You just made my point. Replenishment isn't for middle class people. I was talking about oceanfront homes. I was talking about how the replenishment is all about millionaires and their mansions on the sea and how red tape suddenly dissapears, but you turned this into an argument. Again this was just a deflection on your part anyway. AND below we have your original statement which shows I can read just fine. You can say you're not a relenishment apologist, but what you say after that completely contradicts that. Nothing wrong with my reading comprehension skills. Where in this statement did you simply say it was pointless to complain AFTER and the proper time to complain was before? That is not what you said. Nothing wrong with my comprehension. You basically say people shouldn't bother complaining and it's not a big deal. It IS a big deal Yes moaning after the fact is useless FOR THAT SPECIFIC BREAK, BUT it does bring attention to what it can do your break and brings awareness to people so they can stop the next one. So in fact it serves a purpose complaining about a break that has recently been replenished. The key is to adjust future replenishments. You need to do that during the comment period.
Belmar is practically shore break as it is now so I dont think belmar will be ruined long term. Might not even be as horribly different by the time a few storms come through.
What's tough right now is that almost all of Monmouth county breaks , minus the selective east south easterly swell to the hook, has been replenished. In years past it would be one beach or one town, not almost all of them at once. I hope a big storm takes all that sand back without damaging people's homes or livelihood and every town has a break. At this rate there's going to be one or two spots with 100 guys in the lineup. I don't have the social abilities to deal with that.
Didn't really care about beach replenishment until I moved back east. But now I own a home on an island, in the Atlantic, and if they need to pump sand and mess up the surf to keep the land intact, then so be it. I agree that its a waste of money etc. But this is like the same double edge sword that surfers always have. It's easy to sit on this website, begging for a huge hurricane to come up the coast, so we can all score waves... Thats east to say if you don't live on these islands. If you don't live close to the beach. If all you care about is the waves, then you probably dont have anything personally invested near a shoreline. I mean, my dad retired in DE. His house is about 3 miles inland and he always jokes about how in 20 years, his property will be beach front. I agree that with proper execution, the effects on surf breaks could be minimized, but here is the truth people: NO ONE CARES!!!! If you think in areas like OC JERZ, or OC MD (That has 180 blocks of public beaches and opens 2 TINY BLOCKS OF IT to surfers everyday while in season) give two sh**s about the surf, you are kidding yourself. Those beaches are for swimming only cause the hotels and the taxes. Those touristas pay the bills. They keep the economy going. They are at your local beach, paying the bills all summer so they can stand waist deep in the ocean and duck under a few shore pounders. No one drives all the wave from Ohio every year to surf.... NO ONE CARES BUT US. And we don't have any "skin" invested... Revenue doesnt come from surfers. Without these hotels, businesses, timeshares and rentals, your beach town as you know it wouldn't even exist. There would be no jobs. No income. No community. Its different in CA and HI. People go there to watch the surf and surfers. Its part of the tourism. Its iconic. They protect surf on the west coast. They don't black ball beaches all summer. Sh**, they cater more to surfers out there than the tourists... But the bills get paid out there and everyone is happy... If you think anyone but me and six other people give two sh**s about the surf on Hilton Head Island, you are wrong. The protect the real estate. It is actually the local governments job to do this. They are doing their job.... I know, the other argument is how dangerous these shorebreak conditions could be on tourists... Again, no one cares. People get hurt in the ocean regardless. It doesnt affect the price of tea in china.
I don't care since I don't live in jersey but I blame all the #Belmar crap. That's what you get for annoying the hell out of everyone.
They just pumped sea girt on (xmas day) but it seems to have settled back to about 80 pct as good and hopefully getting better.
Don't buy on the ocean if you can't handle the risk. Fact is most those areas shouldn't be developed anyway. Oh and was there beach replenishment before sandy hit? I think so. How did that work out? Now people are talking about offshore islands. AGAIN....WE ARE DEBATING DIFFERENT ISSUE: You can still protect property by doing beach replenishment CORRECTLY with correct sand grain and filling the beach correctly like they did in oc, maryland. So what exactly are the morons on this forum advocating? That surfers not stick together and voice our opinion during comment periods so that the army corps takes into account wave action when doing a replenishment project. I really dislike a lot of the people on this forum. You people make absolutely no sense. Just quit surfing. And obviously the question has to be asked why you expect the government to spend millions protecting oceanfront property. Don't build/buy there.
I feel what you are saying man. Im not trying to be debbie downer. I am just saying that no one cares. no one is going to listen. the Army Corps dont get paid to worry about surf breaks and how their job will affect recreation. They are paid to preserve the land. period. They could care less what happens to your surf break and they will not listen to you... Surfrider can get 50 guys together all the time, and they can conjure up a million alternative solutions and give them advice on how they can be effective and still not hurt the surf. No one listens. It makes people feel better to talk about it. To try and make change. Im just telling you nobody but a few of us care. Your local politicians dont care. It would actually be borderline irresponsible for them to care about the surf. The ones making the decisions are like anyone invested in a publicly traded company. It is unethical for them to concern themselves with honest labor, and keeping jobs on american soil. They all have an oath to their shareholders to Maximize profitability at ALL TIMES. So no one at that Army Corp or at you local politicians office are paid to care about what we are discussing. The tax dollars and money that goes into all this is generated from the taxes and revenue within your state and community. Im not saying that I dissagree with you. I am just saying this same conversation has been happening for decades and nothing has changed. Nothing probably will.... A million people have said. Dont buy along the coast unless you want to end up falling into the ocean. Thats just nonsense. The population density along all of our coastlines are pretty solid, so there are MILLIONS of people that rely on beach replenishments.... There are only a couple dozen that give a fu** about the surf. What it do... ya know?
Heard that zach619. Surfing is not the first community I've been part of that has a hard time realizing where we fall within the macrocosm of society. We aren't even a drop in the bucket of numbers on the census or tax dollars. Hell, there are many surfers that don't pay taxes and have absolved themselves of their SSN#. I don't like it any more than any of you do and the sight of a crane or dozer for dredging makes me ill like it does you. What am I gonna do about it? Go hop on all the shin to knee high waves I can today in this 64 and sunny weather!!!!!!! Scored 25 mediocre rides in an hour last night at sunset. 25 rides bro are 25 rides. Shred em if ya got em. While supplies last... FLY A BANNER FOR PROPER CONSUMPTION OF SINE WAVES AS THEY REACH SHORE BECAUSE THEY'RE NOT INFINITE IN TODAY'S SOCIETY
Oh you mean like ruggles right? No one should have said anything right? Clearly another example of people speaking out and them destroying the break anyway since so few people surf.....oh wait a minute....It worked! They saved the break. I've never heard such rubbish in my entire life. You sound like one of those people who tells people they shouldn't bother voting. You can't win every battle obviously, but you can win a lot. Plenty of people do care about surf contrary to what you're saying. There are surf shops on the east coast and plenty of people enjoy surfing/bodyboarding.
Zach619 speaks the truth. Besides most surfers don't own the big expensive at risk beach properties. so the community at large has no issues with beach replenishment.
Happened here in Pensacola around 2003, no sandbars and no surf for about 5 years, in those spots. Luckily they only dredged the residential waterfronts and left the national seashore alone.
I hear you man. Think globally, act locally dude. I just disagree with you. Yeah, they saved trestles too in San Diego... So? They also had MILLIONS of people petition for that. Millions. Ruggles was "saved" too. But that has nothing to do with the price of tea in China. Neither of those places have ANYTHING to do with pumping sand. People *****ed when the poured concrete over sunset cliffs decades ago, but the damn cliffs were falling apart and the coastal road was going to fall in the ocean. When it comes down to it, the people are going to get their way. People on sunset cliffs bought their homes to watch the waves and the surf, but when their properties were in Jeopardy, they were all in agreement. We first, the Cliffs last. And from all the surfline articles, ruggles wasnt that big a deal. Its sounds like the DOT was doing the right thing, simply trying to preserve the area... They didn't care how. So, the GLOBAL surfing community, not just the guys in Tee shirts in NE stepped in and simply explained an alternative way that didnt impact them financially. So the suits basically said, cool, we don't care about the details. It's not like the guys were trying to kill a surf break. Their intentions were good. But the thousands of miles of sandy coast line along the east coast is a completely different thing. Every surfrider foundation in every town all up and down the coast trying to stop it every year. It ALWAYS fails. So unless you have some serious scientific evidence to prove a BETTER way for the entire east coast to keep from sliding into the ocean other than pumping sand... Please, stand up. Tell them... But let me guess, you don't have a better idea.... It would be different if you or anyone had a legit idea that was better. But they have tried it all. Taking sand from different areas so its a closer match to the sand on the beach, thus making it bla bla blah.... ALl that sh** is putting a bandaid on a gunshot wound. So, if you want to stand up and fight. go for it. good luck to you. I hope you win. That would be great. But it sounds to me like you are all fired up and *****ing about something when you have no power to change it. If you have the solution, we are all listening. Throw your ideas out on the table. Lets all talk about it. There are some intelligent people on this forum and we all want the same thing... If we can all agree that there is a better way, then lets do it. Start a movement. But why are you going to organize against something that is a necessary evil if you don't have a better solution? If you have a way to have a positive impact on saving the receding coastline AND saving the surf... that will work, but like I said, no one cares if your Sand Bar is a little different. Its a fu**ing sand bar. Not a reef break in New England.
Thank you. I am not trying to be a villian here. I am just saying that people like us are nothing in the grand scheme of the coastal population. And simply saying "people shouldn't live that close" is ridiculous. Way too late. I am just saying, if you think 20 million people up and down the east coast give a sh** about your local sand bar not breaking as well, you are disillusion. You think the 8 million people in NYC give a sh** if new jerseys coastline is blocked by artificial islands. Hell no. If that ridiculous idea would work, they would pass that sh** with 99% approval rates. And it would be like that anywhere. You can save a reef break, or a cliff or a state reserve, maybe. But like I said, no one cares that your sand bar isn't what it used to be. Because like I said, if they didn't preserve that coastline, you wouldn't have a beach to surf at all. There would be no local economy all up and down the east coast. Its human nature and Darwinism. Humans will put their own interests, especially with regards to survival and money far ahead of recreation every single time....
A few posters have said this is an exaggeration. I don't think so. When they did Long Branch in the early 90's it was a solid 15 years before I was able to ride a wave at the place where I had learned to surf. It was horrible. Long Branch is mostly shut down again. The NOMOCO beaches with the coastal bluff and sharper drop off seems to really suffer the worst from the replenishment. I surfed a beach this morning in another area of MOCO that was just replenished and it seemed fine. It varies from place to place, but yes, for huge, huge stretches of NJ's best breaks, it may now be years before we surf them again. Keep in mind that this whole project from Sandy Hook to Manasquan does NOT INCLUDE DUNES. Dunes were proven by Sandy to be the most effective protection (go down to South Seaside Park and see how the dunes saved the community there). And yet, while they're replenishing this stretch of beach, they are not doing the one thing that has actually been proven to work.
#Belmaristheonlysurfbreakontheeastcoast #Belmar4Lyfe #Belmartatto #Ieatshyt&sleepBelmar #Seeya@Belmaryakooks
