Big names, big wave pools, big luxury – makes sense for a place like Texas, where everything is, well, you know. The Kelly Slater Wave Co.’s latest manmade surf park, the Austin Surf Club, has ...

Last September, I got lucky. I found myself in the Maldives, covering a specialty surf contest, and my rudimentary understanding of geography sparked a scheme. “I’m not too far from the Middle East,” ...