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All of this has led to what's been a long and often comical relationship between surfing and man-made waves.On VICE Sports: Chasing the PGA Tour Isn't Such a Glamorous Life
The dream of wave pools has been pursued without notable success for decades. We've seen wave tanks everywhere from Dubai to the Canary Islands, Japan, and North America. One wave pool in Arizona was even the basis for the cult Hollywood film North Shore, where protagonist Rick Kane uses his winnings at an inland contest to pursue surfing in Hawaii. Another in Pennsylvania was home to the 1985 World Inland Surfing Championships, won by two-time World Champion Tom Carroll. The ridiculousness of the event and terrible wave quality was demonstrated by the lack of a 1986 World Inland Surfing Championships.
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"It's really scary to think what that will do to surfing in the mainstream," said Agius, "I dare say that it's going to be pretty lame whatever comes out of the whole pool scene. There will probably be huge Red Bull logos over every pool and lights and drones and shit and it will probably be in the Olympics and it's probably going to suck."Related: Check out VICE's surf show Hi Shreadability
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