An artificial wave in a "surf park" in Australia. - Urbnsurf / Cover Images / SIPA

  • This major project will soon be submitted to a local referendum, announced to "20 Minutes", the town hall of Sevran.
  • According to real estate operators, perfect and calibrated waves will rise by 2024 in this Ile-de-France “surf park” which had been a candidate to host the surfing events of the Olympic Games in Paris.
  • Many opponents denounce an “energy-consuming” and “non-ecological” project in a territory where one in two children cannot swim.

Can humans create and shape water monsters as they please? If wave pools for training and surfing competitions abound across the world - like the Californian “surf ranch” of star Kelly Slater who plans to open a second in the desert - these cutting-edge technologies also triggered vast "philosophical" discussions among fans of the discipline. Futuristic concept in the service of performance for some, fictitious and unnatural slips in Truman Show sauce for others, the debate is on the way to becoming insoluble for a practice which has recently become an Olympic sport.

And thousands of kilometers from the west coast of the United States or from the Oahu spots, the “Grand Paris wave” which is to break in Sevran in Seine-Saint-Denis is no exception to the rule. While other projects are stalling in France - especially in the Pays de Retz or in the Landes - this large-scale program in Ile-de-France seems to be moving forward, however causing a stir. According to real estate operators, perfect and calibrated waves will rise there by 2024. A promotional video does not hesitate to praise the qualities of this urban spot. "Sevran, a new stronghold for skiing", say the promoters who hope to attract to the future site "33 million potential customers" on what is currently 32 hectares of wasteland. And this, in a department - one of the poorest in France - where one in two children cannot swim at the entrance of the college and where the municipal swimming pool of the commune is falling into ruins.

"720 waves per hour", terraces and DJ set

Planned "at the gates of Paris", not far from Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport and the future metro line 16, "the Grand Paris wave" is part of a larger development operation called "Sevran Terre d. 'Waters'. The space which extends over the Montceleux plain, must accommodate, according to the promoters, accommodation, sports (climbing, basketball, skate) and cultural equipment, restaurants, bars, terraces, shops, DJ sets and a beach. In action: the companies Linkcity, a subsidiary of Bouygues Bâtiment, and Crescendo, which in 2017 won the call for projects "Inventons la Métropole du Grand Paris" with this idea of ​​"a district around a wave of surfing building and a leisure park in Sevran ”. Total cost of the operation: 250 million euros. In April 2019, the project even benefited from a publicity stunt with the submission of an application to host the surf event at the 2024 Olympic Games, finally won by Tahiti and its famous natural spot of Teahupoo. "We knew that the project would not be ready," we whisper today in the halls of the town hall. But the Ile-de-France wave was not let down.

Aerial view of the future artificial wave surf basin in the Sevran park, which should open in 2023. - Linkcity

A few weeks ago, it even gained momentum with the choice of its creator: the Canadian company WhiteWater. "WhiteWater's unprecedented Endless surf technology […] creates waves thanks to a pneumatic system invisible from the pool in an environment comparable to the most beautiful beaches," said a press release. According to Linkcity, "it makes it possible to generate a large panel of customizable waves which reproduce the diversity of sensations in a natural environment". On arrival, “up to 720 waves per hour” with a glide time “of up to 26 seconds”, and “a capacity to accommodate 70 surfers”. The wave can even reach two meters.

How to repair 53ha of wasteland at @Sevranville @terresdenvol around 2 @GdParisExpress stations for the benefit of the @seinesaintdenis populations? Ac @Blanchet_Sevran @gpamenagement @LinkCity @SurfinSevran, we talk about it in @lemondefr https://t.co/wJhYjSRkIJ - via @LaMatinale_M

- Thierry Lajoie (@thierrylajoie) November 30, 2019

"Virtuous hydraulic system" vs "energy-intensive project"

Expected at the turn on ecological questions, the company assures us that “the water bodies constitute a virtuous hydraulic system on the scale of the park for the recovery of rainwater and its reuse in a closed circuit, allowing the surf wave to operate in quasi-autonomy ”. Contacted many times by 20 Minutes , Linkcity never responded to our requests. For its part, the NGO Surfrider Foundation Europe, "opposed to all projects of artificial waves" is keeping a close watch.

“These projects that artificialize the soil are energy intensive. In Waco, Texas, the electricity consumption of the device that generates the surf park waves is 450 kW, which is the equivalent of the average electricity consumption of 800 French households. Regarding water, a surf park consumes 25 to 35,000 cubic meters. This represents between 10 and 14 Olympic swimming pools, ”explains Adrien Prenveille of Surfrider. He added: "In the context of climate change, water supply will become complicated, it becomes dangerous to set up this kind of project. "

Tricolor medals in the viewfinder

"We support the Sevran project", assures 20 Minutes , Jean-Luc Arassus, president of the French Surfing Federation, who sees in it a solid back training base. “It's important to have an artificial wave as quickly as possible. For him, international competitions and especially the Olympic Games, where surfing is making its debut, depend on it. The tricolor medals are in the crosshairs. “It is an essential tool for performance. We can clearly see the results of the nations equipped with these artificial waves, the Australians in particular. And the Sevran wave, which can dig and be powerful, is sufficient for the objectives of the federation for training and complementary with the sessions in a natural environment, ”he continues.

Another advantage according to the FFS: Sevran is a good stop between two planes. "The Parisian positioning can correspond to the many trips of surfers, who pass through Roissy, and who could make a passage to Sevran for a training session in order to be ready for professional and high level competitions", estimates Jean-Luc Arassus.

A golden memory 🥇! The #LaVagueGrandParis team had the pleasure of attending the competition and the coronation !! An event 🏄🏽‍♀️ supported by @LinkCity! #sevran #adrenaline https://t.co/H7zJzV9XBz

- THE GRAND PARIS WAVE (@SurfinSevran) June 12, 2020

He specifies: “the project must respect a certain number of criteria, particularly environmental ones. We will be attentive to water collection, energy and the location of the basin. And there is a real political project carried by the town hall. This will allow young people to discover and familiarize themselves with the environment of the waves and allow them to consider going to the coast. "

But with a surfing session costing around 40 euros for thirty minutes, some voices are raised to say that the families of Sevran will not be able to afford it. So, does the project take into account the local fabric and the reality of a department which is notably still the worst off in terms of swimming pools on a national scale?

"In the meantime, the miserable municipal swimming pool is pitiful"

Only 33 swimming pools are currently in service in Seine-Saint-Denis, according to the community contacted by  20 Minutes , and in 2018, 54% of students at the end of CM2 had failed during the school certificate of swimming skills, according to National Education. “The Sevranais must be able to benefit from this project and that it makes people want to learn to swim at first. In the meantime, the miserable municipal swimming pool of Sevran is pitiful and it must be renovated ", deplores with 20 Minutes , Clémentine Autain, LFI deputy of Seine-Saint-Denis, former municipal councilor of the city and fervent opponent of" the wave ".

At the town hall, we are now very skeptical about this wave, carried more by the former mayor, Stéphane Gatignon. He, who had started a hunger strike in 2012 to obtain better endowments for poor cities and in particular his own, had resigned in 2018 to protest against the “abandonment” of the suburbs while also leaving the wave project in the cities. drawers. “Today, we are at the project stage. Nothing has been decided, signed or implemented and nothing will be done without the agreement of the inhabitants who will be consulted by referendum of local initiative ”, officially announces the office of the mayor, Stéphane Blanchet (DVG).

"It's not a wave that makes the city"

“The wave will not happen if there is not a certain number of guarantees. Me, I'm not interested in a technology but in an urban project. I want to work on a city project that gives meaning to the inhabitants. It is not a wave that makes the city and for the moment this wave ignores other subjects in our city, "says 20 Minutes , Stéphane Blanchet re-elected in June with a list bringing together the Greens, the PS, the PCF and LFI. For him, the artificial wave is far from being at the heart of the overall project, to the point of being cumbersome and filled with nonsense? “The wave is not ecological, it has an energy cost. Currently, we are discussing compensation, "he says, calling for" to draw conclusions from the Covid-19 crisis.

Surfing, more than a sport, a culture of life @SurfinSevran @LinkCity @Sevranville https://t.co/ZjAhtQkjW7 pic.twitter.com/mait14KXlf

- Blanchet Stéphane (@Blanchet_Sevran) April 9, 2019

In return for the wave, it is indeed a whole space more oriented towards the inhabitants that could emerge: student and intermediate accommodation, health center, university space, nursery, theater, brand new municipal swimming pool, educational farm and program. educative. But everything is nested. "One goes with the other and the wave holds the rest of the project", loose Clémentine Autain who says she wants to remain "vigilant"

“At the time of Stéphane Gatignon, I was against the tourist zone project with a wave and I proposed to build a university zone. Today, there has been a change of gear with Stéphane Blanchet. The overall project is anchored more to the needs of the inhabitants. But there are still many technical questions: energy stake and cost, environmental cost, the hole for the basin. We cannot sign the Cop21 and make projects that consume madly, ”she slices. At the town hall, we repeat that nothing has been done. And as promised during the municipal campaign, this local referendum on the subject will soon be organized in the town. So much the municipality does not want to live "a new EuropaCity". A project that had also made waves in Ile-de-France but of a different ilk.

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  • Sport
  • Sevran
  • Surf
  • Paris