Making Waves

"Surf's up!" The cry is universal, both exultation and invitation. It echoes through the meccas of surfdom like a call to battle, from Mar del Plata to Makaha, from Sydney to Tempe, Ariz. Tempe, Ariz.? Surfing?

Oh, yes. At Tempe's just opened "Big Surf," the nearest ocean is 350 miles away, the sand beach was trucked in from Phoenix, and the waves are manmade. Yet beyond any doubt, surfing it is. Every 40 seconds, a new wave cascades from one end of the 2 1/2 acre lagoon, carrying as many as 30 boards and bodies on waves up to five feet high. "You don't have to wait for that big one to come along," says Hawaii's Surfing Champion Fred Hemmings Jr., head instructor at the facility. "The surf is always up."

The novel idea of making inland waves for fun and profit came to a young Phoenix draftsman after a stay on the California coast in 1965. It took Phil Dexter a year to build his first model --in his backyard--and another year to get it working the way he wanted it. Clairol Inc., which uses surfing as a motif to promote hair coloring, put up the two million for the project. Now, two years later, it includes a 20-acre Polynesia-style complex of palms and high-roofed South Pacific huts housing shops, concessions and picnic areas.

Dexter's wavemaking apparatus is fairly simple. Hydraulic pumps force millions of gallons of water per hour into a concrete reservoir at the far end of the lagoon. Underwater gates spring open at intervals, releasing the water and generating the waves. The size of the waves is controlled by the amount of water pumped into the reservoir and no two curls are exactly the same. Riders can climb stairways directly to the waves instead of paddling out from shore. Though the fresh water is less buoyant than seawater, the difference to the surfer is negligible.

The cost for a day's riding ranges from $1 for children to $3 for adults. Teams of lifeguards enforce strict safety precautions and instruct landlocked tyros. If inland surfing catches on, a projected Clairol subsidiary may build other such centers around the country, paying a royalty to Dexter and his 30 stockholders. In the meantime, Dexter is practicing his surfing. Though he loves the sport, he has never before found time to get very good at it.

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