Artificial Reefs, Australia, New Zealand

[Brent]

Kinda looks exactly like those images I posted on a daily basis of our failed reef earlier this year doesn't it.
Our reef after being laid did settle lower in the water for about a month. When first laid it was an atoll; and then it became a plain old submerged boating hazard.
Still not working, still never used, still a black humor joke here. ASR who??

Rob Nixon over at Surfrider foundation(??) Texas has alot more stuff on ASR I believe if anyone is interested.

[Hang11]

I see Auckland is getting the wavebox.....an indoor continuous surfing wave.

http://www.thewavebox.co.nz/on-board.html

I heard that a subsidiary of ASR are building it

[SeanGuna]

Rob Nixon over at Surfrider foundation(??) Texas has alot more stuff on ASR I believe if anyone is interested.

On your (??). If you do not know what surfrider foundation is I have been a member for over a decade. Its a group of members throughout the U.S. and abroad that donate money to helping the coasts to keep up a positive surfing atmosphere and helping the environment on and around the coast. But not just donations help; but also volunteer time and just a community of surfers or people who love protecting ( ) what we love. But Rob Nixon amongst others are just an example of the type of prof. experts in the community that offer scientific facts and advice to help the cause to preserve our sport.

Damn I kinda feel like a hippie now... guess I should go tar some endangered species in garlic and oil and fry them up for dinner... all much better now...

[Brent]

I know who they are - I just couldn't remember his (Rob's) details.
He did some particularly talented digging into ASR's behaviour in that area post-Katrina.
If that guy who began this thread contacts him direct - I'm sure he could nice little peice on them

Our reef has since shown no signs of goodness, the coastline is altered, the local surf-livesaving community has applied for extra funding to oeprate - as they pull more swimmers & kids etc out of the water now - eddy current, more rips - Blah Blah Blah.

But, now you guys over there will have your own reef to scratch your head at & peer at like a Meercat willing & wishing it to work. meanwhile ASR will be continuing the pyrimid scheme of reef projects building on their "success" with each one. yep. Black really is white in their world.

[Roy Stewart]

Tay st isn't so good for children now that the reef has caused that big hole and horrendous rips. Plus there's no waves there anymore, it used to be a gem. I went to some effort to warn them ( the council/Bay Times) but to no avail .

[tree4]

More bad news ... http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/8275283.stm

[kitesurfer]

"When surfers are competent, they can then progress on to the surf reef.

"Our signage on site will make this very clear."
So what are we going to see signs on bouys out in the water saying competant surfers only or sorry this reef hasn't passed its health and safety risk assessment yet so its closed! Hahahahaha get a life council folks swiming in the sea is potentially dangerous bu ti guess in this day and age we can expect at least one muppet to injure themselves on the reef and then try to sue the local council.

KS

[phillwilson]

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHH....whats the point in all this info laying around... no one seems to want to use it!!

Note that this story is co written by Chris Robinson who came onto this very forum and asked for our input... yet still writes a story that borders on a "puff piece" ,about an issue that we all know on here, has all the hallmarks of a good ol fashioned "take em to the cleaners" scandal.

No doubt there is room for a balanced argument..but at least lets get the debate going..Chris , if you are reading...what did this story "DO" except confirm that the reef exists and that the powers that be think it will be magic beans and those who have be asked to advise from outside have clear concerns...where does that leave us for reading, my own feelings are that to a casual reader that the story does very little service ot the topic and fails to inform people of the true politics going on behind the veil.

Chris if you are listening and you feel hard done by by my comments please feel free to riposte' any debate on this issue is good for the community at large.

thanks

Phill

[tree4]

Sent the following email to Chris at the BBC ....
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Chris.

I read your article this morning (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/8275283.stm) on the safety concerns and then read your posts on the surfing forum (www.surfing-waves.com) (on which I am one of the moderators).

I do not need to add to the opinions already adequately expressed on forums around the world about whether the reef will work or not. I do not have sufficient experience as a surfer to make such comments.

However, as someone who regularly surfs at Boscombe and Bournemouth and lives just 8 miles away from the reef, may I just add the following.

Quoting from your article this morning "The reef is part of an £11m ongoing regeneration of Boscombe's seafront which the council hopes will boost the economy by £3m a year and attract up to 10,000 surfers."

10,000 surfers!! Assuming that's per annum (as its in the same sentence as the '£3m a year'), that's over 30 a day on average.
Lets challenge those figures shall we? Average of 30 a day would need something like 300 on each day the reef works to balance out the 0 surfers that are there when the sea is flat (as it has been for the last 2 weeks at Boscombe). The pier area is already totally over crowded when only 20-30 surfers turn up! Where exactly are these 10,000 surfers going to be? In the water? On the beach? Doesn't anybody challenge the statements made by these people?

Lets imagine that the reef works and 300 capable surfers turn up to use it (in order to keep to meet the expected 10,000 year). The reef has a most 2 or 3 take off spots. So that's 100 surfers each. If we allow 30 seconds for each surfer to await a decent wave to ride, that will take 50 minutes or nearly an hour. Do they really think a hundred people are going to queue for 1 hour to ride one wave? Then queue for another hour to ride another wave? Its not Alton Towers.

In order for those 100 surfers to queue around the take off spot, many would be constantly battling the currents and wind to stay in position so as not to miss their take off slot. They just aren't gonna do it.

I would guess that (in the councils mind set) a surfer = holiday maker plus body board, in which case the numbers might stack up. But those holiday makers wont be able to use the reef so what a waste of £3m to build it.

Don't get me wrong, if it works then there are going to be a handful of very happy surfers on the 10-12 days a year they use it. But to extrapolate that into massive revenue from 10,000 surfers is pure fantasy.

Hope this helps.

[tree4]

Any chance anyone else can copy paste their thoughts from the forum posts and e-mail direct to chris.robinson@bbc.co.uk? He did say he welcomed direct e-mail contact.

Maybe if enough of us actually send comments the next time reporters go to the council/ASR they might pause and ask the right questions.

[phillwilson]

24 hrs and counting and im still fuming...and not entirely sure why!!! I haven't even surfed a reef break before !!!

but I was brought up with simple ideas on what constitutes right and wrong and I have always seen the presses job to shine a light into the depths of these kind of farces and expose the areas of society that refuse to self moderate i.e. councils who act like bandits demanding us all to pitch in and then misusing these precious funds on their own hair brained schemes and self serving ideas.

I guess I'm just feeling that even though the facts of the article explored superficially a few of MANY of the failings of these ASR scams, it lacked the tone that would provide the reader with due concern.

This tower will topple, history has proved this to be so... but by then ASR will be moving on to some other shmuck with a new big top to sell

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr and indeed, I am going to formulate a good set of questions that I WILL pass onto Chris

[Brent]

If you remember my comments about our reef when first laid- it was an Atoll, it compacted the seabed as it settled to a depth of about 40cm at dead-low tides.

[Roy Stewart]

The reef will not build up sand around itself, instead a deep trench will be scoured out around it, and it will sink into the sand, as has happened in New Zealand.

[tree4]

Got a reply from Chris Robinson. Man is as good as his word. Will forward comments to the team fro their next article on the subject. So I suggest you email him direct.

[kitesurfer]

Well i now have first hand experience of the reef having kitesurf on it on saturday and i am hoping that Brent and Roy are both right and that it will sink into the sand because at the moment it breaks through the surface of the water.
The conditions were wind swell so no period but surfers were in the water catching waves by the pier and on the reef you'd get the occasional kitesurfer or kayacker appear and then disapear off again as it was just white water mush that couldn't be ridden.
The fact that it appears through the surface is not good and at the moment its hopeless. Only time will tell if it will improve but im not holding my breath. One of the major problems with it is that it just isn't anywhere near big enough.

KS

[Roy Stewart]

Physics tells us that a bag of sand placed on sand in a surf zone will sink until it disappears.

It beats me why no one has noticed that this is inevitable.

[market-research]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/ne ... nwall.html
bournemouth reef is a huge success . oops duck and cover!

Brent and Roy -you really tried your best to warn them but no-one was listening, The council CEO has just been busted for porn on his work computer. So when he was supposed to be reading your warnings he was j e r k i n g off on other things.

[market-research]

http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/4 ... ephant___/
also confirms what the locals are experiencing at the moment .
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/f ... f_reef___/
is a bit more info
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/f ... _go_ahead/
may also help
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/4 ... surf_reef/
I feel sorry forthe poor girl who's job it is "to sell a dead horse'
read all the comments and you'all will understand the unravelling tale of unbelievable but true..

[RJD]

"“Wednesday was the first time in five months that we’ve had any signs of a south westerly ground swell. "

So. Once every 5 months you may, possibly, get a sign of what it could be like, maybe, oneday..

“At one time, there were four to five long boarders out there. "

Gosh. four to five longboarders. Aparently at other times a booger was seen also. £2.5million, 100,000's of surfers?

[market-research]

The daily surf report from sorted surf shop generally reads like " 0-1ft smooth - almost rideable, might improve towards the end of the week good for a sup or longboard". Its like a 'ghost town' for waves ,surfing and more -nothing but tumbleweeds, dust and 'almost rideable " at 0-1 ft surging on the shore . Carcass's of old surboards litter the beach with their cobweb encrustered skeletons of dead surfers looking to reach ..the sea .... for the groundswell promised last year .. or was it the one before. the tarty broken wooden sign , half collapsed, undermined says ... was almost rideable sometime then.. in the past but we cant remember when! (try the last few phrases to a 1-2 pattern strum!! ) The other surfshop on the beach is on utube like sagrinly saying 'I dont know what I'm doing here" , having established business on ASR's promise. feathers r gittin plucked, the tars boiling and pitchforks n shovels are gettin sharpened. ASr's rep called Andy someone said 'time to dust off the surfboards" when he rocked up to town after a years delay and the entire town turned up to buy wax and new leggies . Recently a force 9 gale , 50ft waves in the Atlantic just below England produced a day of reef .. nothing . Portugal as you might have seen was huge with the green wetsuit man breakin boards on 15ft monsters?
Kerry black told Opunake that the world would beat a path to its door as well?