The FlowRider team is happy to announce that the newest European town with a new, sparkling FlowRider® is Torvaianica, Italy. This town is already known for its long, beautiful beaches and Zoomarine, a waterpark and dolphin sanctuary, but now there is an added awesome element within Zoomarine! Residents and visitors of Rome just need to drive about an hour southwest to get to the country’s newest standing wave machine.
On May 15th the Zoomarine staff facilitated an official ribbon-cutting ceremony and a Surf Opening Party for their guests. Music blasted, a hula-esque dance was performed and a grass skirt-wearing emcee hyped up the crowd before they flipped on the flow! Quincy Vlijtig, a professional flowboarder and official FlowRider team rider, attended and gladly showed off his skills on the ride. Wouter Maas, a fellow FLOW Tour veteran, also showed off with some tricks he has perfected over the years. Roberto D’amico, a professional surfer on the WSL tour, gave it a try too. The FlowRider has been known to attract board sport legends since the early 90s (e.g. Shaun White, Kelly Slater, Sunny Garcia). This new FlowRider will undoubtedly attract a new generation of skilled boarders from all over the world. In fact, within a year or two this venue could become one of the hosts of the European FLOW Tour!
“We have already noticed Surf Opening Party attendees that have been back to try the FlowRider again!” said David Tommaso, Zoomarine’s Customer Care Director.
The line during that party became long very fast, so he is not surprised. It usually only takes a session or two on the FlowRider to get hooked, but it depends a lot on who is instructing. Pre-opening at Zoomarine, the FlowRider team sent professional riders and trainers to Italy to personally train their staff. The staff that will manage the machine and that will teach patrons how to ride are more than ready for the fun and the challenge.
Near the FlowRider there is a 4,000-seat pool area with palm-thatched umbrellas, white sand strewn about and a FlowRider area-dedicated food kiosk. Along with Tommaso, we are pretty confident that Zoomarine will have a busy aquatic area this summer!
See ya on the Wave!