Would You Pay For Extra Waves?
A lot of close comparisons exist between my two passions- surfing and rockfishing.
Both involve deciphering and building a skill set around natural, ever-changing forces. In the case of surfing, wave energy, in the case of fishing, biology. The learning is never done; one day is not like the last and this vast expanse of ocean that hosts both activities is in a constant state of flux.
Another close parallel is that although there are organised elements in both - fishing clubs and competitions, boardriders clubs right up to pro surfing - the vast majority of practitioners in both activities are purely recreational. They're not involved in any organised activity whatsoever. Most of us when we go for a surf are just going for a surf. There's no club, no end goal, or structure to it whatsoever. We're not playing a game with scores, or winning or losing, at all.
Same for fishing. It's fun. We just want to ride a few waves or catch a fish.
According to the Ausplay survey of sports, in Australia 3.7% of surfing activity for 15+ was through a club or association, while 3.4% of fishing activity was through a club or association. That sounds about right. Even if we tripled those numbers, it's still an inescapable conclusion that for the overwhelming majority surfing is not a 'sport' in the recognised sense of the word.
Another parallel. Both activities involve accessing limited natural resources. Fish stocks and fishing spots are limited, as are waves and surf spots. No such limit really exists for, say, golf courses, or tennis courts, or footy grounds, or swimming pools, skateparks, or mountain bike tracks. There is no practical limit for those activities, and if there becomes one, it's easy to build more.
Here, a major difference starts to materialise. Access to resources and thus amenity, as the pinheads call it, is wired into recreational fishing at every level, most importantly through representative bodies and the Government. It's accepted that to improve the recreational fishing experience you need to enhance fish stocks, improve and increase fish habitat, build boat ramps and jetties. Similarly, constructing artificial reefs, installing Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD's), fish stocking, and resnagging rivers is all common practice.
The goal is to grow the pie, not just the number of people trying to get a slice of the existing pie.
Now, look at the websites of surfing's peak bodies, supposedly representing surfers, for any sign of increasing amenity or wave resources and you'll look in vain. The talk is of inclusion and increasing participation and improving physical and mental health but as for improving that experience for all these people? Nothing. For anyone with a primary school understanding of maths it's an easy concept to grasp. More people eating the same pie means less for everyone.
How could this simple physical fact escape our best and brightest administrators?
Fishing has found a way to identify and fund improvements to the resources that fishers rely on. Also unlike surfing, as a recreational fisher in NSW I pay a licence fee. $85 for three years. I don't grizzle even if I don't always directly benefit. I get political representation as a rec fisher and that seat at the table seems worth it to me.
Would something similar work for surfing, with its overwhelmingly recreational base? At present our peak bodies funnel money from taxpayers exclusively to the organised aspects of surfing despite that representing only a tiny fraction of surfers.
A much ballyhooed example recently of $1 million of Federal funding for female surfers goes exclusively to Surfing Australia to establish fifty new women’s boardrider clubs, provide free female judging, coaching and officials courses, and host an annual women’s development camp at the Hyundai Surfing Australia High Performance Centre (HPC).
What percentage of women surfers will this benefit? Unless the current numbers are way out of whack, only a tiny minority, the rest of whom will not be involved in organised surfing in any way, shape, or form.
It seems perfectly clear that the only way to improve the experience for recreational surfers is to create waves. And not private, for profit wavepools but publicly accessible artificial reefs. Wavepools are being sold to us in terms of their public goods. Improving mental health, physical fitness, inclusion, democratising surfing, helping disabled people etc etc. You name a modern buzzword or phrase which invokes warm, fuzzy feelings and the current crop of wavepool proprietors will be using it.
That seems a crock. Inclusion, of course, is depending on how much you are willing to pay. I priced two hours in the Sydney tub for my son and I at close to $600. Not including food or travel. That's half our yearly electricity bill. Half a board. A weekend at the Yamba pub surfing Angas twice a day. My wetsuit budget gone. Apart from a one and done visit at some point in the future, that excludes me.
The new Abu Dhabi Kelly Slater tub is even more exclusive. Around AUD $1,400 for a half-dozen waves over 90 minutes.
Quite clearly, privatisation of waves excludes many more than it includes, despite the modern rhetoric they employ of surfing as a public good.
I mused on this recently while surfing a new little sandbar. A freshly created surf spot after the last big bank busting swell. It wasn't world class by any means, just a fun wave with a beginning, middle, and end that offered a semi-reliable takeoff spot and two or three turns. A proper surf spot. I surfed it solo, I surfed it with a dozen grommets, I surfed with gals on twinnies and mids, it was fun everytime.
This is what we need to create.
Not world class barrels but user friendly, B-grade surf spots and lots of them.
The technology does exist. Palm Beach Reef produces a perfectly workable right-hander and a short left. The price is prohibitive though at $18.2 million. That was funded by a cost sharing deal between landholders and the council. That model might make sense at places like Belongil, for example, where well-heeled landowners might be prepared to invest in a reef with a dual purpose of improving surfing and reducing erosion.
The latest iteration of Waveco's artificial surfing reef, if proven to work, is more cost effective. A jigsaw assembled concrete dome that creates a short a frame for around half a million.
Put six of them between, say, North Kirra Surf Club and Tugun and you would transform miles of closeouts into reliable surf spots which would relieve pressure on the Superbank.
A similar array between Belongil and Brunswick Heads would take pressure off The Pass.
There's no environmental objection I could see. Quite the opposite. Marine organisms are structure agnostic. Every piece of structure creates habitat and immediately increases biodiversity.
One of two Offshore Artificial Reefs (OARs) dropped into thirty metres of water offshore from Forster, NSW, in 2023. The entire project cost $1 million drawn from the Recreational Fishing Trust, which is made up from both recreational fishing fees and governemnt funding. There are approximately 150 OARs around Australia.
How to get them built?
Funding could be via some sort of licence fee like recreational fishing, contingent on having some trustworthy and accountable peak body willing to advocate for recreational surfer interests. Or, straight up government funding based on improving public goods that are already being used to spruik private wavepools. Mental and physical health, inclusion etc etc.
Again, we would need some type of body prepared to advocate on our behalf. Unlike recreational fishing, which has dedicated Trusts with a charter to boost recreational fishing opportunities and benefits for the community, surfing is still stuck in a paradoxical situation where almost all the funding for our peak bodies goes into benefits for only a tiny percentage of the surfing community.
That can't last, can it?
//STEVE SHEARER
(Homepage image Sean Davey)
Comments
I'm surprised they use metal artificial reefs. The ones I've seen have been concrete, though I guess that weighs much more and makes installation harder.
To answer the questions asked: It's hard to believe we can go on accepting the status quo, but I also don't know who's going to stand up for the rec surfers.
Surely a bunch of old tyres bolted together is the cheapest and most scalable model.
I remember being part of a group back in the mid 80s that laboured for two days with thousands of tyres to make an artificial reef. It didn't end well. They all washed up the next day when large swell arrived.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osborne_Reef
I don't think tyres are good idea.
https://www.southaustraliantrails.com/trails/glenelg-tyre-reef-dive-site/
Nothing grows on or moves into tyre reef, so the habitat potential part would be lost.
the photos shows growth on the tyres
Far out, did not realise the costs were that high. More wave pools = lower costs to use..?? we sure could use a few OARs down this way in places.. thanks for the thought provoking words FR
"More wave pools = lower costs to use.."
Can't see how.
No economies of scale for the fixed costs - land, water and electricity.
Plus profit taking.
More likely to get more expensive.
heres my cost effective idea, not sure if it would work. imagine somewhere like surfers paradise - picks up swell, but its a long straight stretch of sand that usually has shit banks and very few surfers. an organised group of people swim out with rocks, say size of a football for example, and keep placing them on top of each other in a mushroom shape to create a peak. over the years everyone who paddles out also takes a small rock to fill in the gaps. eventually there would be some sort of artificially created reef / rock break, with no real dollar cost, just human effort.
Haha, it's an idea for sure but you would be walking out on the sand underwater with any rock bigger than your head!
Scrotina! I like your name as much as the idea - they are using crowdsourcing in the digital world, why not lifting rocks, I'd give a helping hand - there's a gap in a local point, that, if filled up with rocks would double the length of the wave - we'd always dreamed of trying something like this when we were grommets, but didn't have enough mates or rocks!
A mate and I got up early one Saturday morn and had a crack at building our own sandbank. Went hard with shovels for about 20 minutes then gave up. We retreated to the surf club, squeezed our hands up between the chained, double-door fridge in the unmanned canteen and smashed creaming sodas and a fistful of killer pythons. Then surfed 1ft close outs high on sugar.
Great ideas to get more breaks along our coastline. And crowdfunding plus some sort of representative body for us all rather than just the top 1% A Rego fee takes me back to the 60s when council charged us. And the clubbies confiscated unregistered boards! Sometimes at their peril.
This added to the tension between clubbier and Boardriders.
All that aside with the support of coastal councils, crowd funding plus Government funding adding reefs to a beach would benefit surfers, fishers, clubbies, sea life and protect the shoreline too.
LOL - Sugar high is a gateway drug!
They'd get washed away for sure, you'd need bigger rocks.
There's waves I've surfed with all rock bottom and you can hear the rocks, massive rocks, ding around when you duck dive.
I think it was the TC Oma swell...went to check out Tea Tree (empty) and saw just the whitewash along the shoreline nudging around rocks the size of a 33L esky... imagine what was going on further out and up the point.
It was empty BTW.
Basically the idea is a good one. The problem is that it would not work in a place like the Gold Coast which has an immense accumulation of sand that is a constantly moving almost bottomless sandpit . The artificial reef that was laid down at Narrowneck was constructed with sand-filled geotextile bags the size of a bus. Even with such a large footprint per bag it only took a couple of years for them to sink into the sand. If you drop rocks onto that sand bottom the same thing will happen. Sorry for putting a downer on your idea. If I thought it would work I would gladly paddle out with a few rocks on my board every time I went for a surf.
FR , I for one have credit card ready . Good thinking about building a united front .
I listened to Greg Webber not long ago . He seems to have moved his efforts towards "webber reefs" and not his wave pool idea .
Seems like humanity is happy to carve up pristine ecosystems , why not featureless straigthander beachies that are empty most of the time .
https://webber-reefs.com/invest/
That V Reef idea is pretty sick! I just wonder how a structure that large would fare in big swell when it isn't properly fixed to the seabed at multiple points. Surely there would be a huge amount of force on that central pillar?
https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2019/06/06/more-mind-gre...
Thanks. Five years on from the announcement and I can't find any more information about it. Did that prototype Greg kept mentioning in the comments ever get built?
Nope .
i have a spot that i have thought about buying a old cheap yacht, trawler or some type of vessel and sinking it. Thinking it would create banks and if that didn't work it would create habitat and become a good dive spot.
The wreck of the MV Sygna created a fairly consistent C grade wave on the otherwise straight closeouts of Stockton Beach. At least until the environment finally turned it into rust
Thought provoking article of which I have no answer to.
When you introduce new taxes/fees/levies the governments become drunk on the rivers of gold but more often than not the funds are poorly targeted, diverted or even worse, squandered.
How about a five dollar tariff on imported boards?
"We are building a reef and Thailand will pay for it."
I see what you did!
If you want to create an artifical Reef they need to look at DBah.
Dont surf over the reef, but have the reef split & peak up the swell before the sandbank.
Many beach breaks are good because of the way under water topography impacts the swell before it hits the beach. Couldnt be that hard to replicate with some boulders?
This! I'm lucky enough to have travelled the east coast almost in it's entirety and starting from straddie, dbah and going south there's bad (double bar), ok (generally influenced by headlands or near shore reefs) and good beachies (refracted by a bar or bombie).
Let's replicate the latter as we have templates up and down the coast. I daydream about it all the time.
If they could build the breakwalls with only convict labour, they can drop a few boulders or sink a few ships in strategic locations. There's no shortage of beaches with an ideal swell exposure to at least try.
they sink ships for recreational divers
don't see why surfers shouldn't get a run...
aside from diving generally being a higher income sport
and a deep water sink versus a near shore event
anyway, be nice to see a decommissioned 100s ft war ship go down somewhere strategic...
Surfed the wreck in Byron maybe 3 or 4 times really good back in the 90's. Couldn't tell you what it's like now - I give the place a wide berth. I assume the SS Wollongbar provided the right sand conditions for quality surf back then. It's the only one I know of except for the temporary beaching of the Pasha Bulka in Newcastle.
https://www.instagram.com/tracksmag/p/B9Safo_gQzW/
https://www.instagram.com/tracksmag/p/B9Safo_gQzW/
AGREED AGREED AGREED!
Thought the exact same thing so many times. Seems to require very little high tech strategic engineering. Therefore would be cheap and easy
This should be THE NUMBER 1 solution
Webber already has the answer in the bag Sheeba, study and costing done you should reachout to him.
OMG...that Costing
He He.
Easier and more rewarding to focus on your own personal financial position through investment and work. Kids aside, if you are a single mid thirties or forties and have invested early enough then there is no reason you cant live off some passive income and just travel and surf B grades spots around the world rather than waiting for your local empty bank dream to materialise.
Hey Mick, own my own place and have 800grand in shares and cash. Just about there i reckon.
Nice one CD, Ive been doing it for over 10 years, Indo four times a year, Europe once a year, Japan or somewhere else as well if I can fit it in. Im not sure if my life is for everyone but I have always found it quite addictive and definitely fulfilling! Also you can time your trips so you can enjoy winter on the east coast when its quieter, also being able to have the time to sit around at places like desert point and surf it properly when the crowds are thiner. "the earth awaits" is a good website if you ever want to see the cost of living in each country. Hope you score mate.
That phrase "kids aside" does a helluva lot of work in this equation.
O Yeah, bigtime
Not to mention the carbon footprint implications... Solution for a few with a light conscience, not for the many.
Love your idea FR. Surely the way of the future. Probably just have to get past the idea of a purely 'natural' beach.
I reckon you'd be working hard to get past environmental legislation and local push back here in NZ.
Yes! My partner has forbid me to move to any more fishing villages or third world surf ghettos that don't have "good" facilities for the kiddos.
I wouldn't wish away my kids for any amount of money in the world... but gee my life would be so completely different if I didn't have them - any money going to funding my waves around the world for sure
Great article! Everyone could think of a nearby beach that is currently going to waste because it never produces any banks. There must be a way to get the cost of these artificial reefs down?
Do it like the snow. Build sand bank groomers and let the biggest local stoners drive them out in the water and sculpt up some creative tasty sandbanks.
I like this one VJ. Not much of a stretch given these machines groom the sand on the Goldy most mornings. All it needs is some rejigging and a low tide.
edit* here's a better video
Growing up with Perth's beachies, they do use the groomers but they tend to groom it straight up and down. If you go look at the cams the shoreline is pretty straight (spring now, winter swells have bashed it, there are a couple of 'kinks' in the direction). The relentless SWers over summer will restraighten.
Always wondered if you took the groomers and encouraged a wavy pattern of coastline in the sand above sea level, would it create rips and thus carve out A frames, in the water, further out on the sandbank? If you go to the entrance to Macquarie Harbour they engineered a channel in it back in the 1880s (iirc) by building a rock wall. The atmospheric pressure drives tides there, and the ebbs and flows carved out access for steamers (still a dicey proposition at Hell's Gates!)
Also: For Sale, used tractor, low hours, may have been immersed in salt water. Be like buying a low k's underground mine site 70 series cheap...
I’m in favour of everything that cut crowds in line ups. Wave pools, private reefs, localism, moving to a country where surfing hasn’t developed.. all of it. Just give me empty waves.
Need a few dedicated surfers high up in Fisheries, Maritime. Any works should be considered as multi purpose. Creating marine habitat, waves and could throw in coastal protection buffering. Triple bottom line.
At the very least, there should be better representation of surfer's interests in protecting or enhancing the current waves. I can think of at least a couple of projects along the Great Ocean Rd in recent times that had had potential to effect wave quality, yet I am not aware of any formal representation of surfer's interests on these projects. And as the author so well pointed out, a surfer's interests is basically the abundance of wave availability.
New lights have been installed at Bangalow Sports Fields, after several months of delays due to wet weather.
The $795,000 upgrade,...... will save around $35,000 a year on electricity..
22 years to pay for that!
Does anyone have even a rough figure of what it costs to build and run a community sportsfield?
millions are spent re leveling football fields.
Great article steve, I'd never thought of this but also love fishing and would happily hand over an annual license fee if it meant a few more sandy wedges around what are beautiful empty kms of closeouts. The best spots on the local beaches have lumps of rock sitting offshore to break up and refract swell around so it comes in in big wedges. As previous posts mention, this is much cheaper to synthesis and gives you less of a takeoff crowding focal point than a mechanical artificial reef. It also doesn't interfere as much with normal coastal processes like sand migration. All we need is some extractive industries like mining/quarrying to donate some spare rock. Might tick a few social license to operate and circular economy boxes for our mates at BHP and Rio.
i have always been doubtful of the use of reefs on sandy stretches. too much potential for sand to ruin the break - unless it is past the depth of closure. my dreams have always gravitated towards those rocky headlands that dont provide waves or provide very sometimes waves. there are so many rocky sand-free headlands that could anchor a decent artificial reef. these could offer wildlife sanctuary also. the added benefit is wind protection when you have a headland. in places like Sydney with lots of headlands this would spread the crowds out. my 2 cents.
Combination of used tyres and recycled plastic blocks filled with concrete??
Really in the long-term, do you just need a solid base to trap sand flow??
To work like the NSW rec fishing licence fees, it would have to be compulsory for anyone surfing in NSW, even interstate visitors. Not sure how that would go down.
Then the licencing will need to be enforced, another drama.
Certain regions and councils will also benefit from it a lot more than others.
The NSW fisheries fees cover a lot more than one aspect of fishing, and so many rec fishos who may not see an immediate benefit for them are still happy to pay.
The funding for a similar body would have to cover a lot more than just artificial reefs to make it work imo.
Community and local and state gov funding would stand a better chance I reckon.
Brilliant Steve
surfing's peak bodies are just shilling for for their next trip to Indo and a coke fueled industry party
It’s a selfish sport and sadly it often produces a selfish I want my share attitude
But as you said, a workable or well shaped 2 foot section is all most of us need most of the time
Right on hamishbro...
Having had a fair amount of experience within the Fisheries space representing rec fishing I reckon this concept has legs! As CD alluded to above "Creating marine habitat, waves and could throw in coastal protection buffering. Triple bottom line". The precedent for artificial reef creation is there, it's just at this point there is no surfing peak body or funding source. Given surfing now has billion dollar overall economic value, it could generate the clout to contribute to potentially positive environment and social outcomes with this style of project. The current project to keep an eye on is the Swansea Dredging Project which will hopefully create a wave at the breakwall on the northern entrance to the Swansea Channel? NBN News covered that angle if anyone can dig up the footage?
https://www.nsw.gov.au/media-releases/nsw-government-to-operate-new-swan...
Eloquent topical writing again Steve.
Quadruple bottom line may be required for the elected members to follow.
We would need majority community to support the idea, with studies and an election.
Maybe start small; a $10 levee on every board, wetsuit, surf tourist?
Before you rant.... NZ ask tourist fisherman for $270 per season or $38 per day;
pay on line... https://fishandgame.eslltd.co.nz/shop
Having pondered and discussed similar wave ideas with a quite a few local surfers, at potential swell locations (that are shallow, chiropractic close outs 80% of the year) , everyone agrees "it would be great if....there was a better reef, more sand, less sand, deeper rips, etc",
No one wants to put in the eeffort required to pursue the altruistic long term vision.
The Oz cost of 'qualified' eco, geo, morpho, socio studies, community consultation, negatioation, support, logistics, NIMBY, PR, required
(community response...what about the sick, the hospitals, the homeless, the poor ..etc.?).
Meanwhile.... NSW Libs paid $500M, to tear down a good Olympic stadium... for whattf?
Aus Govt is going help to pay the USA $3,393.2 million in funding for the submarine industrial base to support construction of new submarines and maintenance .....available in ten years (2034).
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/RL/RL32418/274
I bet an old Oz funded sub, dropped on its side, at say... 45 degrees to the prevailing swell, might create a nice A, B or C classic bank & habitat in its retirement...the sponges, seaweeds, fish, surfin kids & tourists will be onto it, like bees to honey.
eg. Aust only has one submarine of four that is fully operational.
A Collins-class submarine is 77.42 meters (254 feet) long:
Here are some other specifications for a Collins-class submarine:
Beam: 7.8 meters (26 feet)
Draught: 7 meters (23 feet) at waterline
Displacement: 3,100 tons surfaced, 3,353 tons submerged
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collins-class_submarine
I think the assertion regarding other sports / hobbies is a bit simplistic . A lot of golf / tennis / bowling / wave pool … control their peak periods through booking systems. Members only times/ days, ladies days, members only use. The idea that new courts/ courses / pools can easily be built also needs some thought, it needs business cases , investors , govt etc willing to stump up the funds. Community playgrounds take years to get planned and built.its a great conversation. The super bank was probably an accident in terms of wave creation? With plenty of hits and misses all over as a result of council engineering. I know of one local beach entry ramp for council vehicles , surf lifesaving vehicles and disabled access has led to a sand build up and a new wave for those that watch sand movements.
"the HMAS Dechaineux, a Collins-class submarine, nearly sank after a seawater pipe burst near its maximum diving depth, highlighting significant design and operational flaws."
"The Collins-class faced multiple issues, including high operational costs and technical challenges."
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/collins-class-submarine-almost-su...
Australia Inks $2.2B Deal to Extend Collins-class Submarines into 2030s....
https://news.usni.org/2024/07/30/australia-inks-2-2b-deal-to-extend-coll...
"If our Collins class SSKs are non-operational in 2024, I really doubt that they will be a credible force through the remainder of this decade, let alone into the next one," Malcolm Davis, a defense expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said. Report by By Colin Clar on November 01, 2024
https://breakingdefense.com/2024/11/alarming-but-not-surprising-australi...
Why is Oz continuing to sell our highest quality black coal, iron-ore, rare minerals by the megatonne, farmland & real estate property to China if they are a considered threat.... apparently, in 10 years?
scrub & surf the sub's.
Lots of life extensions going on at the moment in boat world bbb, Ticonderoga class cruisers, Type 23s being heavily renovated - everyone is realising they need to have more available 2025-30.
Dont over think it...........ive seen temporary pylons driven into the sand create really good banks when they did the Coffs outfall years ago......from no banks to really nice waves and when the pylons were removed the banks disappeared....so a few large rocks placed in the right spot would gather sand ......large rocks like they use on break walls............also plenty of spots along the coast are 'almost' waves .....just need a bit of help filling in a few holes here and there......
The "almost" waves were what came to mind first for me. How many reefs and points have we all seen that just need their dots connected?
It's a balancing act between waves and unspoilt coastline. So depends on where your local is.
I'd rather sacrifice having extra waves over more people on the beach.
For sure.
It's not for everywhere.
One tricky issue with dropping hard structures on sand is settlement. Quite a bit of sinking over time.
The artificial reef guys in NZ had problems with this. That and shit geotextile bags which were a bad idea.
Tugun and Bilinga often have good banks depending on sand distribution and tide etc
Fantastic thought provoking article and always enjoy the added commentary from the swellnet community. We have an interesting proposal happening in our local beach due to erosion and the will from the community to save the local surf club from slipping into the ocean. Not one mention from the council or people interested in preventing erosion that by possibly building rock groynes the main beach consistent with close outs could actually turn into a B grade wave perfect for beginners , encourage more females to enjoy surfing and also give locals an option on the bigger days when the open beaches are too big. My feeling is no one wants to stand up and say let’s build this to make the waves better for fear of more people all of a sudden realising that there’s a new spot to surf and all of a sudden you’ve got numbers like Winki or The Superbank. Here’s a link to the proposed design which us surfers are frothing about….. the latest suggestion from the cape to cape resilience is the retreat option which seems like the easiest way of putting your head in the sand …. (Pun intended )
https://www.sgst.com.au/news/inverloch-erosion-plan-finally-set-for-release
Great article Steve. I think we all know that Coastal Engineering is a growth industry and all options to protect coastal lands will be put on the table sooner or later.
One would like to think there is a lot of time, thought and planning going into this as we speak, I'm not so sure but would be great if this process prioritised surfable swell abatements.
In any case, there are spots as they exist now that are C grade and could maybe be upgraded without to much trouble because they are less exposed.
Bribie Island, I'm looking at you.
Is 'the wreck' at Byron artificial? Just some strategic pylons is all that's needed?
Tugun and Bilinga often have good banks , depending on the sand distribution and tides etc , which keep them relatively uncrowded because not everyone knows about them, paradoxically if you put permanent reefs there , everyone would know about them,and the area could become more crowded.
Whenever a boat harbour, groyne, harbour entry or any other hard structure is built on a swell exposed coastline, creation of a wave should be a required by product.
Yes you’re totally right.
Exactly DBT, or at least genuinely considered. The Inverloch proposal is a perfect example and was open to consultation. I don’t know if a submission in the interests of surfers was made but it absolutely should have been.
Apollo Bay is another example. A long beach of straight handers and they just built basic groins with no apparent consideration of the ‘surf amenity’. It could have been epic.
Great idea sheep and well written.
Happy to pay for this but it cant be run by ANY of the current bodies in play now as they are money chewing bureaucratic self indulgent jobs for the boys to satisfy 1% of the surfing population like you said.
Watch all the cockroaches come out of the cupboard trying to get involved!
Webber has to get involved in this, his ideas would be worth listening to
Tugun and Bilinga often have good banks , depending on the sand distribution and tide etc , which probably keeps them less crowded, as not everyone knows about them.
I would imagine it would interfere with natural progression and flow of sand. Hydrologists and the like would need to do some pretty extensive and expensive studies, research and modelling to get it right?
It seems whenever we play around with nature there is a backlash.
Hopefully not, as it sounds good on the surface.
We do need to do something about the ever increasing crowding.
I remember when to be a surfer it was unusual. Now it seems it is unusual if you are not!
Not sure that is really a salient issue on most of the east coast- we've got stacks of shipwrecks, every river mouth has been trained by break walls, artificial fishing reefs everywhere, sand bypass systems etc etc.
There's already stacks and stacks of studies and a very good understanding of the physical processes involved.
I've been dreaming of how an artificial reef might improve a certain beach in Vic which is one of the only places perfectly offshore in a W/SW wind but which is a perpetual 2km long close out.
Would seem like a no brainer to me to invest half a mil in establishing better surf in this town. People from all up the coast would travel to get clean waves when everywhere else is sideshore. That brings money into the town at the bakery, cafes, etc. It wouldn't be like it would be exposing a secret spot to more people either. If you want decent waves anywhere near this place, you've gotta travel outside the town.
They built three groynes there a few years ago to stop erosion, which seems to have had a mixed effect on erosion... but has done nothing for the waves. Not sure what impact, positive or negative, a fake reef would make...
Edit - Oops, I see Robert 69 above has already mentioned this town :) Agree with you, mate.
And I’m not sure that funding is the problem or solution at the implementation level. Local councils and state governments have plenty of money to spend on these types of things.
Rather, consideration of surfing amenity should be built into the framework at the state level so every project must consider it without ongoing lobbying and funding. Maybe it already is in a broad sense. I might do some more reading. The lost opportunity of the AB project really shits me.
Excellent article Steve. I have discussed, how to enhance our shitty Perth banks, with a mate, infinitum.
Licencing is an interesting option but the problem I see with it is how do you police it. If not everyone is required to have a licence to surf then the good old bludgers will benefit without forking out, and there’s many of them. And then what about travellers who come here and surf? If everyone is required to have a licence to surf then who polices this, rangers, specialist surf officers…god forbid the clubbies?
The simplest option that I’ve seen create banks, and really good banks, was the use of a dozer to push spits of sand out into the water, which disrupted the longshore flow and busted holes in the the straight bank that lasts for kilometres between Floreat and Trigg. It was done at Scarborough about 25 years ago for a Volcom comp and the waves it produced were some of the best I’ve seen on the stretch. So simple and inexpensive. I really need to look into how this could be achieved via council….yep the dreaded word. I reckon they’d want all sorts of reports and studies to be undertaken before even considering it, which is where the process breaks down.
Anyway we continue to dream of OK, semi-uncrowded waves on our doorstep but I fear it will be forever unrealised.
Without a doubt the quickest,easiest,least disruptive (and largely successful) option. Who cares if its not permanent, its probably better for the environment that way in any case. Ive asked this before but no-one gave me an answer: What are the legalities of pushing sand around with a bulldozer on the beach? (Im not thinking Bondi or inner city beaches) . Thousands of tonnes of rocks? Fuck that. Steel structure? Fuck that too. Million dollar groynes funded by councils for Surfing? Er yeh ok. Can someone out there hire a kickarse excavator and just Do It? Please?
No way you could do it over here without council approval. Scarborough gets groomed each morning in summer to remove rubbish but also to make it flat for Beach Volleyball. Apparently they pay the council a fair chunk of cash for this as well. This would probably be a barrier to getting a dozer on the beach but the dozer could go out first and push the sand out and then the beach could be groomed, problem solvered. I have no idea about how you go about getting council approval for this to happen, would probably be a long haul, like most things with councils.
Interesting. Although it gets less swell, Mullaloo looks set to get a heap of new groynes put in sometime soon.
Does anyone know if diagonal groynes work? Could they serve their purpose of moderating sand migration while also providing a workable break? If so, it seems like a once in a lifetime opportunity to create some surfing amenity, especially at the northern end, which cops a bit more swell.
Otherwise it'll just end up like city beach.
They’re doing it at the moment in Inverloch to save the surf club moving huge amounts of sand and making sand castles in front of the surf club and the creek mouth to prevent further erosion whilst they actually come up with a concrete plan. Surfers are watching and crossing their fingers that those sandcastles get redistributed back out into the water and make decent banks. We’re starting to see a nice right hander beginning to form and there hasn’t been decent banks on that beach for 3-4 years….. time will tell but we all know sandcastles just get washed away with rising tides so local gov is just wasting money when surely there is a better way to prevent erosion it probably just costs more money…….
Bingo. If only they would.
Quokka - does anyone have footage of this bank and the waves it created for the Volcom comp?
Steve, what a great piece! I never thought of the parallels between fishing and surfing and you have given me food for thought. Increasing the pie to make more to eat makes more sense than boosting participation... and the funding for surfing going to 3.7%... that sucks.
I am in that 3.7% you talk about... you speak sense. Congratulations, you have challenged my thinking, and I agree with you. Yes, I would pay to increase the pie!
Potentially impractical thought bubble incoming:
I wonder whether a simple, temporary reef or wave splitting structure could be formed by using an appropriately shaped, bouncy castle like inflatable structure. The base of it is secured to the sea floor, and it is pumped full of salt water rather than air. Even if it flexes as waves pass over/through, would there be enough resistance in the structure to cause waves to break or bend? Keeping it anchored for any length of time would be difficult without permanent footings I guess.
If it had the potential to work, I imagine that a structure could be placed for a couple of days then moved on. On a beachie the temporary disruption to the regular wave action might be enough to leave behind a rip bank.
A single, reusable structure moved along a closeout beachie to create multiple banks.
Has anything like this been attempted previously, or would there simply not be enough resistance in a water filled structure to affect wave behaviour?
https://www.waveco.com.au/airwave/
They tried to install v1 at Bunbury back beach but the seam failed and the install was called off. They've apparently designed v2 which has better seams and design but they've run out of cash and have redirected to a rock based design.
We had plenty of discussion about Airwave here.
https://www.swellnet.com/forums/surfing-reef-designs/472884
Another great article with plenty of food for thought.
The recently built mountain bike trails on the south coast of NSW are a fair example of investment in recreation paying off. In the case of the trails, mostly paid for with bush fire recovery grants, a major factor in getting the trails up and running was convincing councils and small business that there would be a return on the funds invested. If the same argument could be made around artificial reef structures enhancing tourism, you might see councils etc get onboard. Trade off being more surfers in the water. But they are there anyway, especially through summer on the South Coast.
In the meantime, you could just buy a foil, and all those almost waves become your obsession and it’s like slipping through a time portal, endless km’s of hypothetically undiscovered and empty waves waiting to be found. Surfing crowded beachies will be the last thing on your mind. But don’t tell anyone ;)
I reckon all the government money for surfing is hoovered up by clubbies building and rebuilding architect designed clubhouses. Seems to be an endless flow of cash for that. Most pollies would think that supporting clubbies is supporting surfing.
This is spot on! These days most clubs are gifted more money and equipment than they know what to do with. Some artificial reefs might help stop their palatial club houses from being washed away.
For a recreation pursuit that requires an artificial reef that can't be seen even on the lowest tide and provides fun for many and possible alternate sand bank creation, yes I'd pay a similar fee as recreational fishos pay.
Consider all other sports and shopping facilities that stand out like a black eye.
It's definitely time for something positive to happen, I know my council and bakery reaps the financial benefits from recreational surfers, a handsome windfall for those that have a surf spot nearby.
Problem is where do councils/state governments go shopping for an artificial reef that provides the desired outcome?
I'm calling it: 'handsome windfall' for contributor phrase of the week.
another great thinking out loud article from steve shearer,
gets the grey matter turning over.
Interesting parallel between the two sports, and the very different approach of sport development and use of government funding. Beach erosion at Stockton Beach has been an ongoing issue for decades. For whatever reasons the Government and City Council continue to wast money replenishing the beach sand knowing that it will get washed away. An artificial reef could solve that problem. It could create a fishing opportunity inside the reef, and surfing along the outside. Both improving the amenity so to speak.
Has anyone done the numbers on how many artificial reefs you would need to actually reduce crowds .
A good artificial reef break, is going to create its own crowds .
It's a good question.
Which is why I believe they would have to be fun B-grade waves and not world class, and numerous.
Eventually, they would lose novelty and if they weren't being filmed by pros, just reach an equilibrium where there were lots of uncrowded windows.
But yeah, just a single wave would attract crowding, at least initially.
Drive a short stretch of pylons in and create some rebound walls around the place, Job done
Novelty waves galore. An arti. reef will never work out thats been proven already. Or just take up foiling like the rest of us ahead of the game. perfect for filling in the dry spots between memorable surfs.
"An arti. reef will never work out thats been proven already."
You seen Palm Beach Reef? It's an excellent wave at times.
Yes. It's a useless reef. Wouldn't make the top say half a dozen reefs on the sc.
It was the success of Palm Beach Reef that got me thinking. That and the proliferation of wavepools shows there have been major advancements in this area (artificial or enhanced waves).
Must be time to start spreading the benefits more widely.
Hi Steve, nice article, good to see someone thinking, don't stop! I will stick my neck out here and say I reckon my reef concept can produce better quality waves, in a wider range of swell sizes, than the Palm Beach reef, for less cost. I say, if you are going to build artificial reefs, build the best quality possible. And that means a perfectly contoured reef shape with a precise crest level, fully engineered to stay put regardless of extreme ocean conditions. I have a local council, near you I believe, supportive of a trial reef, with a prelim installation location selected, and a coastal engineering facility keen to be involved. Just need the $ to make it happen. See my posts on the swellnet artificial reef forum for more discussion on creating surfbreaks, and for info on my concept see offshoresurfreefs.com. cheers Steve B
To Joe average, a wave is a wave is a wave, they can’t see the difference between an onshore wind and an offshore wind or a close out and a peeling wave,
So there’s plenty of waves around as far as they’re concerned.
I am the average Joe. I think you are referring to the below average Joe in your comment :D
No I’m actually referring to non surfers as
average Joe .
I think that a lot of newer surfers become aware of conditions.
the gold coast lite rail is only over budget 2 billion yes BILLION imagine how may reefs that would be and as good ( probably better ) for tourism as the blight rail will ever be.
problem being you cant get the unions to find enough jobs for the bludgers like the blight rail workers standing around all day and all night doing sweet FA and getting paid a motsa.( only if they could walk on water)
if tom tate could work out a way to employ a couple thousand lazy fuckers it would be on the cards.imagine how much he could back pocket from 50 reefs up the coast from caba to the spit.
Build a couple of medieval catapults where you want the reef and put all those bludgers to work in the quarries.
From what I've heard they are instructed to "look busy". Know a guy who spends most of the day sleeping in his car on shift.
How do you feel about life jackets being mandatory rock fishing. Personally I hate it, but I get why they have to do that with the fatalities involving so many that can't swim and don't have ocean awareness. If I ever get swept in I want the ability to dive low and get away from the rocks (at least where I fish).
Perth to Bunbury definitely belongs in this conversation such untapped spoils just waiting for some clever engineers to create something out of close out city that will bring joy and great experiences to everyone(and higher house prices)
Give me a truck filled with dynamite sticks, and i'll give you hundreds of world class waves.
There's that many 'nearly' waves out there, that just need a rock or two blasted away and they'd be all time slabs, reefs or points.
Failing that....as i'd imagine it wouldn't be popular, i'm definitely in agreeance with the new wave dome concept. Makes perfect sense to whack a few b grade setups along long forgotten straight bits of coast. Can only be a win win.
Pretty much most of the WA west coast could benefit from that and alleviate some crowds at the more populous locations.
Good read FR.
I always wondered whether paid parking would take any pressure off the southern GC.
Maybe a 2 hour limit.
Doesn't seem to have done much for the Pass though.
I think new breaks just like the new lanes on the M1 will fill up quickly
I don’t know if 2 hours would be long enough, if it’s crowded,
Noosa had 4 hour parking last time I was there.
But yes it would stop people hanging around all day , like I sometimes do.
Great comparison with rec fishing - would absolutely be happy to hand over a bit of money to a body that supports recreational surfers. There is probably space for an independent politician to run on this platform as well. Other thoughts: lighting at places like snapper for extending the surfing day? Identification of people towing in/step offs on paddle days? Could there be technology to clean up choppy surf - hearing stories of kelp forests cleaning up surf even with an onshore breeze comes to mind. To me also seems fair that those profiting from surfing might have to contribute to this - surf schools, clothing brands etc
This reminded of the time we dug a big U/horseshore shaped trench in the beach at Sorrento to get some sand out there.
Not two weeks later, some of the funnest waves were had at insides in a long time! (Insides being a grovel at best/grom zone)
Were we responsible? Probably not.
Did we think we were on to something and never did it again*? Absolutely!
*we did but got no fruits for our labour.
There's a much more obvious solution to creating 100% more waves than are currently available at any surf break - lights at night! Why waste a lazy million on a single B-grade reef that might not work, or could fall apart after one storm, when we already have quality waves going unridden for half the time?
Chuck a wind turbine on top and call them green; sell multiple-angle surfcam advertising space; optional user pays system where you and your mates throw in a tenner or a lobster for 30/60 minutes of lighting; grab extra funding from the fishing mob under the premise of doubling the potential safe fishing hours and Bob's ya mother's brother.
Please no. Pre-dawn is my last vestige of solo-surf. Was bad enough when the early dog-walkers realised they could use torches, started turning up earlier and ruining my night vision, fark orf carnts! Last thing I need is the dark made accessible.
Going from a handful of people to double-digits is annoying, but going from having the place to yourself, not another car in the carpark, not a single fucking dog-walker torch, not another soul in sight, just you, the stars, the waves and a surreal, beautiful, empty existence; that's a far more difficult pill to swallow.
In summary, fuck lights.
It was very much tongue-in-cheek. The solo full moon surf on a fun reef break is up there with the great surf sessions - late arvo glass off, 20 minute thunderstorm offshore wind swing, surfing in heavy rain, finding the sweet spot just north of an ECL, etc
in regards to the groyne revetment at apollo bay I am currently assisting with community consultation on a coastal land development at point grey in lorne and I am in direct contact with the person that project managed the coastal adaptation projects at Apollo bay, Marengo and eastern view projects among others. If people want to contact me to discuss ideas I should push forward some ideas and create a group I can arrange to meet up with him put your emails below and I'll contact you. We can use this to advocate for better thinking along the whole great ocean rd as he consults for the GORPCA land manages along the entire coast.
Hi dbut, we have just had our first artificial reef module design certified and are looking at applications. It would be good to join in the conversation. Feel free to reach out at [email protected]
[email protected] - sorry!
Interested. They don't have plans for anything in the Surf Zone at Pt Grey do they? I haven't noticed anything like that in various communications from them. I'd like to know if they did. I'm sure coastal reinforcement is a big part of it though.
The job they did at The Bay was to primarily protect valuable assets I assume, but it seemed a massive missed opportunity to not to consider the surf creation aspects in such a swell rich and offshore environment?
I hope they do it differently in the future.
PS. I would shell out to anyone who can build a nice, long, walled up left around here which breaks in everything from 2 to 10 feet and especially if surfable in a South Easterly.
During the excavation / construction phase at Apollo Bay, a series of super fun banks appeared a few hunderd metres to the east. Best in living memory but gone since the project was completed.
That spot, with banks, would be a Goldilocks scenario
Interested, but currently time poor. It seems the things you mention are mostly land based, even though some of it potentially affects water movement. Perhaps a new thread where we can share info on GOR development. eg. https://haveyoursay.greatoceanroadauthority.vic.gov.au/marengo-ramp?fbcl...
As someone who regularly visits, but isn't actually a local I don't feel it'd be my place to get too involved. But i'd love to know if surf amenity was even discussed or considered when addressing the erosion issues at Apollo Bay or if they focused exclusively on what needed to be done to protect the Great Ocean Rd. Feels like increased surf amenity could easily have been a bonus byproduct of all that money and effort, which would have provided a positive net benefit to the town.
I often wonder what an extra 50m of length in the groynes would do to surf quality. Little wedges everywhere!
In addition, this popped into my FB feed. Not sure if this is what you were involved in dbut, but I'm sure you'd be all over it. Options of a long or short survey.
https://haveyoursay.greatoceanroadauthority.vic.gov.au/lookingforward?fb...
was about to share that. https://haveyoursay.greatoceanroadauthority.vic.gov.au/lookingforward/lo.... Some upcoming sessions this weekend and into December and beyond to share any ideas you all have to plan for future coastal erosion management on this coast from Torquay to Warrnambool.
Still on track email you guys with some my thoughts over the coming weeks on how we should be collaborate our ideas but been a bit busy recently sorry. So, these upcoming events will be great for anyone willing to get their ideas out there now to the same group of people.
Great article Steve and lots of food for thought!
Gets you thinking, what does Surfing Australia do for the majority, ie recreational surfers. Near nothing.
If they allocated more funds towards wave amenity I could see it being worth paying a yearly registration fee, maybe it could also give you free parking for a period at selected beach car parks as well. Plenty to mull over.
Death by a thousand cuts!!
More politics controlling our lives....Licence are you utterly insane.....How about increased accountability for public finds, i'm sure you'll find plenty of mis allocated public funds to put towards this issue if the public purse was properly audited, the last thing we need is more beaucracy involved comrades!!!
That's definitely a reasonable objection.
You Have no registration sticker on your board son, It will now be confiscated...........Time is circular
https://www.facebook.com/share/1Uc6h9qL7y/?mibextid=WC7FNe
^ 12 Mill
Approx 145 Metres Offshore. . .
Im all for paying mandatory fees for surfing, just like a fishing licence- that becomes free to those with a seniors card ;-)
What do all the world’s best beachies (well most I can think of) have in common? Structure offshore! Hoss, Supertubos, Puerto all have canyons. Straddie, Mandiri, The Boom, Mystics all have underwater bommies. Underwater structures (more like bommie style) break up swell lines and create fun peaks on straight close out beaches. They will also absorb wave energy in big swells and provide fishing spots in small swells. It’s a win, win, win!
Yep, you can add 13th and Boranup to that list
Is there an offshore canyon for mystics? Feels like it clearly bounces off the headland. Not sure about the boom as well, although I haven't surfed there I'd say the big arse river is why the waves are the way they are. Same with Playa Colorado
I can't check because the bathomerty site isn't available anymore.
Boom definitely has an underwater bommie. I remember seeing waves stand up on it when I surfed there. And that also answers why the mains peaks are concentrated in that one spot. If it was the river the peaks would spread across the whole beach. Mystics has the same, an underwater bommie. The south swells bounce off the rock but they definitely aren’t the best swells there. But I think you’re right bout Colorado. I only surfed it the once. Wasn’t very good but that was the dry season and everyone said it was better with the river open. there’s always gonna be exceptions. Under water structures definitely don’t address the obvious factor of breakwalls, which account for a huge number of quality waves.
Great article Steve. I'm no fan of government waste/bureaucracy/surveillance but I'd gladly pay $100 a year if it meant more semi decent waves around.
Taking a drive and taking a walk can often result in uncrowded waves .
Depending on where you live.
Where I live I want at least another person in the water! Solo surfs are almost always sketchy.
I had to learn to surf on my own, when I first went to Tassy in the 80s .
I don’t know if another guy is going to save you from a Great White attack anyway, but I suppose it could help .
The only time I’ve been concerned about sharks was around Port Lincoln, but otherwise I don’t usually give it a second thought,
Although it depends how far out you are, or if it’s raining or a river mouth
MNC and I frequently surf river mouths.
One other person in the water changes the odds of a potential attack from 100% to 50%!
A quote I read years ago , was something like if you have to rely on someone else when you’re out in the water, you shouldn’t be out there.
But I suppose it does reduce the odds a bit,
if you’re legrope breaks, or the shark goes for the other guy.
But who’s to say he’s going to hang around to save you anyway.
It also depends on how bad a driver your mate is , if he’s driving you to the surf .
So it’s finally come to this, a discussion about paying for access to waves in the ocean because the waves are too crowded these days. Ironic on a website designed to make money by getting more people in the water by way of cams and forecasts.
It's a good discussion. Where else is it happening?
Not paying for access mate, paying to build them so they are free to access, like a skate park.
I don’t see the difference, someone’s paying, either through tax dollars or as was suggested a licence
You don't see a difference between a skate park, say, where once it's built it's free to use for ever, and a Wavepool, where you pay hourly to access it?
Or an artificial fishing reef, or FAD, that increases habitat and is free to use for anybody?
I agree they cost money, initially, but there are no ongoing costs to access them.
At the moment our Tax dollars siphoned for surfing are going to Surfing Aus and other bodies and we get zero benefit.
But neither you or anyone in comments is comparing to wave pools. Your article is about creating new waves in the ocean, unless I missed something which is possible. Also the idea of dumping anything in the ocean that wasn’t there to begin with is a big no from me. I know authorities have allowed artificial reefs for fishing, but I’m not a fan. FADS don’t compare, they’re pulled out for half the year and aren’t in any way permanent. If Mother Nature wanted habitat to be there, it would be there, people need to stop fucking around with nature for their own needs, especially for something as selfish as surfing. Learn to make the best of what we’ve been given.
Fair enough.
I mean, there are literally thousands and thousands of shipwrecks across the worlds ocean, seas and lakes. All of them now acting as fish habitat. None of them were there to begin with.
Nature is structure agnostic as far as habitat goes- whatever goes down there will be colonised and turned into ecosystems.
You only have to dive a shipwreck to realise that.
As for fucking around with nature, many of the east coast points have been reconfigured as fish traps by first nations people. Point Plomer, Arrawarra, Angourie and Lennox Head that I know about. I'm sure there are numerous other examples of creating or altering habitat to suit human needs.
I do take your point though.
No offence, but don't be naive. You didn't type those words on a stick you found in the forest. Mother Nature is an analogy not an actual person with plans or feelings. Most of the suggestions here would improve habitat and amenity and bring more happiness to more people - and fish! Who would your plan of *no action* benefit?
Definitely not naive rooftop, I’ve been around long enough to know that humans altering the coastal landscape rarely creates only a benefit. There’s almost always a negative as well. It’s like we never learn.
In the late '70's or early '80's, a jetty was built at McGaurans Beach, part of the 90 mile beach in Victoria, for the purpose of building a pipeline through the surf zone (I think it was for Gas and Oil?) The Ninety mile beach is not exactly a surfers dream. It has a longshore gutter with a shallow sandbar beyond it and any swell that hits this beach tend to close out unless it comes in at an acute angle. When we saw the jetty being built we were excited about the possibility that it might trap sand and create some shape in the waves. Alas, as we watched it's progress, nothing of the sort happened. Then they started the next phase of the construction which was a 'trench' alongside the jetty to sink the pipeline into the sand. To facilitate this, they drove U shaped steel posts into the sand side by side in two lines about two meters apart so they could excavate the sand between them to bury the pipeline. This instantly had a major effect on the substantial longshore drift, forcing the water current to deviate out around the end of the structure and in a very short time and sand bar, point break appeared on each side. It actually produced some excellent barrelling waves in good SE swells (mostly lefts). We were surfing it one day when a travelling surfer turned up (No idea how he heard about it?). He was raving about how this 'must be the best kept 'secret break' in Australia'. He was amazed when we told him that it didn't exist even a few months ago. And then, when they had installed the pipeline, they removed the whole structure and jetty after a few months, and it all disappeared without trace! We speculated about what would happen if a rock jetty was built out to sea at some point along the 90 mile beach, preferably near one of the small towns like Seaspray. I am sure it would provide a huge amenity for fishing, boat launching and an nice sand point break, at least for a while. But I suspect the sand would eventually fill up both sides and just extend the whole coastline out around it, sending you back near to square one again.
Note: As long as I searched on the net, I could not find any mention or photos of this structure or event? It's like it never happened, but my mates and I were there and had a couple of months of some of the best surf of our lives. :-)
(off topic, surfwise) - living next to the Glenelg River, on the SA/VIC border, the fishing license thing is interesting.. VIC you need an annual license, SA you don't.
where the River dips into SA, it can be a dirty unregulated ghetto with boat sheds rusting into the water, and dunnies that are basically a hole in the floor, (though this is improving): https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-04/donovans-glenelg-river-shack-for-...
..the VIC side, where license fees apply, has upkept jetties, canoe camps and landings, fish cleaning benches, and composting toilets with rainwater tanks.. that being said, I've noticed a lot of blokes holidaying in Nelson, on the VIC side, keeping undersized bream and mulloway, the thinking seems to be 'I pay to play, so I'm entitled'..
Hi Steve S , lets work through the conversation, lets just say the Govt recognizes you are correct, surfing is underfunded, and implements a scheme to fund creating more surf breaks, and stumps up an initial say $20m for Swellnet/recreational surfing to kick it off.
You are in charge of the program. What are you proposing to build?
Another Narrowneck bag reef ? No.
Another Palm Beach rock reef? Yes, there are waves there sometimes but is it worth another $18m or so? Is it good enough?
You specifically mention concrete domes? These seem like they will be smallish and fairly close to shore, remember the sand seabed level along the Gold Coast can fluctuate + or - 2m in the surf zone to a couple of hundred metres out, so good luck with them not being buried or undermined, and surviving extreme conditions.
Floating wave reflecting V- shaped pontoons? Any structure on the water/beach is never going to be acceptable visually anywhere, this is why there is a Palm Beach artificial reef, not Palm Beach artificial headlands which was the original proposal rejected by locals. Submerged reefs are invisible.
Seriously, surfing needs to have credible solutions ready before calling for funding. So lets have the conversation here on Swellnet. What is the solution to creating more waves, if its reefs, then what design?
I've put my ideas out there, see offshoresurfreef.com, so what do you think?
Most people don't like to be told they are wrong, but if I am let me know, I welcome any questions or comments, or any other ideas and I will respond.
Cheers Steve B
Good questions Steve B.
Sounds like a deep dive into the options is long overdue.
How about taking a deep dive into the options with this idea?
Surfing’s wave –creation scene is similar to where wave energy is at the moment. There are numerous wave energy concepts/ideas out there worldwide but none have made it an outstanding success.
Europewave’s Pre-Commercial Procurement program (PCP), see https://www.europewave.eu/about-pcp, was setup for wave energy procurers to compare several design solutions in a competitive environment, filtering out the best possible solutions that the market can deliver.
A similar PCP program for surfing wave-creation would be a good place to start.
A collaboration say between the Australian Sports Commission (federal govt agency for supporting and investing in sports-the funding source), Australian Coastal Councils (local govt level - generally the future owner/operators of the facilities), and Surfing Australia (surfers representatives). Collect all concepts/ideas and sift through them by a select technical peer group panel.
This process would optimise public spending targeting only the most promising innovative solutions for funding.
The program funding would be divided into 3 stages, with the best solutions in each stage progressing to the final stage-
1. Concept development
2. Design refinement/computer and tank-test modelling
3. Open-sea deployment, testing, and monitoring.
I guess this sort of proposal would have to be submitted to the ASC by Surfing Australia.
Do you have any contacts in Surfing Australia to run this idea by?
Would Swellnet be willing to do survey.
I have a few questions I would like to submit, I'm sure others do as well.
Hi Philo....you replied to my comment, if your question re a survey is for Swellnet maybe ask Steve S Freeride, if you have questions specifically for me, then shoot.
I prefer surfing & snorkling, happy to support other recreational activities that generate a wider community momentum & connection.
Is it better than sinking endless billions to feed some monster inc war / space industries, their military consultants & PR Dep't .... ?
maybe to just divert taxpayer $ & attention from our planet earth / ocean... (industrial disease)
https://www.usatoday.com/story/graphics/2024/11/14/ss-united-states-worl...
Materials and the labour to install them are the killer for offshore reefs. Banks form around irregularities. I wonder if a vibration-driven sheet pile wall (with flattened user friendly driving shoe) could be installed; allowing Mother Nature to do its thing. You’d need a high embedment ratio and durability would be a concern. But sand would accumulate. A barge driving sheets isn’t cheap but material volume would be negated? It is fast - vibrating through saturated sand is not tricky. Would need the ends to embed in a suitably tough material, like a clay layer.
Yes, mother nature would do its thing ie move sand. Anything inshore ie conc domes, sheet piling, poles, rocks, sand bags, whatever, will be subject to the same fate. Maybe you could get some better banks sometimes with these things, maybe everything will just get buried, undermined, or subsided, and you get nothing- effort wasted. The whole reason behind building a reef "offshore", ie out beyond the normal wave breaking zone, together with an engineered footing system and perimeter scour protection, is to keep it operational regardless of dramatic seabed level changes due to mother nature's longshore and cross shore sand movement.
Makes sense - cheers for reply Steve. It’s a fascinating, but tough challenge that’s for sure.
Its all about doing the research, identifying the issues, working through them logically, and finding a solution to overcome each of the problems. Then refining the design.
btw- when mother earth sends in a clean solid swell, anything designed to sit inshore to adjust sand banks or make a short peak or whatever, will most likely be overpowered by the large swell and closeout, while a reef offshore in deeper water will still be breaking nicely.
Funding wouldn't have to be centralised. If a wave could be created cheaply enough -- even a B-grade temporary wave -- then you could could fund it the same way that the local primary school raises money. Organise a few BBQs, maybe get band to play. Sell rashies or caps or stickers so that out in the lineup everyone knows who chipped in to make the wave happen. If 200 locals chip in $50 then you've got $10,000 pretty fast.
Not many of the proposals out there could be built for under $10,000. But too often in this discussion the perfect is the enemy of the good. No wave works in all conditions. Most spots have good seasons and bad seasons.
I'm not even sure if a world class wave would be desirable. If it's too good the honey pot principle will guarantee that it gets crowded. Like Steve, I'd be content with a makeable take-off and a couple of turns. And to actually spread out the crowds we'd need lots of these, so they would have to be cheap.
Good points have been made about offshore bommies grooming the swell lines. Closer to shore, I've had plenty of fun sessions where a rocky "button" (maybe just a few metres wide) just behind a straight sandbar jacks up enough of peak to let me get to my feet before the wave races along the edge of the bar. Even if it is too quick to keep up with it is still a lot more fun than either straight close outs or crowded perfection. An artificial version of this kind of "button" would be a lot cheaper than a full size reef.
Another cheap but temporary option I'd like to see is to create artificial scallops in the beach. Big swells carve out big scallops and these often persist for a few weeks because they tend to be self-reinforcing. The wave wash running up the beach struggles to climb to the top of the ridges, and instead runs down the sides into the troughs, where it combines with the water running down from the adjacent ridge plus the water that came up up the trough in the first place. This concentrated flow reinforces the trough and creates a rip head at the bottom of the trough. Moreover, the relatively high velocity of the outgoing flow means that sand particles in the current won't drop out of suspension until the velocity drops below a certain threshold (dependant on particle size). This is how sand is transported seawards to form banks adjacent to rips.
The sand banks formed this way are fickle, lasting from a few days to a few weeks. But the natural scalloping created by a big swell could be created by a small excavator in a couple of hours. The sand dug out to create a trough simply gets piled up on either side to form ridges. Half a dozen mates could fund this experiment themselves if one of them had an excavator.
Looking further back up the beach, I've noticed that the scallop pattern after a big swell often reflects the scallop wave in the dunes (as seen from above). If the dunes are straight -- or if there is a concrete wall rather than dunes -- then the scallops tend to be minimal. But an indentation in the dunes often mirrors an extra large trough in the beach scallop, and often corresponds to a particularly strong rip and a particularly good sandbar adjacent to it. Conversely, a protrusion in the dunes, where part of the dunes reaech a little further seaward, often has a particularly high scallop ridge in front of it. All this makes sense if you think about how the water moves around during a big swell that reaches the dunes/wall.
In places with concrete walls, I'd wager that replacing straight lines with wavy countours would produce better scallops and therefore better banks. Where there are dunes, strategic dune revegetation or devegetation (in places infested with marram grass) would similarly produce a wavy countours. It would take a big swell to reach high enough up the beach to reach these countours, but when it came the odds of favourable banks forming afterwards would be much higher.
These kinds of interventions are cheap and easily replicated if they work. Banks would still come and go at the whim of the ocean, but we'd be stacking the deck a little in our favour.
Agree with the discussion regarding scallops and the development of banks, rips and gutters from imperfections along the shoreline. It's amazing to see Manly in summer/autumn after some big east-northeast swells and large waving scallops. The gutters and rip bowls are unreal. Deadly for swimmers though.
But are the scallops the cause or the effect? I really don't the answer to that but the steeper carved out beach at the point of the rip would certainly be caused by the deeper water at the rip. I agree it becomes reinforcing though.
Another question - does a beach with banks and rips or a beach with a series of peaks from offshore bombies provide better protection to the shoreline compared to a long stretch of closeouts?
FWIW, scallops don't guarantee good surf either. I've seen classic scallops along the Tweed Coast shoreline over the years, but the outer banks remain partially welded (or, there's a defined gutter but the angle is unfavourable for surfing).
Some beaches are just better than others, that's all. Which comes down to geology, proximity to sediment flow, coastal alignment relative to prevailing swell direction, etc
Some beaches are definitely better than others. But I've also seen generally crap beaches "come good" for a week or two. And every time there is a particularly pronounced scallop right in front of the wave.
Scalloping alone doesn't guarantee that. Small swells produce small scallops, and yes, often even if there are banks they will fuse into one big monobank. When this happens it takes something special to shake up the banks into a more surfer-friendly format. Usually this is a big swell, but sometimes geology will provide a "button" like I described above, and the water and sand flows resultting from that kind of irregularity can be enough to open up options. I'd like to think that artificial buttons would also help to break things up.
To clarify, I wasn't suggesting that a bunch of mates hire an excavator to make ridges and troughs all down the beach. I'm not sure that would do very much. The idea was build on the existing scallops, as follows.
Suppose there are six ridges, with five troughs in between and another trough at either end. Look down at the fingers of your left hand plus your right thumb to imagine what I mean. Label the ridges 1 to 6 from left to right. Now get an excavator and dig up ridge number 3. Move the sand to fill in the trough between ridges 1 and 2. Next, dig up ridge 4, this time move the sand between ridges 5 and 6.
You will be left with two "super ridges" at each end, with a "super trough" in the middle. For extra effect, dig some more sand out of the super trough and put on top of the super ridges, or maybe even a bit out the end if you're working at low tide. Do this on a day with big tidal range the day before a moderate swell event and maybe -- just maybe -- the outflow from the super trough will be powerful enough to punch a hole through the monobank.
A lot would depend on the angles of swells, troughs, existing gutters etc. And probably stuff like sand particle size as well. But I reckon with a bit of practice and good timing you'd be able to make a surfable bank where there was none before.
Might last a day, might last a month. But if it was cheap and easy enough, it might be worth it.
I think they are synergistic and self-reinforcing, at least while conditions remain constant. Which they never do of course, but most of us have made peace with that.
The reverse causality goes something like this. Sections of beach in the lea of a sandbar are relatively protected from the incoming swell, because it breaks as waves when it feels the sandbar. Conversely, sections of beach just behind a rip head feel the force of the swell because there the swell travels through the deeper water of the rip and doesn't feel the bottom until it reaches the shore.
So banks and rips create scallops and scallops create rips and sandbars.
I don't think artificially scalloping a beach would necessarily create epic rips and banks. But it might help, if followed up by a moderate swell or maybe even a big tidal range. If my conjectures are right, then artificial scalloping would lower the threshold of swell energy necessary to create half decent banks. It won't create them by magic.
And remember the objective here -- surfable waves (not necessarily epic waves). On a small day you don't necessarily need razor sharp banks dropping off into deep channels on either side. Sometimes a small difference in relative depth is enough to create a bit of a peak and just enough wall to make it worth paddling out.
Do offshore bombies and the resulting peaks protect the beach? My guess is that there is a net protective effect due to dispersion of the wave energy. I also think that beaches with bombies are generally more likely to have banks, and that too disperses some of the energy out to sea.
Hi J202h2n,
You are obviously observant and interested in coastal processes, most surfers are. I suggest you get your hands on some literature on coastal geomorphology. Enjoy the read, Steve B.
Freeride76 : Would the Crew pay Extra for Waves...
tbb : We'll take that as a rather tricky sticky Question!
Oz has most highly restrictive, regulated, costly, least accessible wave breaks in the World.
Crew know very well that free surfing is prohibited in 97% of Oz Breaks + ALL sizeable Wave Pools.
Oz pay mandated regulatory fees for array of life lined protective shields before entering wave zones.
Can cash Splash $1m...still be prohibited from 97% of Oz lineups...all know money can't buy freedom.
Authorities + Boardriders ordered tbb from 100's of Lineups for surfing without a regulatory wave craft.
Here's how...
WSR Round Table SMP Shop Stewards command 97% un-patrolled Ocean + ALL Larger Wavepools.
Surf Sticker Mandate is born from Ai Oil Barons that arm & pollute oceans & refuse to surfjustsurf
Govts mandate the Surf Shop Stewards 10th Commandment :
{ Though shall not enter Huey's Temple without a sand gritted peeling off flapping Surf Sticker }
SC : "Swimmers must Avoid Surfers" / GC : "Always Wear a Leggie" / Byron: "Mandatory Leashes".
(Mandatory Hand Plane to compete in Body Surfing Events...
Thy Bully Brothers & Bossy Surf Sistas must evermore enforce regulatory $urf $tickers!)
Boardriders enforce policy by screaming at Huey's Fleet Footed Free Surfers to Fuck Off
It's their fault if they get hunted down, keel hauled & lynched from point A to point B ... (Can't Breathe!)
Schools / Nippers / New Citizen (Mandates)
&t=14s[Wavepool Origin]
1912 -2024 German Wavepool Therapy ($5) is plenty to massage bodies to heal aching muscles
2024 Surf Council Wavepool Therapy ($5,000) Touching a wavepool wave is now Strictly Prohibited
Secret to Shielding off them icky horrible Waves...
[ First...You must be able to Read The Floaties Label ]
*All must Learn 2 Swim before you can Supervise the operation of any regulated Flotation Device.
You cannot Purchase or operate a Leashed Craft without "Swim Proficiency / Cert equivalent."
1(a) Schools may Rebate [L] to swim but (Mandate Sunscreen / Rashie as a Regulatory Fee) = $20
(b) Govts Mandate Refugees / Migrants (Children) free Swimming Lessons + Free Do Gooder Rashie
Next Step...is First Aid / Surf Safety (Usually 3 Lessons as one [L] Session = $50-$100)
2(a). Beach Flags (Survival Course ) > [L] 2 Surf / Foamie Licence (Mandated Sunscreen / Rashie) = $20
tbb + soon Gromz ain't got a mobile phone...so ya gotta do this stupid thing...dunno!
2(b) Wavepool Flags (Mandatory RFID Entry $5 + ($2 Online Access + $2 RFID Ticket Printout) = $9
(T&C) $5 Mandatory Entry is auto debited @ Digitized for each Wave Pool Booking!
3. Progress to Hard Board Lessons (Outside of Patrolled Zones)
SLSA Restricted to 11 years of Age Hard Board with No Sharp Edges (Nipper Handle Straps Standard)
Mandated = $20 Student Sunscreen / Rashie + $20 (Surf Leash)
Wavegarden : Mandated Lineup Leash to a Floating Pool Toy ( RFID Convict Tracking & ai Penalties )
Wavegarden Mandatory Regulation = ( Above ai $9 + $20 = Wade access > No touching Virgin Waves )
Line Up Access (add) 2013 Mandatory 'Leashed Handplane' (min hire cost) Choose yer Session
Commonwealth Govt Convict Mandate
None shall escape via Risk Wave zones without being [6] Leashed to a [6][8] Surf craft
re: [ Surfing Australia Surf Schools Risk Register ]
[6] = Medium Risk (Possible Injury)
[6] = Medium Risk (Possible Collisions) + [8] = Medium Risk (Likely Facial Injury)
Leashes don't sound real safe to tbb...can do without bashin' me head against me own bored board.
So who invented these Convict style Surf Slave Ankle Leashes...
[Surf Leash Origin] : Qld Punitive Mandatory device that prevents Convict Surf Slaves from escaping!
Well ya did ask tbb...STFU!
1829 Convict Surfers were ankle leashed to Surf Rafts - ALL Gold Coast Line Ups to Dunwich C'way
2024 Convict Surf Slaves are ankle leashed + Tracked by ai Pool Bully Robot that auto penalizes.
Right then...so much more progression in Surf Slave Leashes than them KASEBERGA Balance Boards!
Penalties Apply for refusing Mandated Authority Leash Directive
1829 Qld : Mangled on the Moreton Bay Triangles (Bog Standard...Nothin' Special)
2024 Qld : $2,875 / Byron : $1,100 / Wavegarden : $5,000 + Leash / Damages Auto debited!
UN Mandate 2hr Max Ankle Leashing of Surf Slaves followed by a 15min lull.
Penalties Apply for exceeding 2hr Ankle Leash Limit
$275,000 or 3 years prison with an Ankle Leash
Hogtied Lynched Basherz : { "Leash Crime do the Leashed Time" }
(Bog Standard Leash Safety Guidelines)
Non SLSA approved Dangerous Boardz must be kept on 2m Marked Dangerous Breed / leash restraint
Whole of Leash must be safely visible for inspection while in use!
Transiting Surf Craft Leash Overhang must not exceed 300mm to interfere with or snag ocean life.
Any idle overhang shall be kept on board free of wildlife entanglement.
No wholly visible leggie loop shall exceed 25mm (To prevent looping trip hazard / Limb Damage )
Now how or why would tbb know all this and more...
Just some aggrieved free surfer that's been banned from surfing 97% of line ups!
Well it's born outta necessity by searching for real life Wave Therapy recovery!
Qld Health mandate awarded board comp bodysurfing exhibitionist tbb to avoid Beaches...not funny!
Strictly No Long Treks / Running / Swimming / Roads Cycling-Skating etc...
Revisit Mental Health Therapy & Hang near provisioned First Aid. (But tbb must freely exercise)
Frolicking & wallowing about in wavepool waves is the one true perfectly mental physical therapy.
Consider tbb is a drydocked unfathomobile rustbucket...can prune their Wavegarden on Day Release!
Freeride 76 did ask...& here's tbb's answer...
Me rustbucket unfathomobile is wretched enough to wormhole trapdoors, doggie doors & skylights...
But surfbored overlords prohibit tbb from swiping right to procreate with a cash splashed robot wave.
Come down from yer Rainbow Unicorns & grant us heartbroken basherz a Starlight WOTD Wish!
tbb's kingdom to swipe right for an aquabotic, antibiotic, slightly moist, rather damp...love shack!
&t=79sAre we even allowed to dream up some spazz back track for that...
Got nuthin' to lose...just give it a bash...(Wait up tbb...Holy Shit!...almost forgot to sanitize!)
Fark me if its too difficult re. cost,red tape&liability in Australia just go to one of the hundreds of miles of C-grade straight beaches in Java & tell the locals they will be rich if they made a b grade wave utopia of combined Offshore bommies, groynes and inshore sand sculpting.. whoohoo. No $100,000 feasability study,theyd just get it Done in 3months. Kinda missing the point of this article though
Agree with the main point of this article. Many more average user friendly free waves are what's needed, NOT more wave pools.
The pools are their own thing, related to real surfing like resort skiing on groomers is related to backcountry big mountain and deep powder in the trees, might as well be a different sport, barely in the same ballpark! They both teach people enough to progress and make good training grounds but it ends there. Nothing beats real world experience in real conditions. Most people don't need or really want 8 foot shallow barrels every day either. We just need surfable waves for more people more of the time.
Have to admit i didn't get though all of the comments...
Surely its 99% greeny related red tape + non surfing locals that always kill these ideas. The Webber idea never had a chance based on the fact it was visible on the surface.
What about more sand pumping potential spots like Snapper etc? The amount of points out there with potential just needing sand is mind boggling.
Funding for reef building from a WA perspective doesn't work. Government coughed up once but built it in Cottelsoe, easier environmental approval in the freo port zone. For what was spent it hasnt payed off - only breaking 3 times a year and then maybe unfinished as it hits deepwater and ends.
I reckon using a wedge tactic to get some progress may be better. Using beach sand, a small loader and a tracked telescopic stacker. Lower costs, smaller footprint, lower environmental issues as none of the changes are permenant. The beach sand will eventually return to where nature deems best. If the results can be linked to benefits to the wider community, other than surfers, (training opportunities for machinery operators, increased visitors to the area, increase in spend in the local traders etc) then start using that as a wedge for more permanent solutions.