After three glorious, unprecedented weeks of head-high reelers, waist-high peelers and knee-high piddlers, the Surf Snowdonia forecast is now predicting a flat spell of indeterminate length. Under normal circumstances you’d be stoked with such a prolonged run of swell, but for the world’s first commercial Wave Garden, it’s bad — though by no means disastrous — news; a hitch or two along the way was always going to be inevitable for such an innovative and ambitious project.

A mechanical fault discovered yesterday morning has led to the temporary closure of the facility as engineers assess the damage and carry out the necessary repairs. In order to do this the lagoon will have to be drained entirely — not because the work cannot be done underwater, but because the North Welsh water is too murky to see through.

Exactly how long the work will take is not yet known, though a delay somewhere in the region of a week can probably be expected, and anyone with a session already booked is entitled to a complete refund (see below). The Red Bull Unleashed contest, meanwhile, is not due to take place on the 18th and 19th September, and organisers are confident the Wavegarden gods will deliver.

Here’s Surf Snowdonia’s official Facebook statement in full:

We’re really sorry to announce that our surf lagoon will have to close for a number of days, effective immediately.

This unavoidable closure is due to a mechanical fault which became apparent earlier this morning. In order to carry out the necessary repairs our engineers need to drain the lagoon completely. The repair process will take a number of days and we will update you regularly as the situation becomes clearer.

All customers who have sessions booked on our surf lagoon will be offered a full refund or a credit on their Surf Snowdonia account, whichever they would prefer.

All other activities at Surf Snowdonia, including our Soft Play Shack, café bar, retail and coffee shops will continue to function as normal. Guests who have accommodation booked in our camping pods may still stay on site if they wish to.

We are really sorry for the disruption and disappointment that this unavoidable closure will cause to our visitors who had sessions booked in the coming days. We’d like to assure you that we are working very hard to rectify the problem as soon as possible.