Think cruiser wakes and jet ski's are challenging? Read this:
"This stuff took us years to figure out," said Fulbright, who has identified six premier tanker surfing spots, each one with its own name. "People still have no idea where we go or how we do it."
But what has long been a well-kept secret in local surfing circles is now being telecast throughout the wave-riding world. The Texas tanker surfers were recently featured in the documentary Step Into Liquid along with such legendary surfing spots as Southern California and the North Shore of Maui. Last week, the magazines Surfer and Surfing Girl were in Galveston Bay to photograph the guys riding wake.
"There's a lot of characters in surfing, and these guys in Texas are at the top of the list," said Dana Brown, the filmmaker and narrator.
"What they try to surf in, I don't think a lot of people would consider trying it. In a way, they are just as radical as the big wave guys. It seems very Texan ... the ingenuity."
If the channel is a liquid superhighway, Fulbright and three or four surfing buddies ride the shoulder, steering their boats about a half-mile to the side or behind tankers as they pass. As the wave rolls toward them, they jump in and catch it.
Each day, as many as 18 to 20 ships -- 45 feet wide and 250 feet long -- plow through the waters of Galveston Bay on their way to ports in Houston, Baytown and Channelview, according to the Greater Houston Port Bureau. With a belly full of oil unloaded from a "mother tanker" in the Gulf, each one weighs about 95,000 tons and travels between 9 and 12 mph.
At that size, each pushes 35 feet of water from the bottom of the channel into the more shallow bay that surrounds it. The surge has nowhere to go but up, creating a wave that can be (at least) waist- to shoulder-high"
