I was asked last week to have a conversation about a board I shaped in 1967 when I worked at the Morey-Pope surfboard company.

I really like talking surfboards. So, it was an easy yes for me, even on camera no less. https://www.instagram.com/p/DcRyRBChCFl/ . And this past week end Jesse Towbridge  https://penetrator.surf/ came up to check out my new shaping bay and talk surfboards. All fun stuff.

My wife stumbled across and has shown me a vintage film reel of surfing that was dated 1906. Most likely shot at Waikiki That’s 120 years ago. We don’t think about it much if at all, but surfing has been around for a long time. The interest in surfing has grown so much that now you don’t need to live or go to a beach to surf.

While talking with Jesse the other day the conversation circled into wave pools. How they have developed, gotten better and that they are growing in numbers. I remembered during the late ‘60s the first wave pool, or at least the first I’d heard about was completed… In Tempe Arizona.

Big Surf was a historic waterpark located in Tempe, Arizona, at 1500 N McClintock Dr.  Opened in 1969 and financed by the Clairol Company, it featured the Waikiki Beach Wave Pool, recognized as America's first inland wave pool and designated an ASME Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 2013. 

The park closed permanently after the 2019 season, with its property sold in 2022 for $49 million to a California-based commercial real estate group.  Following the sale, the iconic facility was demolished, leaving the site as a dirt lot.  Today, Big Surf is remembered as a 50-year desert icon that pioneered artificial surfing technology and hosted major cultural events and films.

Films…. like the Classic flick “North Shore”.

I was out Tempe way in the early 70’s with a friend and we went there a couple times and surfed. I think the water slide there was better. But that was then, wave pools now come with real waves. While looking for a place to move I thought maybe we should leave California and go to a place with a wave pool.

One would need to go to the area check out the wave pool as well as the area. Maybe stay for several months to see if you fit the place, or it fits you etc. The way the surf has been here in Ventura this summer season you can begin to wonder if you’d be better off around a wave pool. There has been surf, but the conditions have been poor continually.

Just a thought, and this is just a question. Are the waves in a wave pool really waves? Ocean waves are energy. Created by wind that blows over the ocean surface for a distance long enough to produce waves that can travel thousands of miles before they reach land.

The waves in a pool are generated artificially with mechanical devises. The pool structure and bottom contours are made to enhance the wave shape etc.. Which is all fine. And the development is quite impressive. The ocean waves have their moments and sometimes those moments can be life threatening. Wave pools not so much. But they do produce some really nice-looking waves.

Maybe someday I’ll ride one of those really good waves. Instead of waiting for the perfect conditions to ride some really good wave right here in Ventura.

It’s been a while but it can happen.

D.R.