It’s Not Quite Dial-a-Wave, But It’s Pretty Close

If the waves at your favorite beach aren’t totally tubular or even a little gnarly, you can find out where they are by calling a new San Diego telephone service. By dialing 976-SURF and spending 55 cents, surfers can learn whether the waves at their favorite spots are mushy or humpy, tubing or closed-out, and whether the place is a zoo.

The Los Angeles-based Surf Line, developed in April by Jerry Arnold, a longtime surfer, made its debut in San Diego on Wednesday. A recorded message describes conditions at about 15 of the most popular surfing beaches between San Clemente and Baja California, including Torrey Pines, Del Mar, Black’s, La Jolla, Ocean, Mission, Pacific and Trestles in San Clemente.

According to David Wilk, Arnold’s partner, the recording is updated daily at 6:30 a.m., noon and 4:30 p.m., and a forecast made by a professional surf forecaster tells what conditions should be like several days in advance. Wilk said 2,000 surfers call Surf Line daily for conditions in the Los Angeles area.

He said the report saves surfers time and money. “Previously guys would have to drive up and down the coast to check the surf,” Wilk said. “They wasted a lot of gas.”

Now they can call and the recording will describe in detail the conditions at a variety of surfing spots. “We tell you if the waves are breaking to the left or the right. If your style prefers left breaking waves, we tell you that,” said Wilk.

Surf Line employs 10 surfers who are familiar with San Diego County surf spots to report weather, wave height and detailed descriptions of the waves.

Under Pacific Bell’s new 976-Information Access Service, businesses establish a number with a recorded message and callers pay the charge on their telephone bills. A Pacific Bell spokeswoman said Surf Line will make 31 cents on each call and the telephone company will keep 24 cents.

Some San Diego surfers said they thought the cost would deter surfers from calling for wave reports. Currently many surfers call surf shops or beach reports for the conditions. Topper, a surfer who works at the Sonshine Surf Shop in San Diego, said he doesn’t expect Surf Line to catch on with San Diego surfers.

“Surfers are so cheap, you wouldn’t believe it,” he said. “Most of them don’t work very much. A lot of them don’t even have a phone. If you can call a shop and get it for free you’re sure not going to pay.”

But another surfer who works full-time said he expects to use the number frequently. “I don’t have much time because I work all the time. I rely on the beach report but it doesn’t give enough information,” he said. “I can just call this number and make a determination very quickly whether it’s going to be worth my effort to strap the board on my car.”

Sean Collins, Surf Line’s forecaster, said lifeguards’ beach reports are generally inaccurate because they downplay good conditions to keep the crowds away. He said Surf Line is “really accurate and really descriptive. People will know exactly whether it’s worth a trip to the beach.”