Creating The World's First DIY Reef Break
It took Greg Redgard more than a decade to convince his local council to let him have a crack at making an "unrideable" reef a legitimate wave. When he finally received approval in 1997 to change the sea floor of his local beach, the first thing the then sugarcane cutter did was go to the bank.
“I didn't have much money - still haven't got that much money - so I mortgaged my house and borrowed money off my mortgage,” Greg says. "I think I told the bank I was going to buy a car or something. I just had to get the money quick and do it."
Built For Purpose
The break at Burkitts Reef, Bargara, in Queensland's Bundaberg region, was previously obstructed by large rocks protruding out of the water.
"You really couldn't surf it, because you'd take off, go for about two or three metres and you would just run into rocks," Greg says. "I was just looking at it [as] a surfer, sitting on the rocks and just going, 'well, if we do something with this, it will definitely make a difference.'"
Greg Redgard drew his first submission to council with his children's colouring pencils (Greg Redgard)
Once he had the idea, creating the purpose-built wave quickly became Greg's passion. "I was just a cowboy…there was a lot of people that said, like, 'Man, you've lost the plot,'" he says.
The mortgage secured about $10,000 for Greg and his surf mates to rent a 30-tonne excavator and they got the job done within weeks. They relocated the largest boulders nearby, reshaped rocks to sculpt a reef, and paddled bricks out on a surfboard, placing them into areas that needed filling.
"It was tonnes of rock that we relocated," he says. "And then we made the surface area under the water flat so that the wave could break over it. Not rocket science.
"All of a sudden, we had this great place to surf…it's been a hit from then on."
Greg surfing on 'Greg's Reef' in Bargara (Jimmy Scaboo)
Reaping Rewards Decades On
Greg's efforts resulted in small but surfable waves at high tide, particularly during the November to April trade swell season. Unknowingly, he'd created the world's first surf-enhancement project, finding himself featured in TIME magazine for the achievement.
The reef remains a popular surfing location in the Bundaberg region.(Supplied: Jimmy Scaboo)
In the years that followed, Greg surfed with his children on the very reef he mortgaged his house to create. He even dedicated his work on the reef to his daughter Tahlija Redgard, who now travels to surf, sometimes competing, other times enjoying the surfing lifestyle learnt at home.
"He took Burkitts Reef, redefined what was possible and made what was once unrideable an absolute playground for all of us local kids growing up," says Tahlija, now 29. "When I was younger and living at home, I surfed it every time it was working. Dad would pick me up from school and we'd have a late one out there or surf all day on the weekends."
Tahlija Redgard showing the skills first learnt at Burkitts Reef (Tahlija Redgard)
The reef is still one of the best waves in the region, and you'll find Greg, now in his 60s, surfing there whenever he can.
"You still come across the odd person that, you know, thinks, 'Oh, why? Why don't you just go and live somewhere with better surf?'" he says. "And I [think], 'No, I've brought some better surf to my own town.'"
// SARAH HOWELLS and DANIELLE O'NEAL
© Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved.
Comments
That is ridiculously cool
Quick Poll please...how many reef setups do you readers know about that could be fixed with a bit of tweaking like what's described here...to move a rock here or there and fill a hole or three.
North Curl Curl Point and Freshwater Point, both near Manly, N.S.W., are both prime candidates.
Phillip Island is littered with reefs that (surf wise) need a touch up.
And maybe fill in the hole between centreside and rincon at Bells.
Bass Shire might actually entertain this. PI is pretty dead in winter. A couple of quality reefs that are offshore in a westerly would change that.
It used to be real dead in the winter, but i dont think it's dead in winter anymore, even in winter the roads are super busy and just busy in general.
Yeh, I have a feeling the reefs will be protected there, and rightfully so.
The big issue is accessibility. These guys used the large tidal swings to get in there with excavators, and the break was obviously exposed enough at low tide to do it. Can't think of many places in proper surf zones where that would apply.
Inside Sorrento
- Theres practically a vehicle ramp down to the beach
- at low tide the rocks could easily be reached by an excavator
Absolutely classic.
Tahlia grew up surfing an artificial reef her Dad mortgaged the house to build.
Which made Her the Best Female Surfer in the World
Hand Her a Pipe or Eddie Invite
Male and Female Surfers
Farkn Lookout !
epic reef, I have dived it, but never knew it had waves.. classic...
have also bumped into Tahlia and Mick Campbell around the traps whenever a big swell hit, when they were living out of their Van. surfed massive main beach nth straddie with them and Russel Specht. Tahlia got the biggest ones of the day easy.... legend in the water too..
Mate tell us some details of that Point Lookout session - what was the swell direction, were you down the beach or near the headland with that jacking peak?
It's so exciting at size out near Whale Rock, but heavy and intimidating, long hold downs in deep water.
ha ha love the froth. was at Widows (whale rock??) - off the big rock in front of the surf club. away from the headland, surfing a right into deepwater, about 200/300m off the beach, couldn't get out to start with then the life guard on the jetski dropped me out the back (wasn't sure I I was happy about actually being out there). big almond barrels, got about 10 waves over 3 hours. rode a my trusty 7/2 outer island. (I am 73kgs) - barring tow sessions, it the biggest waves I have surfed in QLD easy....
Swell direction was south, wind was straight West, fuck would of been 2016/2017? I think not in a wettie - maybe April - was off a big low down south not a TC? should take better notes...
Great stuff. I watched Darren Magee surf that spot solo about 25 years ago, looked like pictures of Sunset Beach. He was on the righthander. Sounds like Tahlija is pretty fearless!
Yeah if you were surfing the right a bit further down the beach from the headland it would have been a south swell.
The Stevensons, Helen Ewing, JT and the like used to say it had Hawaiian power on big swells, all you were missing was the reef.
On bigger swells with east in them, the left just of the corner of the headland can be something else.
Glad you got some good ones!
yeah agree, the power and size of it. out of place compared to the GC and SC......had the left too on a big east swell - heaps harder to get out, though, got denied a few times!!! fark gotta go back, have not been since 2022 chasing a cyclinders/deadmans swell....
Very very fickle those ones :)
I've always said that if there was a quality consistent point break over there that worked in predominant south swell/south wind then it'd be a different place and would have been developed more heavily a long time ago.
Gosh imagine a time when Joe Public with no engineering or seemingly other relevant background or expertise would get approval to make wholesale changes to public land, on the coastline no less, including relocating tonnes of stone from the foreshore while also dropping building materials into the sea. Clearly I am getting old because 1997 does not seem that long ago to me. You would be laughed out of town today.
Thats what I thought too.
The other thing I thought was- wow, what a proof of concept, that it can be done (create a vastly improved surfing environment from a reef that is not quite right).
Greg (Speara) is a hugely respected surfer, spear fisherman, fisherman and all round waterman up in that region. He had studied that reef/swell for years, dived it 100's of times and so although not an engineer really knew what needed to be done. He is your classic Aussie Larkin, great musician, funny, charismatic and all round good guy -- nobody could have pulled that off except him. Never realised he mortgaged his house for it though - wow!!
Tahlija is definitely a chip off the old block and no surprise that she rips. Greg still rips in his 60's and likely has a higher wave count than most down south (you would be surprised :). I dont get up there much these days, but always get excited when I score Burkits or one of the other setups - something special when those places light up....
I'm sure she is happy dancing to beat of her own drum, but shame she doesn't get more exposure. TR rips so hard.
&ab_channel=LivingSurfingFishingRAWAUSTRALIAWow! I have a new hero. She is so in touch with her boards and the act of wave riding, amazing.
WHAT?!!??! THAT WAS FUCKEN SICK!!!!!!! HER STYLE IS INCREDIBLE!
That has blown my mind. I don't think I've ever seen better footage of a lady surfer. Absolutely epic.
billie ....
?feature=sharedHoly fck! ... how many of the female pros can charge on their backhand in kegs like that?
touche Udo, so fkn sik.
Insane. Such a good surfer.
Wow! Just wow! Absolute shredder.
Mind = blown. Won't be the last time I watch that, what a style!
Thanks that was so good
Cracker vid, gets better and better!
Classic.
Who hasn't stared out at headland-to-headland close-outs at their local and thought "reckon we could fix this with enough boulders/concrete", yet this madlad actually did it.
Sets a legal precedent too?
Good Boy.
Brilliant life and heritage. One of the better yarns about underground Queenslanders IMO. And there's been some great characters and talented surfers brought up north of Noosa. Thumbs up to dad, and it would be great to see Tahlija get an invitation to one of the Hawaiian events.
https://raisedwaterresearch.com/spot/artificial-reef/australia/queenslan...
Thats so cool, what a legend
I remember going to Bargara as a grommet on a family holiday up the coast and a whole heap of grommets surfing slop between the groynes right near that reef, Ive also done a few shore dives around there when I did a scuba diving course with a X gf living in a kombi van in the late 90s long before the van life thing was cool
Would be a shitty area to live as a surfer, but theres still something about that area i like.
Hard to belive she came from Bagara!!! i lived there for 4 months and it never got over 2 foot, she rips and charges!!
I lived there for the first 17 years of my life and reckon the only time it was over 2ft was when TC Fran hit.
Cunt of a joint.
Hope she gets a wildcard for chopes contest
Great article and I echo the sentiments above.
Super cool lady- humble, not a hint of pretence and rips.
Got a feeling Tahlija is not the type to whinge about equal prize money. I think she just likes surfing.
First Nation constructed many Surf Reefs along East Coast shorelines.
Circular pan reefs collar the north facing river mouths > Lagoon outfalls & Point Break 'coves'.
Mob would access from beach to wade out & maintain reefs as waves tumbled the rocks!
Each are shaped at different diameter / depth to trap varying tides of local fish species.
Example : Common local inshore schools are trapped within largest inshore pan reefs.
Graduating depth to mid size reefs > smaller deep Crown Reefs trapping larger Ceremonial Prize Catch.
Several varying Fish Traps for Corroboree of 1,000s > Ceremonial catch offered to WSR Deity!
https://www.facebook.com/ABCGoldCoast/videos/jabreen-beehive/20435421859...
1,000's of years these Fish traps shape the waves of WSR pointbreaks
Some shape up take off zones to hook a nice long crescent shape line-up!
Sure...can still see near all of them today...in right tide on low swell days!
Meaning...Yes! Very much in play ... actively shaping near all lineups!
True...it's rare to time all variables in a chance overhead shot...but ya can locate them!
49/50 images ya won't see them...
Then a 1/50 chance shot...with less sand & swell + right tide outlines these ancient Reef Breaks.
Each with the larger inshore pan style fish trap reef > grading smaller & deeper thru wave zones.
1976 Construction started on Talle Groyne...
Swell used to push in a lot further with Groyne work running swell down fast along the southbank.
We gromz kept checkin' ocean side bank changes never expecting The Playroom Reef to light up.
As said...don't expect this rare Estuarine tiered Reef design to appear in a surf break.
Nor expect to see it in 100's of Talle Creek Photos...Huey has to work his magic for our eyes only!
tbb described the swell hit this Reef then sandbank aligned under the bridge with Oyster Rock break.
Waist height 'Surf Lakes' Slab Take off raced under the bridge around the Oyster Bank crescent...Ouch!
Tip Toe ashore...1970's still had many Oysters...folk would carry knives to pry & feast on them...
Then sneak under bridge & re enter at Playroom @ Night > Clubberz were checkin' it out! Yew!
Moon + Bridge lighting was just enough to light the face...perfect!
Note annual dredging seldom reveals these Ancient Reef Traps...these are rare occasions!
This being an example of what Koombumerri Mob might occasionally see if they're lucky!
https://jabree.com.au/information-request-possible-fish-trap-in-tallebud...
Japanese Kook Drone Vid is where ya need to look to celebrate Ancient Koombumerri Tradition.
Rather ironic that millions of feet ever wade over this Fish Trap...none dare revisit Ancient culture!
10 years > 168 views [1:10] Huey coughs up Jabreen's Ceremonial taboo Surf break.
[1:50] Even more ironic ...exact same shoreline tech deployed as safe swimming pen > Traps Dolphin/s
https://www.facebook.com/ABCGoldCoast/videos/dolphin-calf-freed-from-tal...
tbb will also share swellnet Timeline ~ (Vintage) Burkitts Reef.
https://www.swellnet.com/forums/surfing-reef-designs/577692
South Maroubra could have a 200+ metre point, if someone joined the dots.
Thought that many times, backyard. Could be a very cool wave.
Peter Crawford tried to get some community support at a town hall meeting (in the 90s I would guess) to move rocks etc. and make the northern point of freshwater beach into a left hander - 10 pts to PC … he was defo an ideas guy - but it never went anywhere … there wasn’t anyone even remotely interested in finding it
Seems you aren’t the only person to mindsurf that almost point break Billie
Stuffed up the fishing spot there also. Council also moved rocks at Bargara's main beach in the late 70's and stuffed up the whole beach for surfing.
Brilliant!
Tahlija please make more story for us, beyond dreaming, we now have a realistic vision for our children to absorb and take forward, Thankyou
Ps, when was Yowalla published?
+1 ...can't believe she is also producing/editing her own content - awesome!
i dont know, but i figure a couple good wedge bowls are in order .
Awesome surfing. There is zero reason women don’t receive same reward as men. Men.
It is illegal in Australia to differentiate by gender
Fantastic, great watch.
Miss that wave at the end.
About thirty five years ago a mate of mine suggested that if we dropped a rock into the water every time we jumped off the jump rock at our local beachie we'd have a left point there after a while. If only we'd listened to him. I reckon it would have worked. Probably true in a lot of locations.