South-east Queensland and northern NSW are coming off the back of one of the most active swell seasons in a generation. From the middle of February to the middle of May has been the most sustained run of waves that many Queensland surfers can remember. It's been spoken of in the same terms as the seasons of 1967 and 1974. Both of those years set the benchmark for storm and swell activity in the region.

Now that the season is coming to a close one of the most fascinating things is, that despite all the storm activity, just how little sand has been displaced in the stretch from Snapper Rocks to North Kirra.

As most surfers know the Tweed Sand Bypass operation has filled all the bays between Rainbow Bay and North Kirra with sand. The beaches are broad and flat, and at low tide they can link up to form one long beach. The result is that Kirra, at least as it used to be known, is laid waste beneath thousands of cubic metres of sand.

The sand-pumping operation is controversial, and also extremely complex. It involves three layers of government in two seperate states. Federal law has been passed, and the license to pump and dredge runs for 25 years. It is a daunting issue to take on politically.

However, some defenders of the project claimed that the problem is not one of politics but climate; that the only reason for the sand build-up was that there hadn't been an active season in many years. The rationale was that a proper season would shift the excess sand and uncover Kirra.

I think that argument can be laid to rest now.

There were three major swell events in the last four months. One of them, the swell that was erroneously credited to Tropical Cyclone Jasper, broke at around 6' for nearly three weeks. (For the record: TC Jasper existed for less than 2 days out of a swell that broke for nearly 20. Credit must go to the sustained easterly tradewind flow, not a category two cyclone).

The last swell – which hit just last week - peaked at thirteen metres on the Byron Bay waverider buoy.  On the Gold Coast beaches waves were 8'-15' for three consecutive days.

This swell caused enormous damage from Tugun up to The Spit; some beaches having 5 metre drop-offs, and at the height of the swell waves washed into private property. Yet despite all the damage to the northern beaches, the Coolangatta beaches were barely altered. In the wave zone, the Superbank is in tatters, but the actual beach profiles haven't changed.

But then this was one of the reasons that the sand bypass operation was created – to protect the southern Gold Coast beaches from erosion. The problem is, it's working too well.

Steve Shearer, who's currently working on a documentary about the bypass scheme, says that since the operation began the depth of Coolangatta Bay has been reduced by approximately 3-4 metres. This, he says, causes shoaling and dissipates the energy in the waves well outside the usual wave zone. The result is that even during extreme swell events the breaking waves are reduced in power and unable to shift the enormous amount of sand in the bay.

The winter months on the Gold Coast are when the natural sand accretion occurs. Less swell activity means more build-up due to naturally occurring longshore drift, plus there will be the artificial dredging and dumping. In three months from now the Coolangatta beaches will have even more sand on them than they do now.

No further proof is needed, if Gold Coast surfers want to see the situation amended then this issue will have to be fought politically.// STUART NETTLE