow her. And so we were only together for like six months. And I was like, okay, here we go. We're back. We're going back to Austin. But I know I'm a I'm a surfer and I'm a, you know, coastal kind of beach guy. At heart, like this is who I am. I mean, I've now found this kind of identity. And so it's like what better thing to do than go work at the surf part. So it's so like, I don't know if luck is the word or just like the stars kind of had a line at that point. Yeah, and so yeah, I was like, okay, now it's something. Yeah, that's amazing. What I love about that story is how determined you were. And, you know, to make it happen and throughout life, we always do that. We'll be determined for something. But there is that like luck factor, that little, you know, windows open to crack that lets all the luck in and stuff. Yeah, and for sure. And like, I guess one thing to that too is when I was trying to figure out like, what do I want my career to be in? And so I'm kind of like taking classes while I'm working on the beach and running out the chairs and everything else and doing all that. So I know intention to build a career in tourism or recreation or leisure or anything like that. And I started going through these like crazy chemistry classes and all this stuff. And I was like, okay, this is not my thing. So I naturally fell into kind of like the tourism industry and recreation and leisure. And that's where I really started to understand like, this is what kind of my purpose is. I love creating these experiences for these tourists predominantly that are coming to Galveston. I love building this connection with each guest and hearing the story. And, you know, when you work in these environments and my wife always laughs, she's like, you talk to that person for 10 minutes. And I know all about their kids or grandkids or career or their vacations. You learn, you know, it's just building connections with everybody. So that was like, okay, I'm kind of finding my footing and like I'm in, you know, when I work in tourism, recreation, leisure. Now I've got this great opportunity to work in this new surf park industry. And it's been a natural kind of progression from there. Okay, right on. It's interesting how that, you know, one thing leads to another and now you're here at Atlantic Park. So you're at Endland and that clothes, but you had worked with Blake.
and did he get you over? - Yeah, exactly. So Blake and I have known each other for 10 years. You know, we both met. He came in to inland surf park a little bit after I started. So I started in land as a head of gas services retail and rent tools. And then Blake came in as the GM there. And naturally hit it off, worked very closely with one another. Blake is, I'm so fortunate to call him not only a boss, but a friend and a mentor really. And Blake's brilliant and known throughout the industry. And so that's where we got our start together in land. And then I ended up moving back to the beach, going back into that whole kind of beach bomb lifestyle of where I started my own company, running chairs and umbrellas and running out kayaks and things like that. And I did that for a few years and worked for some beach parks. And I really missed this space. Or you cannot replicate the culture that develops in the surf park industry. - Okay, I'm gonna stop you there. And I wanna know like what is it about a surf park that makes it different than, you know, running a kayak at the beach? - It's your team that you work with and everybody, number one, just being like, so unbelievably stoked to work in this space. And everybody working towards like the same common goal and just truly enjoying what they do. And like don't get me wrong, every job at the end of the day is a job. But when you work with this, like group of sometimes, like our staff will balloon up to like 65, you know, 75 employees seasonally. And every single one of them loves what they do and they love coming to work every day and they love creating these amazing experiences. - You cannot replicate that I think in any industry or in any project. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but in my experience. - No, it's really interesting. And there are more resources right now for people who wanna work in surf parks. There's wave cool jobs and we're getting more communications from parks looking for people. But there is some kind of like magic, some glimmer to working out a surf park. That's not just like, you know, okay, it's new, it's different. But everyone here is having fun. You know, you don't have to worry about telling people not to go down the water slide head first. - Yep, you know whatever. - For sure. - Like people are a little more in tune or open to being, you know, instructed and having a good time. - Yep. - During that work. - And like the vibe in the water is insane. It when, you know, I think surfing as a sport is notorious for being this like kind of, having this gatekeeper kind of, you know, dynamic to it and some of the, you know, most well known surf spots from around the world. Like, you know, you and I aren't gonna be able to just paddle out in the middle of the lineup and you know, have our pick of the litter as far as waves go. And you come out here and the vibe is like, just undeniably positive. And people are just striking up conversations and you're calling each other into waves and these are like total strangers when the session starts and you're trading contact information when the session's over and you know, you're talking about, again, your background where everybody's from and their family and they're surf, you know. So it's really cool to see just the vibe in the water and it's, you know, it might be a little aggro out at first street here wherever it is. I'm on certain days, but that is just non-existent here. - Oh, that's right. So that's, you know, the vibe and you heard in Virginia Beach, the vibe district and arts and the areas really an eclectic mix of Americana. You know, you have the naval base, you have the artists, you have the, you know, surf pool, you have the beach culture. Here, the people coming through Atlantic Park Surf, are they, does it represent that? Does it represent Hall Corners or? - Yeah, for sure, absolutely. So I think, well, for, I guess for starters, like when you move to a new community as I did and you come from a place that's, you're like, okay, where I'm from, you know, I could paddle out of any spot. I knew everybody, you know, there was very tightness here for community there as well. Then I'm like, okay, while moving across the country essentially to this new town, I don't know what to expect. I don't know how I'm gonna be received, you know, naturally as you are immersed in surf culture, the first question is like, are you local? - Yeah. - And I'm always like, you know, I'm gonna have to say no and be truthful, how is that gonna be received? And might get to be welcome to this new town. And here in Virginia Beach, like everybody's been so welcoming and like, naturally, you know, it's not, there's no fakeness to it. The community's incredible. And yes, it's a very diverse, not only town and city, but our visitor profile. You're getting first timers that are bringing their families out. Kids that are obviously learning how to surf here, which is incredible. You are, we've got visitors from all 50 states, 32 countries and five continents. And yeah, so, and people from the Midwest that have never seen the ocean before. And you know, they're coming here to experience kind of what this is, what's been built here. - So it does reflect the diverse, or can you move to diverse people? - For sure, yeah. I mean, you know, arts, music, culture, we've got all these amazing restaurants here on the site now. You know, that are chefs that have done some really cool things, you know, elsewhere. And they're now bringing their skill set back to Virginia Beach. And a lot of them are moving back home. You know, they were boring rays here. So, and that's interesting. - I'm sorry to get it. - Yeah, but I have noticed that, like just in talking to people in the shops and, you know, from the cafes to Uber drivers to the restaurants here, but a lot of people are Virginia Beach, you know, homegrown. And maybe they've gone away for a while and they're coming back. And it's, there's real kind of like pride for the area. - For sure, yeah. I mean, again, it's an incredible city. When we moved here, not came to visit in January. So we, we literally moved here, like kind of blind side and scene. I'd learned about this project when I was at Inland in 2017, followed its development all along. I was like, I mean, I never heard of Virginia Beach. - Oh, back when it was the wave. - Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah. And, and actually one of the founders came to surf Inland and told me about it and I was like, that sounds insane. Like, that's so cool. And so I became very excited about the project early on. And so I tracked it all through the stages of development and there's years of stagnation. And then you're like, is this project even gonna happen in Comder fruition? And then, you know, there'd be like some press release, you know, that's like so and so's, or, you know, city council, granted an extension or whatever it might be. You know, you're like, hey, it's happening. And then, that was, yeah, that was tough 'cause we're covering it off wire news. And so a story would come through about the, you know, the wave pool and there's something 0.50% tax that's, you know, one vote short. And you're like, you know, just the minutiae and all the roadblocks that can really, right? - That's it, right? - Necapaprod. - Yeah, for sure. Like the smallest thing, you know, the smallest obstacles, like is that gonna be the nail in the coffin, right? And the owners here were so, you know, diligent about just like not letting the little setbacks that happen across all projects, totally derelict. And it was just, you know, I think if anybody was to ask, like, well, you know, how do you, what do you advise and how we navigate this complex journey of bringing it a surf park to fruition? It's like, you can't let all of these little obstacles just derelict project, you have to keep pressing forward. And I was, you know, I feel very fortunate that they had the, the kind of tap to, you know, keep, have that mentality to keep pressing forward. And it's like, okay, well, you know, you've got to pivot off so many things and just adapt to what, you know, is thrown away. - Yeah, yeah, and they spoke with the development company, Donna and Brittany. And they're just their determination to make sure everything, you know, gets done and push through it. It's, you know, it's incredible journey. - Yeah, it's like 10 years of your life or? - They have certainly poured their every ounce of energy that happened to it, you know, and, and I mean, they're still out here, very involved in the project. I mean, and when I started, you know, I like look over, they're installing landscaping and a, and I see this woman over there, like shovel and hand and she's out there helping the landscapers and I was like, oh, who is that? It's like, oh, it's Donna Whitaker. She's at owner of the project and she's out there like with the landscapers and like shovel and dirt. So like, you know, from the highest level to, you know, everything in between and helping, you know, physically like helping build this place. Like, I mean, that's your ownership structure right there. I mean, that's the kind of mentality you have to have to make sure, you know, these things kind of, yeah, yeah. It's great to see that and that determination and hear that, you know, they're willing to do that. I wanted to touch on as general manager, What?
What is your average daily look like? What do you have to do? What is under your, I mean, everyone's under your umbrella leadership, but can you give us a shopping list? - It's a very loaded question, certainly, it depends on the day. So being a GM is really about building and supporting the team that surrounds you, right? And making sure that everybody has the tools and the resources that they need to be successful in their respective departments or scopes. And so it's this almost like start-up mentality of like, you know, I've got to be able to wear different hats, I've got to be able to mentor and lead and develop each one of the managers that we have and help them kind of coach the teams that they have underneath them. And so that's part, most of it is supporting a team. And that might be one-on-ones hearing what kind of challenges they're running into, you know, maybe presenting different opportunities that they have or different resources that they might have to make their lives easier, right? And then a lot of it is working hand-in-hand with the different departments, especially marketing, on developing, programming and initiatives and things like that. There's a lot of working on contracts for different events. I'm heavily involved in sales and booking private rentals. I'm still heavily involved in refining our booking system. And so it kind of like IT, HR, marketing. Exactly, yeah, yep, exactly. So it's a little bit of each one of those. And, you know, we're still pretty new at this, right? And we're constantly looking at ways to improve. So we always want to be better than we were the day before. And, yeah, figuring out, hey, this works, this doesn't work. We've got to discard this. We need to pivot from this. Like, we think this works. It can be better. So just making these fine kind of adjustments now. And-- I noticed that you have a lot of meetings. Like, so many meetings. Yeah, so is that part of the refining process and do you ever feel it's too cumbersome, you know? Yeah, you know, it's a good question, Brian. There is, I think from an outsider looking in to see the number of meetings that happen kind of at the top, you have to question like, aren't you guys just running a surf park, you know? Isn't it? This should be kind of an easy thing. And it's all fine. And it is. It's fun. It's not easy by any means. It takes constant communication. There's a very almost like scientific approach to it. A lot of analysis. And there's so many opportunities to do these really great things out here. And that just requires constant collaboration with that a lot of meetings. Yeah. But the point being, it's a collaborative effort rather than everything coming down from the top. Yeah. A very collaborative environment. 98% of that's positive. And sometimes you're like, OK, we need to put the blinders on and each focus on what we have to do in front of us. But again, going back to that team kind of culture, I mean, there's 12 of us that are full time kind of salary, you know, upper management. And that are really kind of formalizing and bringing a lot of this to fruition. But it's very much a group effort. It's great to work with colleagues that you can balance ideas off of. And there's still parks throughout the world. But every one of them is-- I feel like so different from the next that there's really not this plug and plate template that exists. And like, this is how you do it across all parts of it. Which is interesting, throwing back to Inland and Recovid era. There was a lot of talk about 10 parks and 10 years and the plug and plate template. But the fascinating thing about this space is how much each business evolves once it's open. And all the little changes that they have to make. Can you give us some examples of things that when you open, you thought, OK, we'll do it this way. And then you've had to rewrite the script. Yeah, there's-- well, when we open, there's kind of one of the more funny stories that I have is, you know, you bring your guest services team in and all of our team were on board with everybody. And we create, you know, training decks and SOPs. And we do, like, two weeks of this kind of fairly robust training and onboarding. And then you get to opening day. And I vividly remember telling some of our team, 75% of what you just learned over the last two weeks is out the window. Because now we see this is what the project-- this is what the operation actually looks like in real life. So there's the theory and then the practice. Exactly. Yeah, I'm 100%-- and there's so many things. You learn as you go. It's a new site. So even having this historical experience in Ireland, and Blake and myself, and Aiden Connor, director of surf operations, came from surf ranch. And so we're one of the few projects that has some, like, real life surf park experience, you know, which is invaluable. And still, you're like, OK, well, we thought this was going to work, and that didn't. And mapping out our surf-- building our surf session schedule and the capacity and everything that goes into that and how it all works on a rotational basis. Progressive session is one of our most interesting findings of how that session works. You would think it's either the beginners or the most difficult to manage, or the pros or most difficult to manage. And that's not the case. It's very much like kind of the middle of the road. And it's this surfer that is-- they don't identify as a beginner. They're not quite intermediate. They're in that kind of in between. And that's where you have this huge variance of skill level. So you've got somebody that's learning how to ride a shortboard. That's on, like, a 5'8. Somebody's got the 9'6" walled in that's been hanging up in their garage for years. That they're dusting off, because they're going to make a trip down to the Atlantic Park surf for the first time. And you've got the guest that's like on a 8-foot soft top. So I mean, you run the full game from, I guess, equipment to skill level and everything in this one session. And some of them shouldn't be at the progressive level. And some of them are ready to go on to intermediate, but they're kind of in the comfort zone. That's got one of our higher capacity. So that one's been really interesting to figure out how to optimize it. And we're just constantly kind of looking at it. And like, OK, this is some days you're just like surfers are stacking up on top of each other. And we're like, we've got to control this environment and spread them out a little bit. So we put a surf coach. Like, once it hits a certain number of participants in that session, we throw a surf coach out there just to control the lineup a little bit and keep the flow smooth. We might break up the wave. So instead of a surfer paddling on every single wave, let a wave go unwritten in between just to keep that more. Yeah, exactly. Because otherwise, it's just impiling up on top of one another. So things like that, you don't really anticipate until you see it. And you're like, oh my gosh, this is close to a train wreck. I'm watching this happen the whole time. We need to clean that up. The other big change is we've created these tracks in our surf sessions where once you get to advanced-- so we have advanced expert pro or top or most advanced or highest levels-- that now you have this track that you can go advanced expert pro turns or advanced expert pro barrels. And so you can really now re-find or choose what you want to really work on or what you enjoy most. And you just got out of an expert barrel session, I believe, right? So yeah. And the interesting thing about that is there were a few two surfers on their backhand. And two of the guys said, oh yeah, I really enjoyed the turns part. Because you start each session with 15 minutes of turns. So you learn that. They didn't like the barrel as much. Because it was backhand. It's hard to fit. Although, so one guy do a really cool layback. Nice. But yeah, so information like that, on your backhand, turns works better and just-- and we're constantly taking in feedback from our guests. And it's something that is-- we find very valuable. We don't ever want to act like we have all the answers. We're very proud of what we've accomplished two dates and so opening. But your guest feedback is everything, right? And you have to take that to heart. And so even outside of surf parks, I'll thank people-- we've got really great reviews. So I'll preface what I'm about to say with that. But you do get negative reviews sometimes. It's inevitable, no matter how good you're doing or what the experience you're trying to provide is. And you have to take those more negative reviews to heart, really listen with that guest to say, really try to understand their perspective. And some of the ones that are a little bit more difficult to hear is where you can really learn and build off of, at that makes sense. So I've had people in really inland and they're like, whatever it is.
I don't remember, is like something's gone, you know, sideways or fundamentally wrong. And they're kind of like, wait, you have it at the moment. And I'm like, all right, thank you, like seriously, thank you for sharing that, you know, and they're like, what, it's just thank me for like, you know. - I got you. - Yeah, and I'm like, yeah, right. So I'm like, no, you know, because it's so nice to get the paths on the backs and to read those reviews of how amazing somebody's experience is, but when you kind of learn, like, you know, our guests aren't necessarily loving what it might be 20 minutes of a warm up turns in the barrel session, like we thought this was all barrels, you know. So constantly taking their feedback and-- - That's interesting. - That's like with the surfboard shapers saying, you know, the bad feedback is, is where they thrive and where they grow, or something isn't working. - For sure. - It takes certain mature attitude to be able to do that. - Yeah, yeah, it's highly important. And with the turns, the warm up, some of the turns is really, two things, it's good to get a warm up and like, get your feet under you and figure out how the session goes. Gives us the opportunity to kind of suss out like who shouldn't be out there before you kind of ramp it up and start throwing gills. - Yeah, I want to ask you about that. How do you deal with that with someone who's, you know, in a session above their level? 'Cause I know that happens everywhere and if something every surf podcast is, how's it going with? - We, I mean, we've got a really great life card in team and we call them Reep Hosts or Beach Hosts. So they're watching every session. You can usually tell who is in a level of other means. And we typically give everybody at least a few opportunities to kind of figure it out. Again, those who really shouldn't be in that level, you identify pretty quickly. And we're always very professional and respectful and nice to everybody that comes out here, regardless of your skill level. And we will, yeah, give you a few opportunities at a certain point, you're like, okay, we've seen enough. And we ask them to go in and then we'll book them at a more appropriate level at no additional cost. So you give them three. - Yeah, that's good 'cause then they have a return customer and they'll come back and kind of establish some kind of bond. - For sure, yeah, and it's not just for, you know, their experience, but if you have somebody that's really like flattering around out there, that messes up the experience for everybody else that's in the lineup, you know? And so we wanna be cognizant of that. And usually after that, like third attempt, where they're just like going over the falls or, you know, purling or whatever it might be. And we'll kind of position ourselves like when they come up from, you know, for breath. And we're like, okay, hey, can we ask you to go in and usually they're like, okay, yeah, you know? You've got no problem. There's no like pushback or anything. So at that point, you've trained your life guards like, okay, if someone needs to be postponed on this session or are moved, it's like follow them. And when they pop up, you're the first thing they see. - Yeah, they're like looking, they're like, you know, what do we do? Like go in, we'll book you and they're like, okay, and this actually happens. It happens, you know, more than occasionally, but we have, a lot of times it's a group. Like we've had bachelor parties. You had one right after opening and it was a group that none of them had served in their entire lives and they all booked for intermediate, you know? And so, and it was so classic because we had Bill Abong out here and so Joe Parkinson's out here. And it was, they, the Bill Abong team, it was the entire Bill Abong team was out here. And they were just having a ball watching this bachelor party group just try to figure it out. And they're like, oh, we've snowboarded before. We skate and then we're like, okay, well, you know, so we give them a few chances and they're getting coached by Joel Parkinson essentially and they have no idea who he is, you know? And it sounds like, okay, we know we're gonna have to pull them out and so Joe was like, oh, come on, let him go. And I was like, no, you know, we've got other guests in the water so it's such a funny story. But and then he goes over and introduces himself. And I know a way I just got, you know, that was stuff with Barco, but it's classic. But yeah, everybody understands and we're always happy to accommodate and do what we can to make sure everybody weeks here with a smile. - Okay. Now I wanted to touch on like you have your meetings and you have your bigger umbrella managing duties and protocol and stuff. You mentioned wearing several hats. I mean, what's, give me an example, what's something you've done that you're like, oh, wow, I've never done this before in work either at inland, you know, I don't know, lands, like you mentioned landscaping. And then, you know, both in kind of a negative context and then also in like a really positive context. I know it's mostly positive, but there has to be something like, did you have to, oh, I got to unclog the toilet or, you know, something. - Oh, yeah, what you're like. - Yeah. I've, unfortunately, I haven't had to unclog toilets here. I have had to do that just in the operations where all, you know, wait a minute, where it was, I think here there is, it's a new development, right? So, and as you can see, a lot of the district is still not fully open, so, you know, I am to the social and the next door. They're gonna be open this summer. So there's still some ongoing construction. And we were really the first kind of operator tenant, you know, for all tenants out here to be open and it's very new. So we're kind of like, budding up while there's still ongoing construction. Even within this side itself. So that's been part of it, almost having more exposure to the development side, going through. So, you know, I know we're from Beech Street operations. So we are the contracted operator for Atlantic Park Surf. In opening, you know, we've got Desert Surf on the hills of this one, Houston, Texas project. That'll come to fruition in a couple of years here. In other projects in the pipeline. And so we are really an established surf park operator company and developer. And so getting more exposure to the development side has been new for me personally, where we're sitting in some of these meetings with our general contractor and, you know, going through punch lists and things like that. And like, hey, you know, we need to look at this area again. Like right now, I'm working on getting a change order for like server rooms, like things like, you know, change order for what? For a IT server room. So it's like, you know, it's like, oh, well, that was supposed to be first aid. And somewhere along the journey got switched to a server room. And so we don't have you like certain infrastructure. It's things like, you know, kind of behind the scenes, like, yeah, our guests are ever going to-- And then all of a sudden, you have to learn about that. Yeah, yeah, it's not guest-facing. It's not guest-facing. Tons of things that are happening behind the scenes. And so a lot of it's been from like more the construction development side, which is new and working with, you know, if you see these big stadium lights out here, there's certain things that we're like, okay, we've got to work on like the, the lumens or the, you know, brightness or this. The like, the schedule. Yeah. Tons of preventative maintenance. That's huge in this industry, you know, making sure we are fully equipped to get out in front of any issues. That if you just neglect your machinery, your water treatment systems, your beach furniture, you have to have like systems and processes in place. So your facility that's brand new and beautiful and shiny, when you open, doesn't just degrade due to neglect. So bringing on different, you know, workforce management solutions that we can map all of these things out and build these preventative maintenance schedules and make sure our teams are trained. I mean, it's-- Vital part that I feel like can be overlooked if you're not, you know, prepared to manage outside of things. Yeah. So in talking about surprises, I noticed during my session a few seagulls like hanging out, which, yeah. I like, I think it adds a nice like natural surfing thing, but I hear you sigh heavily because I know there's like, like, guano, you got to clean up. Yeah. Yeah, all that side to it. But for the visitor, I think it's wonderfully quaint. That's-- I'm glad to hear you say that. I wish we could offer the same perspective. And of all the challenges in running a surf park, ours is seemingly keeping the seagulls at bay. I think it keeps especially Blake up at night. It's, you know, yeah, there's-- we've had experts, you know, seagull deterring experts come in to consult us on, like, you know, and they're like, it's like one of the most resilient species of animal on planet Earth, like rats and seagulls survive. Yeah, you cannot, you know, phase these birds. So yeah, it's a work in progress, for sure. But I'm glad you enjoy the-- Yeah. --divide that they provide. No, no. It's cool. I like it. Yeah. Well, that's awesome. It's great to hear how, like, detailed you have to go into everything. And it's not just like, oh, it's, you know, working on the excel sheet and, you know, customer-granny. It's like very, very unique. And there are very few industries that are like there. Yep. Yeah, for sure. Did you want to add anything before you close out, Nate? Well, you know, I'm really glad that you're here to see kind of the evolution of the site. And like you said, you were back here in September of last year. And I think it's just a really truly exciting time to be involved.
in this industry, like I mentioned earlier, in our discussion, when I started that inlands for a part 10 years ago, that's when we were like, okay, their race is on. And it was inland in the Sndodonia. And I apologize if I'm leaving any other operator out, but those were really the two kind of ones. Then Waco, Waco was kind of right up in development and kind of on the hills of inland. And Waco's been around for-- - They're going on the other news. - Season, yeah. Yeah, and so that's really exciting. And then, but there was still this kind of like slow burn development. And now it's like, yeah, so at the time, the advancements in the industry were kind of few and far between. And it's like fully on now. Like trains left the station. There's projects popping up. I mean, there's, you know, we've got, but as I mentioned, Desert Surf and Houston kind of in the works and some other ones that haven't quite been publicly announced yet, but it's very, very exciting to see this industry take off in the way that-- - So that's interesting for you as the company grows and they have more locations, deserts, or surf HDX and some other non-published. Are you here? Are you do you take on a larger role? Or have you even talked about that? - Yeah, it's, you know, we don't want to look too far out. Like we want to focus on like, you know, I've got a responsibility here at Atlanta Park Surf to make this the best that we possibly can. But we're working with the team that's rapidly building in Palm Desert. And, you know, I was talking to you about this a little bit earlier, is we actually just had some of their surf team out. Just flew back to Palm Desert yesterday. And they don't have the luxury of having this historical experience or, you know, having, you know, six months of operations under their belt. So they're looking at us like, you know, how are you guys doing this? And they've got all these really great questions. And they've got different perspectives, which is good for us to hear. But, you know, we're supporting them in their journey. And, you know, we've got, of course, sharing our SOPs, you know, internally, of course. And different procedures and they're like, well, how do you guys do this? And what do you do here? So we're sharing all that and helping them get open. And they don't necessarily have to start from ground zero in the way that we have. So, yeah, you know, and then we'll see what happens kind of from here on out in the future. But, yeah, but even then there's the, you know, it's a different venue, a different client's house, a different model. Yeah, I mean, they've got a larger lagoon, totally different clientele. I mean, it's, we're very fortunate here to be kind of smack dab in the middle of, as you mentioned, the Vibe District and the Resort kind of motion front two blocks off the beach. That's been one of the really interesting things is there's always going to be naysayers, right, that are kind of anti-surface lagoon. They're like, well, why would you build a surf park two blocks off the beach? There's free waves right there. I love getting those anti-surface park or the naysayers out here because you walk through those doors. And you see their eyes widen, everybody, you know, and they go, oh, this is what this is, you know, and that's one of the coolest things they experience. And sometimes they're like, well, it's a wave pool. The waves have to be weak. You can probably speak to this first hand. Proper waves. I mean, there's power and punch and they're technical. And I mean, it's the real deal, you know, and that hasn't always been the case with wave pools at the beginning. I mean, this is-- Yeah, and hearing a chatter out in the water, pillar. I've got more waves than an hour than I had, you know, all that season. So it's good. It delivers to core surfers that way. Yeah. And one of the things, I guess, going back to the beginning of our discussion, one of the most special things about working out here is when we have the pros-- and we've had world champs out here-- and it's really cool to see that and be part of that. And watch this really high level surfing. Love watching the people learn how to surf. Like, that's incredible. But here in Virginia Beach, we have seen a lot of individuals who started out as surfers. And, you know, life gets the way the waves are kind of marginal here. And you get so busy and you step away from the sport. And you're like, OK, I might surf once or twice a year. And they have fallen back in love with surfing. And they're out here buying boards, buying web series board shorts, like getting fully immersed back into the sport that they grew to love. And then just end up stepping away from it naturally. And you kind of lose sight of that, right? And like, again, they're like, you know, 50s, 60s and beyond. And they're like kids again out here. That's pretty cool to see what you had as well. I think that's one of the best things about wave pools and surf parks is seeing that stoke rekindled among participants. And you can see that every day. And that's the biggest part of it, too, is like removing the barriers that you find in ocean surfing. And we've got our next wave initiative that is sponsored by Adidas and in conjunction with for our volumes and bringing youth out from underserved populations that are, you know, don't know how to swim, maybe necessarily. Just surely don't know how to surf. Probably have very limited opportunities, if any, to pick up a surf board, you know. And invite, to have the ability to invite them here, get them comfortable in the water and, you know, put a surf board underneath them and push them into waves and to watch that experience is, it'll, I mean, it's very heartwarming to have a platform. We've had the wave skiers out here, adaptive surfers out here. We're like our staffs, like almost in tears. And to see adaptive surfers say, like, you guys don't understand what you're doing for us. Like, we don't, it's not this easy, you know. Like, we've had waves skiers out here and the-- And bringing surfing to people who never thought they would be able to surf. So like, everything's so cool. What we were able to do out here, but it's programs and initiatives and opportunities such as next wave or working, you know, from positioning surfing as more of the therapeutic side and adaptive side. For me, in a lot of our team, that's what's, like, truly the most special kind of part about being in this environment. Right on. It's so glad to hear that and that you're still doing the work that you love. And thank you so much for taking time out and enjoying us. Anytime. Always a pleasure, Brian. Thanks. Yeah. And am I going to see Farrell Williams on the site? I always wanted to shake his hand. Well, you know, if you set up shop here for long enough, then there's a good chance you'll see him. But yeah, he comes around. On the site? Yeah, yeah. For next wave. Yeah, he actually jumped to the water. And yeah, he's naturally a-- you know, I think he's done some skateboarding previously. And so he's got a great pop-up. And we need to get him back out in the water. And I mean, he's got it. But-- Call me up for that. Huge ambassador for the project in the community at large. And yeah, we're very grateful to have those that we have involved in the project. Make it just all that more special. OK. Right on. Thank you, Nate. Cool. Thanks, Brian. [MUSIC PLAYING]
PodcastTranscript AI