Polynesian peak!!!, photo courtesy Australia's leading water photographer jeremywilmotte@yahoo.com.au
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Case study: cables artificial surfing reef Analysis: Narrowneck multi-purpose reef Research: East Coast Surf Spots |
Hot Topics and Links
Eric van Ettinger, a Dutch coastal engineer skilled in computer modelling, makes an assessment of the Cronulla Wave Focusing Sand Slug in the following Report (9pg pdf 507kb) and this excellent birds eye 3D video (vimeo weblink) anticipating wave breaking patterns, see more about Eric and the 'Dutch Superbank' at www.surfreefs.nl
Beach and nearshore nourishment works that have temporarily provided better surf, case studies include Newport Beach, California in1992 (7pgs, pdf, 1049kb) and St Augustine Beach, Florida in 2005 (22pgs, pdf, 1367kb).
Dutch 'Super Bank' - watch a You Tube video of thumping righthanders peeling over a 'sand groyne' created during a beach nourishment project in 2010 at Scheveningen Beach, Netherlands. The sand feature was temporary, lasting up to 3 months, surfing was best in the first month, see www.surfreefs.nl www.swellnet.com.au launches a Surfing Reef Designs Forum. Andrew Pitt makes the first post with a dedication to James Kimo Walker, who studied Hawaiian surfing reefs in the 1970's.
The 19th NSW Coastal Conference 2010 'His Dump Site, Our Playground; a call for the configuration placement of dredge sand (Cronulla Beach)' (14pgs, 2mb pdf), Andrew Pitt presented this paper in November 2010, more info www.coastalconference.com www.coastalwatch.com Ben Horvath's 'Good News for Southern Sydney Surfers' looks at previous sand dredging/dumping works at Cronulla, plus photos of the 2007 'man-made-sand-bank' at South Cronulla that lasted 6 months.
www.surfscience.com interviews Andrew Pitt Online editor Greg Koleski puts seven tough questions to Andrew - on the the science behind breaking waves and the viability of man made reefs in various communities, see http://www.surfscience.com/topics/waves-and-weather/wind-and-weather/artificial-surfing-reefs/
The Reef Journal edited by Dr David Phillips & Dr Jose Borrero, aims to share quality literature, to inform and promote the use of multi-purpose reefs in the coastal environment, to mitigate erosion and increase amenity, includes PDFs of papers from previous Surfing Symposiums, www.thereefjournal.com
National Surfing Reserves are 'iconic' places of intrinsic environ-mental, heritage, sporting and cultural value to a nation www.surfingreserves.org The Maroubra Beach National Surfing Reserve, dedicated in 2006, this 20pg document Maroubra NSR (1498kb pdf) outlines the background of this iconic location, Andrew Pitt was on the organising committee. Surfing Australia recognised by the Australian Government as the representative body for Australian surfers www.surfingaustralia.com Surfrider Foundation www.surfrider.org.au Renniks Publications is Australia's most comprehensive publisher, importer and distributor of travel guides for surfing, kitesurfing, skateboarding and skiing. The owner/operator is Ian Pitt, brother of Andrew, www.renniks.com Surf Supply Direct, Australia's leading online supplier of surf hardware, boardcovers and leashes. The owner/operator is Michael Pitt, brother of Andrew, see more at www.surfsupplydirect.com Jeremy Wilmotte is Australia's leading water photographer, his innovative surf shots are published in glossy magazines around the globe. Good surfer, nice guy jeremywilmotte@yahoo.com.au The 5th Western Australian Coastal Conference Andrew Pitt presented 'Surfing at bombora controlled beaches' (12pages, 871kb pdf) at The 5th Western Australian State Coastal Conference, Fremantle, October 2009 TracksMag.com interviews Andrew Pitt: 'Has the time come for artificial reefs?' Kirk Owers grills Andrew Pitt with five tough questions, 11August2009, get the pdf Bournemouth/Boscombe Reef: Englands first artificial surfing reef, sand bag construction, nearing completion. The location has a small wave climate and the designers (ASR) have gone for a right hander with extensive outer reef to focus and attract available swell. More Info www.bournemouth-surfing.co.uk plus live webcam at www.urbanreef.com plus surf and weather report at www.magicseaweed.com Chevron/Pratte's Reef: (El Segundo Santa Monica California USA) A long and bitter legal battle forced Chevron Oil to 'replace a surf spot', creating a legal precedent of future relevance. The reef was built in 2000 with sand sausages on a US$300,000 budget + US$200,000 topup. The reef proved too deep for smaller waves to break, and too short to function as a 'bombora-controlled-beachbreak'. The reef was rarely surfed and removed in 2008. More info www.wikipedia.org Mount Reef: (Tay Street, Mount Maunganui, North Island New Zealand) NZ's first artificial surfing reef, sand bag construction, designed and built by Shaw Mead and Kerry Black (the founders of ASR). Good rights and lefts when it breaks. More info www.mountreef.co.nz and www.asrltd.com Opunake Reef: (South Taranaki District, North Island New Zealand) NZ's 2nd artificial surfing reef. Located on the wild south west coast. Challenging site, still in construction (?) www.reef.opunake.co.nz (?) and www.asrltd.com. An official 2009 environmental monitoring report (58pg, pdf, 629kb) provides info on reef dimensions and location. Kovalam Reef: (Kerala, India) an artificial reef for coastal protection and surfing. Extending off the southern headland, the 'sand sausage reef' (synthetic fabric bags containing sand) has apparently created a wider beach. More info, 2pg pdf (3.8mb) and www.asrltd.com Lyall Bay Reef (proposal): Wellington, New Zealand surfers provide a great feasibility study for the development of a reef to improve local wave breaking quality www.lyallbayreef.org.nz 'Bring back Kirra' (Queensland Australia). Local surfers reckon 'Kirra Point doesn't break like it used too'. First, the big groyne was removed. Second, the outer reefs were smothered in an oversupply of sand (part of a regional coastal nourishment and protection strategy). Essentially the loss of key bathymetric features that played an important role influencing wave breaking patterns. More info www.kirrapoint.org 'Save Bastion Point' (Mallacoota, Victoria Australia),proposal for an expanded boat ramp with extra breakwalls threatens to slice in half a rare breaking but regional classic righthander. www.savebastionpoint.org James 'Kimo' Walker: Studied Hawaiian surfing reefs in the 1970's (especially Queens on the south shore of Oahu) and developed descriptive terminology still used today. Sadly, he passed away in 1998. A great man: a pioneer, honourable, ethical, supportive, humble yet proud, knowledgable, caring, sharing in an Aloha way... he was an inspiration, a mentor and a true gentleman. Mark 'Chubby' Button: Mark's research identified that (seafloor) 'steps' tend to trip waves in more certain and predictable locations. His lab equipment included a 'wave flume', a two dimensional wave tank. Mark is also an accomplished artist, see more at www.chubbybutton.com Andrew West: Dutch/Aussie with research interest in the minimum size of a surfing reef, via numerical modelling. West & Cowell and others also looked at the theory of Wave Focusing Surfing Reefs (11pgs, pdf, 528kb). suggestions/info always welcome... please email Andrew Pitt at andrew@surfingramps.com.au
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Design with nature, a natural stone ramp slopes into the ocean...
Design with nature to build artificial surfing reefs and wave focusing sand ridges
