Orlando - The cry "surf's up!" could soon be heard at your local swimming pool, if a team of enterprising Americans have their way.
These experts have designed a wave machine to faithfully recreate the big, curling breakers that crash on to the beaches of California and Hawaii.
The first of three pools to feature the "Versareef" surf-maker is due to open in Orlando, Florida, next year.
At the largest pool, surfers will be able to ride waves almost 10ft high a distance of 75 metres.
| 'This will be the biggest wave facility in the world' |
"This will be the biggest wave facility in the world," said New Zealander Kerry Black, one of the machine's two inventors.
He and colleague Shaw Mead spent five years studying Pacific reefs to find out which seabed characteristics generated the best surf.
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"Then we created computer-controlled moveable pool bottoms to mimic those characteristics and generate really powerful waves," said Black.
The pair developed a shape-shifting rubber reef that can be fitted to the floor of a swimming pool.
Pneumatic jacks beneath a tough rubber mat control its shape to within centimetres, New Scientist magazine reported.
By altering the gradient of the slope and the alignment of ridges on the pool bottom, the "reef" can produce different kinds of breaking wave.
The Versareef can generate four types of wave, named after the places where they are usually found. These are the Hawaiian, the Indonesian, the Californian, and the Australian.
"The Hawaiian has a steep take-off leading straight into a wall of water, while the Californian is a slower, easier wave, which is better for beginners," said New Scientist.
Research showed that waves such as the famous Pipeline break in Hawaii are generated by a steeply inclined seabed with ridges running at right angles to the direction of the wave. - Sapa-dpa
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