Valley luxury homebuilder makes a splash with over-the-top backyard amenity
As competition increases among luxury homebuilders to create lavish mansions with unique entertainment features, a Scottsdale designer has created what he calls the Backyard Wake Surfer that simulates wake surfing — without the boat.
In 2015, Randy Cozens founded X-Stream Wakeboard Pools LLC and received a patent for his wake surfer designs that can be used in the backyard of a home or as a shared amenity in a condominium community or resort. He also has a patent on his inflatable wake surfer mat that floats on a lake and pumps lake water to create a wake surf experience.
An inflatable mat floats on top of the water, he said.
“There is nothing holding it up; there’s no suspension for it,” he said. “That’s the beauty of it. The big mat is flat and durable. You can drive a vehicle on it.”
Cozens is getting ready to launch the product.
As founder of Cozens Designs, he also has designed several luxury homes with a variety of architectural styles, from Farmhouse to Modern that include the backyard water feature.
Click on the gallery to get a closer look at the wake surfer designs as well as some of his home designs:
He also designed a condominium community that includes a wake surfing pool as a shared amenity for the project, with young adult professionals in mind.
“They can come home from work and ride right out their back door,” Cozens said.
The community offers a variety of floor plans, including a two-story design and a three-story design that include a bar amenity on the upper level. A dumbwaiter can raise and lower food and drinks to the barbecue area on the third floor.
An NFL player turned luxury home designer
Cozens served as a licensed homebuilder from 1987 through 2008 until the Great Recession tanked Arizona’s real estate market.
He didn’t renew his general contractor license, and instead began focusing on designing luxury homes with lavish swimming pools.
Before getting into the homebuilding business, Cozens was a defensive end for the Denver Broncos for two seasons in 1976 and 1977 until a knee injury ended his career.
He steered his son Dylan away from football for as long as he could until Dylan’s senior year at Chaparral High School.
“He was recruited by every Pac-12 team wanting him to play football,” Cozens said.
Dylan also played baseball at Chaparral, breaking the home-run record there. He was drafted in 2012 by Philadelphia Phillies straight out of high school, and played eight years for that team.
Coming up with backyard boarding
The Cozens family spent time together wakeboarding and snowboarding, sparking the idea of recreating that experience in the privacy of a homeowner’s backyard.
Cozens paid attention to San Diego-based FlowRider Inc., which has been building simulated surfing experiences across the country, including a project in Mesa. After FlowRider’s patent expired, Cozens began using that proven technology, along with a twist of his own designs.
Before he submitted his own patent applications back in 2015, Cozens asked Jason Cooley, a professional wakeboarder, to test the FlowRider technology to see if the water shooting out of the submersible pumps felt the same as wake boarding.
“He said it felt the same as being pulled behind a boat,” Cozens said. “From there, it gave me the green light to go ahead using their technology but changing the design and coming up with what I came up with.”
Click on the video below to see Jason Cooley testing out the FlowRider:
