Surf Ranch is home to an artificial wave 100 miles from the nearest beach that's as powerful as any surf produced by an actual ocean. What happens when an average, middle-aged amateur tries it?
LEMOORE, Calif.—The fantasy of riding a wave engineered for the world’s best surfers turns to panic when a loudspeaker offers my last warning: “CT2, 30 seconds.”
I’m floating in a lagoon that spans the length of seven football fields, surrounded by cottonwood trees and California farm country. The 30-second alert means it’s too late to stop what happens next. First an 80-ton hydrofoil sled will roll forward with the help of a cable and truck tires, producing the rickety sound made by a roller coaster at the beginning of its climb. Then I have to confront a six-and-a-half-foot-high wall of water—CT2—that is picking up speed as it approaches.
In my fantasy of this moment I paddle my surfboard into position, pop to my feet and ride for an astonishing 50 seconds while the action is captured on film. What I fear will happen instead is a head-first fall into a concrete pool that is only waist deep in certain spots—andwhat will be preserved forever. “You got this,” says a jet-ski driver ready to follow my efforts in case of injury.
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