Rick Kane went to the North Shore. Photo: Screenshot
Rick Kane made Tempe, Arizona’s Big Surf famous with his rise from pool surfer to Pipe charger in the cult classic, North Shore. The man was certainly a myth, and absolutely a legend after winning a wavepool contest that sent him to the Seven Mile Miracle with a couple of bucks and a dream. And while his fictional antics perhaps popularized Big Surf, the place was famous among Arizona locals long before as a beach getaway in the desert (see below). Unfortunately, the pandemic helped close the doors on the first wave pool in North America.
So what’s going to be built in its place? A new wave pool perhaps? An improved version with new technology and an updated pool on the banks of the Salt River? Nope. Try a new industrial park. According to reports, Tempe’s Development Review commission has approved a plan submitted by Overton Moore Properties. The plan? No less than three industrial buildings constructed over the top of Big Surf properties. Each building is expected to be about 55 feet high.
“The design goal of the OMP Industrial Park is to enhance an established industrial park within the City of Tempe,” the plans state. “The proposed buildings will bring over 600,000 square feet of Class A industrial buildings to this portion of the city.”
Oy. Definitely not a community building asset – more of a capital-building asset (pun intended). So Rick Kane’s legacy is truly dead. And it’s a little sad. Without even trying, the place was a precursor to the modern wavepool revolution when petroleum engineer Phil Dexter, who happened to love surfing, built his first wavepool model in his backyard in 1966. Big Surf opened in 1969-70 using that tech, and essentially, opened the doors for modern artificial wavepools – even though it would take another 50 years for it to develop into what we see now.
