"It was almost two years of work before I went out to Jaws for the first time,” said Gomez, who was already a Stand Up Paddling (SUP) world champion when she decided to commit to big wave surfing.

While it may or may not be true that if everybody had an ocean they’d be surfing like California, it is true that with a water pump, some copper tape, and a few scraps you can make a surfing simulator ...