US patent 8662946 was granted to inventor, Dr. Nicholas Noel Gadler, for a body surfing accessory concept that came to him 6 years ago. His idea is now a reality and will be available worldwide on July 15th, 2016.
The WaveWrecker flagship product is a body surfing wetsuit that looks like a surfer’s gear, but has 11 fins attached in strategic locations to boost buoyancy and enhance directional control when riding a wave. The fins are made of high-tech foam with different densities, shapes and stiffness that reduce the bodysurfing learning curve.
WaveWrecker, llc had a domestic soft launch in April following a successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. Several top investors received first editions of the proprietary bodysurfing gear, then it was offered to online purchasers in the United States, Mexico & Canada.
In preparation for international fulfillment, WaveWrecker succeeded in finding a better manufacturing process that could meet and exceed the first run production costs and standards. The warehouse inventory is stocked with bodysurfing accessories for men, women and children in 9 sizes and is now poised for international delivery.
Inventor, Nick Gadler, an oral surgeon for 20 years, had moments of inspiration for other inventions in the past, however, he didn’t act upon them. After witnessing his ideas going to market without him, he committed to taking action when he believed in his next idea.
The next idea came to Nick Gadler when he was in his backyard swimming pool treading water for a long time while encouraging his son to swim to him in the deep end. Growing tired treading water, Nick glanced around and spotted foam pool noodles and grabbed a couple of them to help him stay afloat. They added better floatation and allowed him to be more patient while coaching his son. Before long, he imagined what it would be like if a person had augmented floatation when body surfing. The idea grew from there.
The first prototypes were crude and made from whatever Gadler could find at his house or the local hardware store. After 27 prototypes, he had refined the design to the point he knew he had something worthwhile. He even hired a Hollywood movie costume design company called, Gentle Giant in Burbank, CA, to make the gear a natural extension of the human body with appealing aesthetics utilizing CAD (computer-aided drafting).
The Discovery Channel met up with WaveWrecker to do a video shoot off the coast of San Diego. Several veteran bodysurfers came out and donned the WaveWrecker gear to test the equipment’s performance on TV. They liked the WaveWrecker gear and thoroughly enjoyed the experience – pointing out several of the suit’s key advantages.
After testing the WaveWrecker gear, 2015 World Champion Bodysurfer Makena Magro commented, “I felt a lot faster in the water, and the suit’s added buoyancy made it much easier to concentrate on maneuvering across the face of the wave.” She added, “WaveWrecker let me spend less time and energy treading water, and let me focus on catching waves.”
Now that Nick Gadler has seen his idea become reality, one can expect other product innovations and inventions at https://WaveWrecker.com in the future. He says the process is addictive.
