Kirra as she used to be - 1995

[steve shearer]

thats a 64 dollar question and depends on who you talk to.
Morning of the Earth and the MP section at Kirra is pre-groyne.
I've just received some footage of MP and Rabbit at Kirra 1975 just post- Big Groyne surfing 6-8 tubes that makes your spine tingle.
Full below sea-level grinders on singlefins sans legropes.
There's no doubt Big Groyne improved the wave.
Serendipitous....you bet......by pure fluke the engineers put the groyne in at just the perfect angle.

[LONGINUS]

Last time I checked the current date that sand pumping was due to cease was 2016, how long did it take the 'superbank' to form / Kirra to die once pumping commenced. Could it mean the breaks would return to pre pumping form by say 2018 on their own accord?

For Goldy locals - what was D'bah like before the secondary pumping began there, just really keen to know as I have only ever surfed these breaks post pumping.

[steve shearer]

The current contract between McConnell-Dowell and the NSW Govt runs for 25 years. It commenced operations in 2001.
So 2026 will be the end of the contract.
D-bah is a man-made beach but it pumped pre bypass.

[Trev]

To answer Longinus first. Dba, there's D'ba pre-sand pumping and D'ba pre - walls.
In the early 60's there was just a short rock wall on the northern side of the Tweed River mouth. It really only went out the width of the beach. At that stage D'ba was just a couple of shifting beach breaks, albeit with a lot more power than anything around the corner. As the walls went out, D'ba developed gradually to what it is today.
Now, for Kirra - Superbank.
In those days, Snapper was a great wave, if shorter. With lots of south in the swell, you could pick up a wall "outside" the point and race across to Little Marley (not sure that's the right spelling, BTW). If the sand was right, there was a rock just north of that not unlike Surge at The Bower, with similar dangers (& thrills).
But that was the end of it unless you then paddled out into the middle of Rainbow Bay and tried real hard to get across the front of Greenmount. More often than not, you didn't make it (pre leggies).
However, a couple of times a year a big south ground swell would come through and you could pick up the wave outside Snapper and step off on Greenmount beach (well a sandbar about 100 metres out) halfway towards Kirra. The wave would get a bit flat across Rainbow but was rideable and then picked up like a racetrack across the front of Greenmount
Greenmount was normally a "kiddies corner" type wave.
And Kirra, pre-groynes was always as good as after the groynes with a couple of provisos. Before big groyne the wave broke further north but IMO was just a hollow and just as fast. The groyne made the wave break back towards Coolangatta and made it a bit longer.
Little groyne did absolutely nothing for many years and I'm not sure what made the difference. I was on surfing sabbatical during that period.
There's one other thing. It may just be my memory but I can't ever remember experiencing the massive Kirra rip until after big groin went in.

[LONGINUS]

Thanks for that Trev,

I have tried to work out how it all used to work from looking at the old photos you see on the surf club walls at Coolangatta and Greenmount surf clubs, pre groynes, pre pumping, pre high rise etc. Good to hear it from a surfers perspective.

[Trev]

Thanks for that Trev,

I have tried to work out how it all used to work from looking at the old photos you see on the surf club walls at Coolangatta and Greenmount surf clubs, pre groynes, pre pumping, pre high rise etc. Good to hear it from a surfers perspective.

If its still there, the McDonalds on the beachfront at Greenmount had some fantastic old photos on the walls. I haven't been in there for probably 5 years, though.

[Yuke Hunt]

Big groyne was shortened in 1995 … by 30m.
There is a push to extend the length back using sand filled geo-textile bag technology …
If you are interested in finding out more about the sand by-pass and its affects …
here’s another link …
http://www.surfrider.org.au/initiatives ... 0final.pdf

On the subject of D’bah … some days its good other times its diabolically bad. It’s always been a wave magnet … before and after the sand pumping. The banks get trashed by decent swell and the beach totally disappears … then they pump sand directly into the bay to stabilise the dune system …D’bah … it’s a man made phenomenon. It can get kind of good though … but none of you northern beaches types would like it … stick with Bungan or the Roy … boys.

[Nick Carroll]

Not exactly true Nick, if you follow up on the history of the Sand Bypass Advisory Committee you'll see how certain agendas influenced the outcomes of the Bypass project (and continued to influence it even as it was apparent Kirra was being snowed under).

Well yeah but really those agendas were more to do with potential development as a result of more sand on the beaches than with the well-being of surf locations. So I'm not thinking of 'em as looking after the interests of the surf community per se.

Longinus it took about 18mths of pumping at the old clearing rate of about 800,000 cubic metres p.a. for the Superbank to be set and properly groomed. Took about another year before it became obvious how rooted Kirra was.

The front edge of that sand is now about a mile and a bit down the stretch from Kirra; it's gonna take a long time and a lot of SE wave and wind action to evenly distribute it down to Tugun etc. They don't even know what'll happen to Currumbin; haven't modelled it.

The bypass operation is now moving around 480,000 cu. m., which is about what the engineers estimate naturally sweeps up from NSW and across the Tweed mouth each year. Chances of breaking the contract: zero. Chances it'll be renewed down the track: even. But political pressure could change the nature of the operation: it's just that the pressure has to be brought to bear on the NSW State Govt, the Qld State Govt, Tweed Shire, the GCCC, and the Federal Govt all at the same time.

[steve shearer]

[

The bypass operation is now moving around 480,000 cu. m., which is about what the engineers estimate naturally sweeps up from NSW and across the Tweed mouth each year. Chances of breaking the contract: zero. Chances it'll be renewed down the track: even. But political pressure could change the nature of the operation: it's just that the pressure has to be brought to bear on the NSW State Govt, the Qld State Govt, Tweed Shire, the GCCC, and the Federal Govt all at the same time.

Not to mention a whole new expensive, time consuming EIS lodged with the QLD EPA.
However, the Big Groyne could be re-extended by the GCCC alone.
Also the dredge could be moved further north without any change to the sand bypass contract ie that is purely a QLD EPA decision.
Those things alone would hasten the movement of sand north.
Be interesting to see how the paddle-out on goes as far as raising the profile of the issue.

[turtle]

this thread has been so far very informative for me.
i been going to the goldie since 78'
have my own memories of surfing little groyne big groyne, some fairly significant times surfing for me.
some of your comments are compassionate about kirra.
i have never been local, and surfed Kirra "good" about 15 times over space 10yrs.
so i dont really know and cannot comment with any conviction.
But something i do know is that in my hom,e town when i was grom 75' to 80' Kirra was second only to pipe

[Trev]

Sort of on topic - the way it was................. way back when.
If you get the full width pic this one makes sense. If you have a 4:3 screen like me, all you'll get is the first bay. So to see the full pic you have to right mouse click and select "view image". Then the "back" button to return to the forum topic.

[Trev]

I have this old, one-off surf publication entitled, "The Surfing History of Queensland". Covers the Goldie, Sunny Coast and Byron-Lennox.
It has some fabulous old pics which I will progressively scan and post here to show the way Kirra et al has been in the past.
Not sure when this was put out but I'd say about '85-86.
There's a Billabong ad on the back with a heap of surfers and some boards.
I'll post it up next.
Maybe someone can date the thing from the boards, or some of the faces.

[mustkillmulloway]

my 2c

the superwank has taken out rainbow beachies

which offered good...real good...lefts and rights

not point quality but

this was important as it helped spread the crazy crowd

as far as turning off the sand pumps

damages done....will take decades

unless we get one crazy cyclone

in which case all the sand could be gone in under the week

guess which option i'm backing

[chrisb]

http://www.coastwatch.com.au/SurfBeach/ ... hHome-346/

Good video .... complete with Bon Jovi soundtrack...

[Beanpole]

I've got some real old photos that show the sand pre dbah breakwall i.e. 1900ish. The sand was pretty much like it is now. Even in the late 50s Kirra was a big beach. The fabled barrel is a result of the breakwall at dbah.

Pregroin Kirra was no ordinary wave on its day. The groin just added 50mtrs and an outside take off that handled more swell. I was watching Sanur earlier in the year and it reminded me of how good a wave Kirra was. Superbank barrels can run for a long time but you rarely see the lip 50mtrs in front of you for 100mtrs.

[tiger]

That's cool that footage of cyclone Violet Trev. Nice little bit of Moffs on it, and the seaway as Creased mentioned.

Was a good'un that's for sure, really good conditions. Surfed the middle peak at the reef off Moffs during that swell, absolutely out of it's mind. Up there in my top 5 for surfs on the Sunny coast. I've got an old pic of Wurtulla on that swell too, be farked if i know where it is tho.

[Trev]

I was watching Sanur earlier in the year and it reminded me of how good a wave Kirra was. Superbank barrels can run for a long time but you rarely see the lip 50mtrs in front of you for 100mtrs.

Yeah. That's the bit I remember. You took off and went for it. The lip was feathering, curling over, locking you in - from waaay in front. 50 meters? Probably. Total commitment and the rocks waiting for your board if you didn't make it. No leggies.

[pointboardrider]

Ive heard there were a few "famous" surfers were behind the push to pump the sand to create the SB. I bet they wont be at the paddle out.
Ive surfed Kirra in the 80's. Best wave in the world hands down. I remember getting to deep and getting crunched in knee deep water. It was such a sand dredging powerful wave. Surfed the SB a couple of years ago, does not come close.Maybe I had a bad day but it was fat with shutdowns. Yeah Ive seen it good but fark the Kirra barrel was insane.
The good thing about Kirra unlike the SB was the crowd was spread out more and you could always pick off a wave when someone got to deep...unlike the SB