Wave Reports : Surfers Go High-Tech: 976-Wave

The pounding surf may be eternal, but the science of surfing is ever changing.

Just compare today’s high-tech surfboards to the long, cumbersome boards of the 1960s. Even the search for the legendary perfect wave is now electronic. Someone’s also figured out how to charge for it.

In California, you can dial 976-WAVE, 976-SURF or 976-TRAK from either the 213 or 818 area codes and sample “surf du jour.” You can also reach 976-WAVE and 976-SURF from area code 619, in San Diego.

Gone are the days that a surfer has to risk a long drive only to discover that the curls are mush.

The advertising for one of these telephone service firms contends the days of surfboard-burning sacrifices and dark spells cast upon darker beaches are gone too. But that may not be so.

Surfers are surfers, even if the technology changes a little. Imagine a kid in baggies slamming down the receiver at a fast-food shop and shouting, “Surf’s up!” into the parking lot. It lacks the magic imagery of seaside rituals portrayed in venerable “Gidget” movies.

Some of the magic evaporates, too, when you hear 976-WAVE spokesman Pat Bonaguidi describe who the service is aimed at. In addition to your regular hodad, “a second type of surfer might be an executive in an office who wants to make an informed decision on whether to take the day off and go surfing.”

In 976-SURF, you get a computerized wave jockey who tells you about “sectiony peaks” and “clean shoulders” or lets you enter a contest. Use your touchtone to do so.

The 976-WAVE people use two helicopters to follow the surf--one based at Palomar Airport for San Diego County and one at John Wayne Airport to survey the surf off the coast of Los Angeles and Orange counties. Plans are under way to expand the service to San Jose and the San Francisco areas.

The other two services use ground-based observers. All consider their reports the best and most accurate. Even 976-WAVE spokesman Bonaguidi allows that, “the perfect wave is subjective.”

Before you dial, there’s more data to consider--calling any of the surf services is 95 cents plus toll charges.