A Waterparks Masterclass was held in Barcelona this week, with a selection of industry speakers giving advice and lessons in an array of topics, including facility maintenance, hiring and recruitment, cleanliness and park design.
The event - held on the eve of the annual Euro Attractions Show (EAS) which kicked off 20 September - was organised by Canadian supplier and manufacturer WhiteWater West.
The company's own head of after sales and service, Scott Heke, gave a seminar on maintenance essentials, underlining the importance of daily, weekly and annual upkeep tasks in order to ensure the highest levels of ride safety, comfort and longevity.
Heke advised operators to have staff walk through ride paths on a daily basis to check for obstructions, chips and cracks and correct flow rates. Regular cleaning, waxing, joint care and removal of calcium build-up are also vital ways to help slides last many years looking as good as new.
Play structures need special attention, Heke said, as the many different elements need to be individually checked, with netting, slides, tipping buckets and interactives such as hand wheels, valves and nozzles not to be overlooked.
Richard Halstead, manager of Sandcastle Waterpark in Blackpool, UK, gave a presentation on recruiting and training lifeguards.
"When hiring, attitude is more important than swimming ability," he said. "We offer intensive training to ensure they are trained to our standards, so while the national certificate requires 36 hours of training, our lifeguards undergo 89 hours so that everything they learn is revised and reinforced."
Four evenings a year, Sandcastle has an "incident training" event to allow the new recruits to put what they have learned into practice. Halstead said around 400 members of the public come to use the facility, and he devises a range of staged incidents to occur during the evening.
"I feel a bit like Steven Spielberg directing these evenings, but I recommend this exercise to all waterparks."
Renzo Lenzi, divisional director for ZooMarine Rome, also shared his experiences as an operator of a hybrid park, with animal experiences, family attractions and a waterpark.
He gave an example of how his park adapted the visitor experience of the newly installed Flowrider ride to suit the demographic at ZooMarine.
"We realised it was the mums that we needed to get to try it. Once the mum had a go, the young children and dads soon followed."
The park also had guides to help kids who found the Flowrider too difficult on their own, by riding on the boards with them.
"We also have professional surfers spend a few days with us and it always draws a big crowd when people are able to do tricks on the board," Lenzi said.
