"It's a grower!" A wave peels off unmolested at the Wavegarden, the world's newest artificial wave. Located in the Basque country near the town of Zarautz, the Wavegarden is a thigh- to waist-high freshwater wave that peels along the shoreline for about 20 yards, allowing most surfers two decent turns.

Bobby Martinez, Jordy Smith and Roy Powers took a break from the Quik Pro last September to test it out. "Crazy," Bobby said. "I've never seen anything like it."

How does it work? The engineer of the project, José Manuel Odriozola (aka Josema), explains: "A specially designed profile pushes the water towards the shore. The shore has a particular contour so the wave peels at the right angle. It seems simple but it's taken us years to make it work efficiently and reliably." Ion Eizaguirre tests it out.

So, uh, what kinda specs are we talking about? "Wavegarden has a minimum requirement of 492 x 164 feet," explains Josema. "We recommend an area of 984 x 328 feet. There is no maximum size since Wavegarden holds its form over any distance. Technology doesn't limit the wave size; profitability does because the bigger the wave, the more energy it needs and so the harder it is to be profitable. Keeping this is mind right now we recommend waves between waist and head high. Waves bigger than that will make it very difficult for the facility to be profitable on the surfing only." Roy Powers punches the clock.

"We think it's basic that we focus on the wave's quality," says Josema. "To have a proper wave that takes you and peels non-stop, size will not be so important. We've focused on that for a long time and we haven't finished yet."

Jordy, Garth Tarlow and Bobby, psyching. The crew rode regular shortboards. Aritz Araburu -- former WTer and local test pilot -- has been doing much of the same. "I've been testing different boards on the wave," he said. "I've been riding the ones I normally ride on my beachbreak in Zarautz. My magic board which is a 5'9"x 18 1/2" x 2 1/4" has been working really good over there."

While most surfers were hard-pressed to fit two turns per wave, world number two Jordy Smith was able to whack in four and a half.

We asked Aranburu if it helped his regular surfing. "It does," he said. "I've been using it on my training program. You can see every ride from really close and you can give an advice to the surfer while he is paddling back to the lineup."

Josema and crew are focused on making the Wavegarden a viable surf-first business. "We started by knowing which parameters made a surfing-only installation profitable," he says. "We know where the limit is, and that's dictated our approach in terms of low initial investment and exploitation costs -- and the capacity to host a high number of surfers." Indar Unanue gives it a pump.

The Wavegarden could be one of the best places to learn to surf in the world. Ask Hans and Kai here.

Brazilian Leo Neves works on his WQS attack. "To find out how to create a good wave is not so difficult -- especially in a scale model," explains Josema. "To know how to make it profitable is another thing altogether."

Indar Unanue leans into yet another bottom turn. "We're technically able to make a wave that keeps its shape, speed and power for an unlimited distance," says Josema. "The ride can last as long as the body of water is long." Talk about thigh-burning.