Tulsa Wave

[RyanR]

I'm new to the board and have some good news. Several local Tulsa paddlers have been invited to a whitewater design workshop this afternoon. With the Arkansas River development project, there is a possibility of gaining a world-class venue with modifications to the existing low-head dam.

There is a representative from PROS consulting visiting Tulsa to perform a Market Analysis on friday afternoon the 29th. He will be there evaluating the future whitewater venue planned for the Zinc dam area (Tulsa Wave park). If any of you are interested in being a part of the Friday meeting we will be meeting by the Wave park in the afternoon. The project manager is looking for stakeholders (US) to provide information about the Tulsa Wave events and attendance in the past and potential for the future.

Post up with comments and I will keep things updated.

RR

[GN YAKN]

Be sure to have them check out what is going on in Dallas. Huge project down there on the Trinity River.

There are some links on this message board to video and still pictures. Look for postings by Big Daddy D.

I'm sure Mr. Reid and Mr. Jackson from the Tulsa area will reply. They have been working on the wave park for many years and have tons of info and history.

Would love for this to happen and Tulsa can expect mucho travelers from Arkansas to come over and use any features you come up with.

Good luck with this endeavor.

[okieboater]

Rest assured that Gaylon Pinc who is one of the fine folks heading up this project knows about the Dallas Project. Thanks to the folks in Dallas who sent in contact information. Dallas and Oklahoma City have built fine water park features. Hopefully, Tulsa can now join in.

I am very excited about what Gaylon Pinc and his contacts have done to get a WW Park for the Tulsa Wave area. All us boaters owe a lot to Gaylon, Indian Nations, River Parks, Tulsa City and County, PSO and way too many others who have supported The Tulsa Wave over these many years.

My take is the current work being done has a very good chance of making the dream come true.

I want to caution every one that this project, like anything done these days, has a lot of paperwork and time to get done. Financing the project is going to be big time. The money spent so far in just doing feasibility studies continues to amaze me.

Bottom line, for all the Tulsa Wave folks who have spent so much time enjoying this special spot - don't be loading your boats just yet.

But, one of these years, chances are we will be walking down the PSO Wave Park path ways to relive the good times. I may be there in a wheel chair but hopefully I can get some help getting to the launch pad to cheer you hot dogs on.

[GN YAKN]

Topo Duo with Mr. Kneessee!

[okieboater]

Dave, agreed, Wayne is one of the original and most devoted supporters of the Tulsa Wave. Unfortunately Wayne is catching up to me on the "white hair" however I am sure the two of us would make up for loss of flexibility with years of stored up knowledge of how to best swim down to "Omaha Beach" after getting hammered by Big Nasty section of the Wave.

Yee Haw

[panicman]

Dave, you still have that sleek I parted ways with you. Keep my name on it. I might want it back if something happens.

[okieboater]

Mike,

The Sleek is stashed away on my kayak rack in a place of honour.

Might take a few years but my dream is us drinking a beer to celebrate then taking turns making Sleek type moves on a new Tulsa Wave.

You got it Bro, and thanks for A: keeping that Sleek stored away B: transferring ownership to me C: Giving us all a Tulsa Wave Sleek boat to have fun in and remember a lot of good times as we make more.

Meeting today was interesting.

My take is they are making up options and doing research on plans. Should take till around December to get a final plan / design put together to present to the various approving governmental functions. Then the funding starts and hopefully construction.

So, we are still years from construction, but well on the way to getting there.

Dave

PS I'm gonna keep Wayne and his duo kayak in the starting block, you may be sole driver of the Sleek, we shall see what happens

dave

[RandyJ]

Yeah, interesting meeting today. Have never seen so many in some sort of official capacity this excited and on board. Seems clear that lots of folks engaged and putting a lot of energy and quality work into the effort. Still lots of patience needed, though.

Meeting was a huge milestone, or hopefully will turn out to be.

[RyanR]

Wednesday's meeting was encouraging to say the least.

This afternoon a few paddlers were invited to meet with the executive director of the River Parks Authority, member of the Tulsa Chamber, Project Engineer (Gaylon), and an outside consultant performing a 'Market Analysis' for a Tulsa whitewater venue.

The consultant's main purpose is to produce a report stating local and regional usage of the venue based on drive times. In other words, how far are you willing to drive to get on the biggest wave in the United States? His report will be complete in 60 days.

There is a real potential for a world-class whitewater venue in Tulsa to be complete within the next 5 years. The project will be presented to 'the powers that be' within the next few months.

What we (the paddling community) have been charged with is getting behind this and showing support. Specifics on how you can contribute to making this a reality are coming in the next few weeks. Spread the word.

[Graham Osborn]

Can someone give a little more info on the current wave park in Tulsa? Is it damn controlled? Do they publish a schedule of the releases?

[okieboater]

Some years ago, Tulsa Wave was as good if not better than Ocoee Hell Hole.

But, we had a flood and what ever formed the wave went away. Since that time a bit of a play spot but not anything like it was.

PSO built a great viewing area and launch site on the west bank at the spot. Reach this via Elwood Ave exit off I44 at the Arkansas River crossing to the PSO soccer fields and then the path along side the river which is also a jogging path.

There is also a series of "big rocks" just off the east bank across from the 31st street and Riverside Drive. Great work out spot and exercise features to work on eddy turns etc.

The action requires two generators releasing from Keystone Dam. Takes about 8 hours from the start of a release for the water to hit the wave park area. This is basically 12,000 cfs on the Arkansas gage at Tulsa

http://www.swt-wc.usace.army.mil/power/hydropower.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Look for the KEYS column 2 generators.

There is presently a project under way to hopefully create a full featured WW Park in the area of the Tulsa Wave Park or upstream at the Zink Dam which is basically a dam to create a short length "lake" area in the river bed.

My opinion, and I have been playing at the Tulsa Wave since the late 80's, the area is a great spot to work out and there is some play spots but if you live outside the Tulsa area, it is quite a drive for the fun factor we now have.

All this could change if locals can figure out what to do to recreate the original play spot. We have attempted several projects to recreate the original play spot but no success.

The project to create a WW Park is still in the planning stage, no date set for work to start as of June 13, 2011 that I know of.