The University of California San Diego offers a course called Physics of Surfing – SIO 87 that is taught at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography that borders on La Jolla Beach, just north of San Diego.
It is a freshman seminar that covers three topics in physics related to surfing:
- generation, propagation, and breaking of waves
- the energetics of a surfer riding a wave
- the fluid mechanics of a surfboard
The college students study the physics of waves, its characteristics, the generation of waves by storms, wave speed in shallow versus deep ocean, and wave sets and dispersion. It is not an easy course, requiring knowledge and use of physics and calculus. But the professor addresses interesting topics such as, ‘Why do waves come in sets?’
The course is led by Professor David Sandwell of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and Professor Stefan Llewellyn Smith of the UC San Diego Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
For all the concepts and materials that I have long forgotten from the many courses that I took in college, this Physics of Surfing course would have been THE course that I would have treasured for life. For open water swimmers who face all kinds of waves, swells, and turbulence in the oceans and lakes, this would have been fascinating opportunity to learn more about the marine environment where we spend so much time and effort.
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