Boscombe The new man made reef
It’s been a long and choppy ride, but work is finally about to begin on Europe’s first artificial surf reef. The question now is whether this mass of sandbags, nestled just off the coast of Boscombe seaside resort in Bournemouth, England, will be enough to transform the slop to surf and the surrounding area to booming beach town – or Bos Vegas, as the locals have already dubbed it.
Conceived by local surfer and former English Veterans champ David Weight back in 1993, the reef has come to fruition thanks to the efforts of world-renowned oceanographer Dr Kerry Black, designer of the Narrowneck reef on Australia’s Gold Coast.
“Bournemouth has a small-wave climate,” says Black, “so this reef needs a special design. We are focused on getting the half to one-metre waves to break… It’s not going to be Pipeline but it will be a consistent seventy-metre ride when the swell is there.”
Weight eventually won the backing of Bournemouth Council in 1999, and was finally granted planning permission six years down the line in 2005.
But for once the surfer’s stereotyped lackadaisical attitude wasn’t to blame for the delays. Instead, an endless trawl of meetings with local businesses, environmental groups and government agencies slowed the process at times to a complete stop.
Last-minute issues with local fishermen finally laid to rest, work is set to begin on the installation of the forty environmentally inert geotextile sandbags this September. Costing an estimated £1.1 million, and expected to draw 10,000 surfers a year, the reef is hoped to create an image value of around £10 million per annum.
It’s not all pristine barrels and offshore winds though, with local surfers concerned, as Weight puts it, “that these reefs are advertised to such an extent that demand will exceed the increased capacity”.
Up until now localism has never been a major issue, and we can only hope this influx to the area doesn’t incite it. But generally speaking, the locals are stoked. As Dr Black says: “There’s a buzz for the whole community to feel alive and vibrant – it’s clearly broader than just surfers, it’s a lifestyle.” Amen to that.
This story originally appeared in Huck #001.
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