And a famous Hawaiian surfer named Carissa Moore trained at the Waco wave before she won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. You know, YouTube is just filled with clips of surf celebrities like Mason Ho and Jamie O'Brien surfing at BSR. It is remarkable to me how many of the world's top professionals have made a point of visiting Waco. KWONG: I love this support you're offering this young surfer. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Dane, try to catch that. And I should probably try to go back out. So I, like, pulled into the barrel and got in there, but I wasn't going to make it out. I knew it was going to be super fun, but that was just a blast.ĭANE: I pumped down the line and did a little snap and kind of got caught behind the section. I grab my microphone, hitch up my trunks, and start wading out there to talk to him.ĭANE GROCHOWSKI: I loved it. So when I see him kick out, I do what any good reporter would do. But this will be his first time surfing in Waco. And he surfs the breaks around there all the time. He lives with his family in Pacifica, Calif. He tells me his name is Dane Grochowski (ph). He's standing there looking out at the waves, kind of studying them, you know. I was walking along the beach at the BSR Surf Resort, and I noticed this young surfer. HAMILTON: You know, to answer that, let me introduce you to a kid I met there in Waco. KWONG: So, Jon, you went surfing in Waco, Texas. This is SHORT WAVE, the daily science podcast from NPR. KWONG: I have no idea what any of those words mean, but I can say this with confidence. HAMILTON: Plus, we'll talk about the science of bathymetry and meet the surfer known as Waco's minister of stoke. KWONG: On today's show, we take a look at one of the best artificial waves in the world, which happens to break in Waco, Texas, just a few miles from Willie Nelson's hometown. It is hard to replicate all that in a wave pool, but it's starting to happen in Texas. And if the amplitude increases fast enough, the top of the wave will actually pitch out toward the shore, and that creates what surfers call a barrel or tube. And the higher it is, the sooner I fall off, in my experience. ![]() That increases the waves' height - what a scientist would call its amplitude. The best waves break in places where these really large ocean swells that have traveled hundreds or even thousands of miles suddenly encounter shallow water, like a reef. In nature, it takes this really complicated interaction between an ocean swell and the underwater contours of the shore to produce a great surfing wave. Artificial waves, surfing science? Let's do it. And the science of wave making has come a long way. ![]() So I've been following the evolution of artificial surfing waves as kind of a hobby. This was long ago when pterodactyls still filled the skies. HAMILTON: But I grew up surfing in Southern California. HAMILTON: Emily, I am the senior brain correspondent in public radio. KWONG: So typically, you cover neuroscience? Like, what are you doing on this story? KWONG: I'm Emily Kwong, and I'm here with NPR senior surfing correspondent Jon Hamilton. JON HAMILTON, BYLINE: Look at that, a little tube ride. MADDIE SOFIA, BYLINE: You're listening to SHORT WAVE from NPR.
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