A Lake Country teen has created a petition to try and save the FlowRider.

Jonathan Hintz, 17, is a flow-boarding champion who hones his skills on the H20 Adventure and Fitness Centre鈥檚 flow-boarding machine.

The Grade 11 student at George Elliot Secondary School earned a bronze medal at the 2017 world flowboarding championships in Cancun, Mexico in November.

Last week, 91大黄鸭 city council decided to look into alternative options to use the space that houses B.C.鈥檚 only FlowRider, a machine that creates artificial waves which allow users to ride a board.

Hintz created a asking city council to keep the machine, which has allowed him to practice three or four times a week, he said.

鈥淚鈥檓 posting my own thoughts and opinions to say to the city, 鈥榠t may not service multiple people at one time while they鈥檙e riding, but the people that show up repeatedly that fall in love with it, they鈥檙e constantly coming back to ride and they love it,鈥� he said.

But the machine has also been costly. A mechanical repair will cost $200,000, so city staff suggested looking at alternate options before deciding to repair it.

鈥淲e鈥檙e at the point with the FlowRider that the mechanical system needs to be redone,鈥� said director Jim Gabriel, with the city鈥檚 active living and culture department.

Before replacing the expensive parts, Gabriel is asking 鈥渁re there other uses that could be serving the broader facility as well?鈥�

Gabriel said the FlowRider has also been out of service for a number of months in 2016 and 2017 because parts have to come from overseas.

鈥淲e wanted a bit more time just to explore (different options,)鈥� he said. A training pool was suggested to assist with swimming lessons and Aquafit.

Ridership on the FlowRider is also one at a time, so 鈥渉ow long are you going to wait in line before you get your turn?鈥�

Council voted to use up to $50,000 to research the costs of alternative options.

Hintz says with the petition, he wants the city to understand that people use and love the FlowRider. There are both locals and people outside of the city that use it, some who travel up to four hours to surf, he said.

鈥淲e care about this, it鈥檚 not just me鈥� we have multiple people that really care about it. It draws a lot more people in than the city would imagine.鈥�

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carli.berry@kelownacapnews.com
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