Thea Stilton #4

Synopsis

Everyone is talking about Windy Island’s new surf center, even Nicky’s hero, Australian surf champion Gary Moon! The artificial reef is supposed to create perfect waves. But the Thea Sisters have discovered a dangerous secret: even a surf champion can’t face these giant waves! it’s up to them to break the story before another reef is built off the shore of their beloved Donkey Beach.

Note: The digital edition (9/24/2014) for this volume was released before the print edition.

Plot

It's a good day for surfing on Whale Island, and Nicky takes her friends Pam and Paulina out to start learning to surf like her. Back on the shore, Colette and Violet have a much less pleasant time when they are abruptly verbally berated by one of the islanders. When they ask what the trouble is, they are informed that a surf center is soon to be built near that very spot.

The Thea Sisters ask their friend Dina about the surf center, and learn that the mayor of Whale Island has taken up an initiative to build the center as a way of competing with another surf club that was set up by Vissia de Vissen on a neighboring island. The friends are divided over the news, thinking that it could turn out either for good or for the worse. It all depends on what the new mayor does to handle it.

At that moment, the mayor is busy spreading good PR about the initiatives to modernize the island. After the PR, the mayor heads to his next appointment on Vissia de Vissen's yacht. As it turns out, the economic well-being is not quite at the forefront of the mayor's agenda. Rather, he is revealed not to be in competition with de Vissen, but in collaboration. In exchange for rigging the election, de Vissen has enlisted the mayor's help to expand her own business endeavors.

Some time later, Vanilla de Vissen is boasting about the surf club on her mother's island. To Nicky's delight and dismay, her favorite surfer will be attending the club's opening as Vanilla's guest of honor. But, there is no time to mope about that. Paulina motivates her friends to try and get the plans for the surf club on Whale Island cancelled. Try as they do, they have no such luck getting any help. The only other person who seems to care is their marine biology professor, Van Kraken.

Professor Van Kraken has an idea to first inspect the sea bed around the construction site of the surf centers, to see if there would be any environmental impacts. He takes Pam and Paulina with him, while the others make their way to the mayor's campaign rally. It is at the rally that something crucial occurs to Colette: where is the mayor getting all of the money for his campaign. Meanwhile Pamela and Paulina are diving with Professor Van Kraken, and discover that an enormous artificial reef has been built. They document the reef and return to the surface.

The next day it is announced to the students at Mouseford that they are going to be special guests at the opening for de Vissen's surf club. Later, Vanilla's guest of honor, Gary Moon, arrives at Windy Island. Behind the scenes, Vissia begins to cook up a little PR of her own by fabricating a romance between Vanilla and Gary.

The fabricated romance begins with the filming of a commercial for the surf club. Unfortunately, Vanilla does not know how to surf. Having owed a favor to Pam, Vanilla's brother, Vic, takes it upon himself to introduce Nicky as Gary's surfing partner. The two of them hit it off pretty quickly, and Nicky is made Vanilla's stunt double for the commercial.

The results for the documentation of the reef are analyzed by engineers, who confer with Professor Van Kraken about the artificial reef. It seems that the reef is several times bigger than what can be considered safe for beach goers and for wildlife. True to concern, stormy weather begins to brew, and a massive wave strikes Windy Island, fueled by the artificial reef.

Rescue efforts begin to salvage any lives. Some are lost to the storm, while others are successfully rescued. Once the storm blows out, a town meeting is held, where it is decided that the same thing could very well happen to Whale Island. With the risk known, the entire island votes against the construction of the surf center on Whale Island.