What if people want surfboards when they get here? Boondocks town surfs new wave

Meet the tattoo parlour owner, landlocked in the boondocks, opening a surf shop 240km from the coast. So the world’s best surfers can drop in.

“Lemoore has never catered to the surf community, for obvious reasons,” says Lemoore tattoo parlour owner Tim Welsh, ”but I’m going to do it”.

It hasn’t rained here for so long that withering plants are covered in cobwebs as if Halloween has come early. Burnt-out tractors are abandoned and left to rot in lifeless paddocks. Trees are a scorched brown instead of green. Crows go” rark-rark” like they’re begging for a drink and some shade.

Fat-bellied men wear cowboy hats, jeans and drink beer in the back of dust-covered pick-up trucks near the high school sign that reads “Happy Birthday, Bentley Dart!” It does not feel like surfing country.

That’s about as exciting as it gets in small-town America: Bentley Dart’s birthday.

And yet the old Dart has some competition as the biggest name in town this week.

The world’s greatest boardriders are converging on Lemoore, out in the California boondocks, for the first World Surf League event to be held in man-made waves.

It’s the unlikeliest gathering of the tribe. There’s more country and western music out here than the Beach Boys or Jack Johnson, put it that way. They’re standing out from the crowd. As one waitress says, “Their hair! Do they ever wash it?”

The Surf Ranch Pro at Kelly Slater’s futuristic creation will carry a full quota of ratings points for men and women. It’s a remarkable development for the sport. Test events have come and gone. This is the real, historic, deal.

Lemoore. Where this week, the surf’s up, as the world’s best surfers compete in the first World SurfLeague event to be held in man-made waves.

And according to the full-bearded, well-inked bloke who runs the tattoo shop down on West D Street, it’s a godsend for the town.

The World Surf League’s prestigious list of locations now includes Bells Beach, Pipeline and … Lemoore, all 22 square kilometres of it.

Ghostly local businesses hope to come to life now surfing’s wandering souls have a new location to visit, at least once in their globetrotting lifetimes.

That’s thousands upon thousands of new visitors. Carrying wads of cash. And Tim Welsh, the owner of Tactical Tattoos, has received permission to give Lemoore something it hasn’t contemplated in its 118-year history. A surf shop.

Slater’s secret wave park

“I don’t know Kelly Slater,” Welsh tells The Australian. “I’ve never met Kelly Slater. But he has blessed this town. It’s a $US30 million ($AU41.7 million) facility we’re talking about. It has the potential to completely change the future of Lemoore.

“He kept it secret for about 10 years. He really did. Most of the community had no idea it was coming. We knew someone was buying a bunch of property out there — he purchased a miniature golf course, too — but it was all kept secret. The local companies started building it and that’s when word started leaking out. Pictures were going out on social media and that’s when we were like, OK, it’s Kelly Slater’s wave park.”

That was three years ago. “But you still couldn’t see it,” Welsh says. “They built large fences around it. They had security guards everywhere.

Slater surfs his own break at Lemoore, with trees in the background of his man-made wave park. Picture: WSL

“The first test event was held and it just exploded. Thousands of people had a reason to come to Lemoore. We’ve never had that here. It’s a small place. a quiet place. You can see that. But it might be the biggest thing that’s ever happened to us.

“I’m going to give us a surf shop”

“I’m going to be the guy who’s crazy enough to open a surf shop. When I was going to the ranch, I couldn’t even find a decent sun hat to buy. I found myself at Walmart, Kmart, those sorts of places. It made me think, what if people want surfboards when they get here? Boardshorts? Bikinis?

“I want people to come into our community for two or three days and be able to get everything they need. Lemoore has never catered to the surf community, for obvious reasons. But I’m going to do it. I’m going to give us a surf shop.

“When I pitched my idea to the city, boom, boom, boom, they pushed through all the paper work and passed it straight away.”

Welsh says locals at Lemoore, population 27,000, were unsure about Slater’s giant project when details were sketchy.

“But I’ll tell you one reason why people have embraced it and him,” Welsh says. “I mean, it’s an incredible story. Of all the places he could have built this wave, he’s done it at Lemoore. And he’s putting a lot into the community as a person. That’s a huge part of it for us. He’s allowing us in. He’s not coming in and trying to take over. He’s giving vendor opportunities to local businesses. He’s doing fundraisers for the high school’s wrestling team.

“There’s a Mexican restaurant down the road that he always goes to. He’s putting a lot into this town, and it’s getting bigger. The ranch is getting famous, you can see it. Big name actors and actresses have been staying here. That’s never happened before. High-profile people.

“They’re not here to go to the skateboarding park, you know? People have a reason to come to Lemoore. It’s breathing life into our town and from what we’ve all heard, he’s going to build more.”