surf rage. solved. apparently...

[tiger]

On that point Braithy.

Remember when Brownies coastwatch used to always show at the end of the 7 news Thurs/Fri/Sat?

On the good beachbreak groundswell type days, similar to what we just had. They'd often show Palmy and it was cracking, top to bottom peaky beachies. It was always very similar to waves along the Kawana stretch at the time.

I hear Palmy is always pretty straight and crappy these days.

[haysie]

They are only starting to return now, and its no surprise that no sand has been pumped since 2009. But throughout 2001 up until 2009, you could count the really good (beachie) days on one hand per year, when it should have been more like a score of them, minimum.

It sure smelt like they were pumping sand the other day, are you sure no pumping has been done?

[petulance]

and to think here i was assuming it was a typo, and silvia wanted to see kangaroos and ROOT surfers while drinking her way through uni....

If the Aussie surfer won't go to Bali then the Euro surfer must come to Oz?

Dime a dozen at Bondi

I would go to Bondi more often if parking wasn't such a pain. And I'm too cheap to pay for parking.

Rainbow peeling for mals and learners,

I just had a look at Coastalwatch's camera at Rainbow Bay. Looks like a nice right hander ... and conditions are currently much better than the wind swept mess that is Sydney's Eastern Beaches. Looks like I have to add Rainbow Bay to the list if I'm ever in Queensland.

[crabmeat thompson]

They are only starting to return now, and its no surprise that no sand has been pumped since 2009. But throughout 2001 up until 2009, you could count the really good (beachie) days on one hand per year, when it should have been more like a score of them, minimum.

It sure smelt like they were pumping sand the other day, are you sure no pumping has been done?

Possibly. They wanted to pump out a bit before the Quiky... The bulletin said the council had no plans to pump sand in reaction to the trawler tipping over on the bar. Who knows, huh?

[crabmeat thompson]

On that point Braithy.

Remember when Brownies coastwatch used to always show at the end of the 7 news Thurs/Fri/Sat?

On the good beachbreak groundswell type days, similar to what we just had. They'd often show Palmy and it was cracking, top to bottom peaky beachies. It was always very similar to waves along the Kawana stretch at the time.

I hear Palmy is always pretty straight and crappy these days.

Palmy, north Burls, Miami. They all use to fire up.

[alakaboo]

They are still pumping Braithy. Just not as much.
They recently negotiated a new contract, up to 2024.

[crabmeat thompson]

They are still pumping Braithy. Just not as much.
They recently negotiated a new contract, up to 2024.

Well there you go. On the local GC news one of the councilors said they hadn't pumped since 2009. I disobeyed my first rule.

Never believe a politician under any circumstances.

[Yuke Hunt]

They are still pumping Braithy. Just not as much.
They recently negotiated a new contract, up to 2024.

Correct ... they were pumping just prior to last years quicky pro ... just for that purpose.

They are pumping far less nowadays ... as evidenced by the scalloping along the foreshore ... Rainbow ... Greenmount and Kirra have all become more defined during the past months. North Kirra is still phucked ... and yes the sand pumping affected the beaches all the way up to tellabudgerigar.

I'm really hoping that this trend continues ... as I can now walk down to the end of my street and surf the beachies once more ... which is exactly what I'm about to do right now ... see ya.

[alakaboo]

The trend, of less pumping, was always the plan.
They deliberately flooded the area with sand, not just through pumping but also through a massive dredging campaign.

They've learnt a fair bit more about the way sand moves through the area, so they have changed not only the volumes but also the way they pump, e.g. pump during and just before southerly swells so they get pushed into better banks, like they did/do for the Quicky pro.

There's a proposal at the moment to backpass sand under the Tweed so they have even finer control. I think it's lunacy, personally, but with the systems in place and the improved understanding of currents and movement, they could potentially manage it almost as effectively as grooming the trails at a ski resort.
I prefer the vagaries of mother nature, myself. Planets and schedules aligning and all that, but I can understand the appeal to others.

For all the vocal lamenting of the loss of Kirra, I reckon surfers are generally doing alright out of the process, considering that surf amenity was never an intended purpose of the pumping (or any of the works on the Goldy, Narrowneck being a fuzzy exception). That was property protection, ensuring safe passage of the Tweed bar, and maintenance of 'recreational' beach widths.

Though I did miss the beach breaks.

[crabmeat thompson]

Though I did miss the beach breaks.

Me too. This has been much more of a factor to surfing, imo, than losing kirra.

I've lost count of all the little north burleigh through to miami sessions I've had over the years. Now they're like hen's teeth. Big straight edged gutter into an even straighter edged sand bank.

It's fickle enough to have good banks once in a blue moon, but gone is the semi consistency.

[steve shearer]

I reckon surfers are generally doing alright out of the process, considering that surf amenity was never an intended purpose of the pumping (or any of the works on the Goldy, Narrowneck being a fuzzy exception). That was property protection, ensuring safe passage of the Tweed bar, and maintenance of 'recreational' beach widths.

Thats not quite accurate Boo.

The TRESBP act clearly states beach amenity as a prime objective.

To quote the act itself: "Queensland’s objective is “to achieve a continuing supply of sand to
the Southern Gold Coast beaches at a rate consistent with the natural
littoral drift rates updrift and downdrift, together with the supply of
such additional sand to the beaches as is required to restore the
recreational amenity of the beaches and to maintain it”. The intention
is to achieve the objectives in perpetuity." (my italics).

Now, as Neil Lazarow and many others have argued, recreational amenity on the Southern Gold Coast quite clearly and self-evidently includes surfing.
So the operation of the TRESBP must take into account gains or losses in surfing amenity in Coolangatta Bay and elsewhere.

My understanding based on interviews with the operator (McDonnel-Dowell) and the EPA documents is that they can only pump sand now that is naturally passing up the coast in front of the sand-bypass jetty.

Therefore under southerly conditions when littoral drift of sand is active they can pump.

[ether]

i'm too lazy and care too little about this to google, but haven't we been here before?

Just seems like every couple of years this 'we're going to build a reef and solve congestion/create a world class wave/create surf tourism honeypot/etc' seems to pop up.

[alakaboo]

Now, as Neil Lazarow and many others have argued, recreational amenity on the Southern Gold Coast quite clearly and self-evidently includes surfing.
So the operation of the TRESBP must take into account gains or losses in surfing amenity in Coolangatta Bay and elsewhere.

I'll happily argue the point too Steve, but it's not what I take from a literal and legal interpretation of the Act.
The references to amenity in the Act all talk about restoring/improving and maintaining amenity, the implication that it was in a depleted state. The assumption in coastal management both nationally and internationally has always been that the beaches must be wide (and dry) to provide the recreational amenity.

If you look at Schedule 2 of the Act, the expected benefits were (my italics):

• the restoration, widening and long-term maintenance of the
  Beaches, with associated benefits to tourism, recreation,
  property values and the reduction of erosion threats.

Recreational/beach amenity has not = surfing amenity, however much we'd like that to be the case. Neil (and others) are working to highlight the importance of surfing as a recreational activity, driver of residential patterns of development, and important economic input to regional economies.

But the work wasn't around when the decisions about TRESBP were made. Benefits to Qld were based on assumptions about tourism inflows and associated expenditure, because recreation is largely non-market and require some effort to compile. it's easier for other activities which have market analogues, e.g. rec fishing is costed as if the catch was sold, and there are records of boat ownership through the rego process.
Though i haven't been able to get the original Cost Benefit Analysis, the cost split would suggest that the primary inputs must have been recreational and commercial fishing, accruing to NSW.
However you slice it, Qld certainly gets the better part of the deal, especially now.

You're right on the pumping being restricted by sand supply.

Get yourself on the Surf Industry Taskforce, give Rottmouth something legit to talk about.

[Yuke Hunt]

So ... irrespective of ... but not withstanding the arguments presented above ... what is the official stance by the relevant authority on the total decimation of the natural reef configuration that was once situated off Kirra ...

Management with a miss ... is the answer ... the excuse ... I'd love to hear that.

[crabmeat thompson]

Is the reef buried under megatons of sand, or is it still visible, but dead?

[steve shearer]

This has all the official info on it.

Including the actual volumes of sand pumped.

http://www.tweedsandbypass.nsw.gov.au/

BTW, I wouldn't classify this as an agenda-free document either.

Read with a sceptical/inquiring eye and mind.

[haysie]

This has all the official info on it.

Including the actual volumes of sand pumped.

http://www.tweedsandbypass.nsw.gov.au/

BTW, I wouldn't classify this as an agenda-free document either.

Read with a sceptical/inquiring eye and mind.

One thing that knows no borders - wanky politicans and their agendas.

[chrisb]

i'm too lazy and care too little about this to google, but haven't we been here before?

Just seems like every couple of years this 'we're going to build a reef and solve congestion/create a world class wave/create surf tourism honeypot/etc' seems to pop up.

Very cynical comment but sadly very accurate.