Beach News


Original Comment

baxi22 wrote:
I have been a surfer for almost fifty years and I am a former member of the British Surfing Executive.
Last Saturday (6th February) I saw that the swells rolling into Bournemouth bay were as perfect as I have seen for years, 4 to 6 feet with a light offshore breeze.
I headed for Boscombe Pier in order that I might at last see what the reef was capable of. What did I see was dozens of surfers enjoying themselves in the perfect waves on either side of the pier, but not a single surfer on the £3.7 million reef.
The reef itself was a total mess and completely unrideable.
The stated intention at the outset of the project was to increase the number of surfable days at Bournemouth. Not only has it completely failed in this respect, but it is unrideable even on very good surfing days.
I don't know what ASR have got wrong in the design, but clearly something is badly wrong.
I trust that Bournemouth will be doing whatever is necessary to recover their investment, especially as I understand that funds were withheld pending a successful demonstration of the reef working correctly.
As for holding a surfing contest on the reef, well, forget it. Its not going to happen.
In addition Markmag, the above comments does put the icing on the cake.

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Boscombe reef gets its first surfing competition

8:30am Wednesday 10th February 2010

By Lesley Richardson »

BOSCOMBE’S artificial reef – the only one of its kind in Europe – is to host its first surf contest.

Organisers hope some of Europe’s best surfers and bodyboarders will come and test out the South Coast reef in a men’s open, 35+, ladies open, and under-18s junior contest on March 20 and 21.

Construction finished on the £3 million reef in Boscombe last November after bad weather delayed it by more than a year.

The Sorted Surf Festival will also play host to the first leg of the British Bodyboarding Annual Championships.

The event’s main sponsor Rip Curl will provide the prizes and there will also be demonstration equipment such as surf boards, paddle boards and kayaks to try out.

Gul team riders Mar Harris, known as Igor, and Russel Winter were also expected to be on hand to give advice and sign autographs.

An after-party at Urban Beach for contest organisers, sponsors and contest competitors as well as spectators will take place with a barbecue, drink and live music.

The contest will be a chance to silence critics who say the reef does not work and is in the wrong place.

The reef, which more than doubled its initial cost, was built by New Zealand-based ASR to enhance waves and is part of an £11 million regeneration of the seafront.

It was created to improve surfing conditions using 55 sand-filled bags which are 225m out to sea and cover the size of a football pitch.

It is designed to provide a grade five wave on a day with good swell which is in the challenging range and compares to the Hawaii Pipeline which is a grade-eight.

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