‘Don’t give us a hoax break’: Surfers on Palm Beach reef
SURFERS want guarantees a new $20m artificial reef at Palm Beach will produce quality waves and not end up a “hoax” like the Narrow Neck reef.
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SURFERS want guarantees a new $20 million artificial reef at Palm Beach will produce quality waves and not end up a “hoax” like the Narrow Neck reef.
The council says the reef will “enhance and protect surf amenity, while also protecting our coastline” – a sales pitch that has evoked feelings of deja vu among waveriders.
A similar promise was made in the early 2000s with the $2.5 million artificial reef at Narrow Neck which failed to deliver on a promise of top-class waves.
“They always say it will create a good wave – if you’re lucky’,” Surfrider Foundation spokesman Chris Butler said.
The final building material for the Palm Beach reef is yet to be determined but it is expected to be built about 300m off Fourth Avenue and could be up to 200m wide and 600m long, running parallel to shore.
If all goes as Council plans, the reef will create a left and a right that peels in both directions.
The council is expected to ask the State Government to chip in half the $20 million cost.
“They have called them dual purpose reefs (for surfing and beach protection) but they aren’t really,” Mr Butler said.
He said the construction of new breaks was crucial to preventing congestion at overcrowded Gold Coast point breaks.
“I want council to take creating new waves seriously – we really need to spread the crowds out.”
The Griffith Centre for Coastal Management is overseeing the concept and project director Rodger Tomlinson said the main goal was to protect the erosion-prone beach.
With the coastline from Burleigh to the Queensland border recently becoming a World Surf Reserve and the council accepting an advisory committee of surfers, waveriders now have a greater say on projects that might affect the waves.
Mr Butler said creating waves should be the top priority of the reef.
“We need to focus a lot more on the surfing side with this reef,” he said.
“Anything they put in the water will be a buffer for erosion, so they should focus on creating a good wave.
“With a rapidly growing population, more surf needs to be created.
“We need to future-proof the coast.”
BURLEIGH HEADS SURF CAM:
A council spokesman said the community had been consulted “about all aspects of our beach protection”.
“The precise design of the reef was still being determined and encouraged surfers to council websites to look at the project.”
Palm Beach Boardriders secretary Mike Grifford said the club, with 100 financial and 300 social members, had not been contacted by council for some time.
“I can say we have had zero consultation in two years,” he said.