New Spots – Wake Up Brighton

Video and Photos by Sim Bradley

Boom! The South Coast has a cable wake park. It is quite unreal that it has taken till 2011 to be able to say that. Brighton’s tourist rival from the North even has a wake park and the whole of the South coast is renowned for water sports activities. Well finally the dream has been realised. Harvey and the team at Lagoon Watersports in Hove, Brighton, have been dreaming of opening a cable wake park for decades. Their stretch of water is just not quite big enough for a full cable and the huge investment was also an issue. A few years ago they tried using a winch to teach people to wakeboard but it never really worked out. They saw the System 2.0 on the internet in 2009 and instantly knew it was perfect. Since that first email to enquire about the 2-tower cable they have been going through the process of planning and getting their permissions. Finally on April 8^th 2011 the System 2.0 Wake Park opened to the public and they took their first paying customer.

The wake park is called ‘Wake Up Brighton’ and is part of Hove Lagoon Watersports, situated about 10 minutes west of Brighton town centre right on the coastline. The lagoon is an old boating lake that is built into the promenade so it is literally a stone’s throw away from the beach. With a skate park next to it and great passing trade the location is touching on being perfect.

The System 2.0 is 8m above the water so is a great height for air tricks and as with any System 2.0 you can completely custom design your ride. If you want to hammer out S Bends just shorten the line or if you want to hit the obstacle then use the longer one. The run is about 120m long and the rail is an Industry Wake Park designed and built box with mini wall ride. The box is a good ollie on so can give even the pro riders something challenging to hit but also appease the beginner rail riders with a super mellow transition. There is also the wall ride, which is a foot high ollie to get on.  This single obstacle has many different ways to be hit, and caters for all levels of riders. As the wake park develops I am quite sure you will start to see more obstacles entering the water.

We all know the System 2.0 is the best way to learn to wakeboard and Wake Up Brighton are offering special 2-hour beginner sessions so that beginners get both the riding time and one on one instruction they deserve. Hove Lagoon have a big club house with changing rooms, showers, cafe and also offer numerous other activities like SUP and practically every kind of sailing.

To find out more about Wake Up Brighton check out their site www.wakeupbrighton.co.uk