Kelly Slater’s “perfect wave” nearly started as a surfing merry-go-round. Before the 11-time world champ’s famed Surf Ranch became a 2,300-foot rectangular lagoon in Lemoore, California, the original plan was far more bizarre — a circular pool that would churn out a nonstop, spherical wave. Before the 11-time world champ’s famed Surf Ranch became a 2,300-foot rectangular lagoon in Lemoore, California, the original plan was far more bizarre. World Surf League via Getty Images The idea sounded like science fiction, but after years of research and development, the team behind Kelly Slater Wave Company had to kill it. The circular prototype had already been built when French engineer Alex Poirot joined the company in 2011. At the time, the operation consisted of just four people — Chief Technology Officer Adam Fincham, Chief Operating Officer Noah, lab technician Ken, and Poirot, who came on as the company’s first fluid mechanics R&D engineer, according to SURFER .…