...of the world as we know it! Well not quite, but the great beach breaks from south bethany straight on through 5th street are about to go to crap. It has taken years to wash the sand away that has has exposed the groins and given some great waves over the past couple of years. but all good things must end and in september, the core is going to dredge one of the biggest beach replenishments ever done in the states right here delaware. but check this out. middlesex refused to dredge, soooo, i don't know if they are going to leave a cove there or what, but it could get an interesting wave there if they just leave middlesex out...think about it??? and if I recall correctly, last time they dredged in b-town, north oc reaped the benefits and gladly excepted all the sand as it started washing down towards fenwick. and, rehoboth and has started coming back to life from their recent replenishment. good on ya mate! yin-yan bad and good, waves and no waves!
its so frustrating seeing that stretch of beach be a waste land of absolutely no surf b/c of dredging there. We have a house in Bethany and its painful heading into OC when you think of what could be in your front yard. Sounds like its going to get worse. Thanks for the 411. -CR
Yeah... we got the big SUCK mid OC in the fall... and it does suck. For a little while anyway, but if your like me you'll be impressed how fast mother nature will fight back. Be careful though it'll be stupid shallow the first few good swells.
sand replenishment yeah i hate to be a stickler douchebag but it's not called dredging its called "beach fill" or the the title i used, anyway it usually makes the waves suck, they do it in jersey all the time but not the strip where i live thankfully, it really messed up monmouth county but some spots like ocean city and atlantic city recovered quicker, good luck and fight them if you want, the lbi project was delayed for a while and not completly done because people lobbied against it
We dont know how the beaches would react. It may mean that it will be a sick shorey, or more sand at another spot which could make that spot aweasome. The sand will move where it wants. Bethany is stupid because the sand will just wash away again.
I think a lot of time with the beach replenishments, the breaks initially are made worse, because there's a lot of loose sand moving around. The loose sand, rather than the solid bottom, is worse for good breaking waves. Take a look at main stretch of beach in rehoboth with their beach replenishment a year or two ago. That place got ruined. They used to have a decent wave break off the jetties, but last summer (I haven't been there since then) it would go from real deep to shallow all of a sudden and the surf would just surge on shore - making for terrible surf. Beach replenish may not be good for the surf, but were not going to be able to aviod it in a lot of areas. Bethany will continue to get replenished every so often or else it will be become our next sandbar! The beach/tourist industry is too profitable to let that happen.
The dirty secret in beach replenishment is that although there is more beach area for tourons to sit on, there is nowhere safe for them to go play in the water due to the steep, powerful, shorebreak. I have been told by guards (but not seen statistics) that after replenishment, the number of beach injuries goes way up. I am suprised that noone (that I know of) with a serious shorebreak injury has yet sued a munincipality for creating the hazardous conditions that caused the injury. Something the Bethany local gov't ought to be thinking about...
the injuries go up alot according to the RBP website injury count each year. I did a report on the negative effects of beach replenishment and the alternatives for my research essay this semester. personally im all for an artificial reef... a fraction of the cost, proven to work and they can build them to create good surf.
that makes sense that the beach replenishment leads to more injuries, due to creating more shore break type surf. An artificial reef is a really interesting idea. Rather than building the groins and jetties, which really aren't very successful in preventing overall beach erosion, it sounds logical to build some sort of structure offshore. Breakwaters serve this purpose, but block all waves (which is no good for us obviously). There is a breakwater in front of the Delaware Bay, which blocks a lot of surf into the Bay area. It would be interesting to see how effective an artifical reef could be in slowing beach erosion. Maybe the artificial reefs could be used in conjunction with the beach replenishment. The project of course should be coordinated with the Surfrider Foundation, so that perfect, hollow A frames are created as well!
nice idea but... Do you really think that the government would have enough care to actually consider surfing for something like that. The quickest and cheapest way to do something is their way. And that way they have more money for the war, you see, its win-win for them to dredge. Dredging is fairly inexpensive compared to reefing (other than sinking an old decrepid ship with a ton of TNT). The larger beach means more tourists and that means more money for the economy. As for us were just some degenerates floating around on a fiberglassed peice of foam, that all to gov't sees us for. And i thank got for the Surfrider Foundation keeping what we have here, just dont expect the gov,t to go into out pockets for surfers...ever. On the brighter side. Had fun with last weeks swell, and cant wait for some offshore hurricanes. Its just around the corner. NO MORE 6/4 w/ booties ang gloves. HOT days and board short WOOO HOOOO Once again, sorry for the rant
the govt doesn't give a squat about surfers, but think about the idea that something of an artificial reef type structure built offshore, may actually be an effective way of preventing beach erosion. I'm not sure if that was the point jordan was trying to make w/ his original comment, but I think it sounds pretty darn reasonable. In my mind, I can see how, building an offshore structure to break up the surf could be very effective. I'm not sure how, effective, it would really be on the storm surge issue, but either is any other method. We already know that beach replenishment, jetties, sea walls, etc.. are only very temporary solutions to the problem... Breakwaters are already in place to protect some bay areas. But, if artificial reefs could effectively prevent beach erosion, and provide good surf (not to mention a good habitat for marine life). then hey, bonus all around!
That really makes a lot of sense. I think they need to stop dredging and pumping sand and do something else. Its just a short term repetitive process that keeps the army corps employed and doesnt really do much at all except disrupt the ocean.
Fenwick I live in fenwick and they replenished the beach two years ago in the fall. When they were in the middle of it there was a big swell and it just went off. And it held up duing the big NE swells to but other than that it sucked. does anyone know where they are planning on replenishing the beach anyway?
The end is near! September. South Bethany to (north) 5th street in b-town. Waves will suck after that. But like I mentioned earlier, they will be skipping middlesex. That could make things interesting. And by the way. I have been guarding for 12 years at sea colony and we keep a calculated log that shows since the last replenishment, we have dropped our spinal injuries every single year. Last year, constantly surfing the best sand bars that I have ever seen there, we had no major shoulder, head or neck injuries. Summer 08 could be a nightmare for the guards...and surfers!
I here ya ob... I'd say one of the interesting things about ruining one beach with sand, is the affects that happens to the surround beaches as the longshore current brings new sand to other places... i'd say overall, coastal engineering is responsible for destroying some breaks, and also creating some good ones. Take our inlets for example... Or the wedge in newport!
I am not pro or con! I think that they have to dredge it. I was talking to a friend who works for the core and hes says that the reef idea has been proposed 30 years ago. The problem is we don't have the kind of bottom needed to keeps its exsistence. Basically, a hurrincane or nor easter could wipe it away easily from what he was saying. We just do not have any structure to keep it stable out there. And, some one had mentioned that beach replenishment was more expensive. This particulare prject if one of the biggest ever chashing out the tax payers just over 11 million dollars. The artificail reefs that people want to see may not even be possible. The stretch of coast we call the bethany area would see a 3-4 mile reef costing upwards of a 100 million. That is a big step that tax payers in a lil town would not vote in. Maybee in atlantic city the money could work, but not in bethany. Whatever, we will still surf. I bet north oc will come back to life. Maybe some epic secret spot?
Actually I have read and heard about some interesting and cheap technologies emerging for reef building - involving pumping sand into giant sandbags and placing the bags strategically. Could potentially work well for east coast beaches to create some structure. If I find the links again I will post them. Paul
Artificial Reefs I wonder how much that reef project would cost, and where it would go. Also, I have heard that they were thinking about putting sand bags out in the water and that could potentially work too.
