Most often, though, Dowdy surfs four blocks from home. He walks down to South Bird Rock in La Jolla, carrying one of nine custom surfboards under his arm. (He buys mostly blue boards, on the theory that his wife, computer scientist Lisa Dowdy, might not notice a new one when it shows up in the “board room,” their converted garage.)

Dowdy often surfs with his son and daughter. (Lisa gave up surfing after a board broke her nose.) He celebrated Connor's 2007 high school graduation with a surfing trip to Sumba Island, Indonesia, where the two also volunteered at a malaria clinic. In July, he plans another graduation trip to Sumba, this time with Kelsey, who is captain of her high school surfing team. Of surfing with his kids, Dowdy jokes, “I'm getting concerned, because they're starting to take waves that are my waves.”

		Rocket Man Dowdy and his son ride the waves in Indonesia. Their surf trip doubled as a volunteer trip to help local villages by reading malarial blood smears in the clinic. They also donated six whiteboards to a nearby elementary school. QuickTime Movie: 15 MB Credit: Steven Dowdy

Raised on Naples Island in southern California, Dowdy first stood up on a surfboard when he was 7. By age 11, his parents let him leave the house at dawn to surf with his buddies before school. The boys would let their motorboat drift until they were far enough offshore to avoid waking the neighbors with the revving motor. The friends have been reuniting to surf every year since one of the group died suddenly at age 38.

Dowdy throws a summer beach party for his research team and neighboring labs, where novices line up for lessons. Granted, a beginner may only stay upright for a second, says Dowdy, but “once you get someone standing up, they're just howling, having a blast.”

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