makings ones own artificial reef .

You'd probly get in trouble with the Coast Guard or some other oceanic protection business...

 

No...it won't work. Great idea but the bags won't be heavy enough..anything you can likely carry will not work. Simplistically, ocean is way too powerful...

 

Despite this poster's user name, this is absolutely untrue. This idea will, without a doubt, work. You should start on it right away.

 

You would have to drop lots of concrete and heavy trash to make the reef... But then you would run into other problems....

Belmar has a concrete artificial reef

 

When I was a kid me and a few buddies made an artificial reef out of old bicycles, concrete blocks and wheelbarrows, etc. Not to surf, but to fish. It worked. We were only 9 or 10 years old, but we knew a year later we would have a fish haven. What a bunch of rats! Fortunately, the ocean is not a backwater. Powerful forces and corrosive elements make this untenable in a dynamic wave field that is unprotected from severe storm surges. I could go on for many paragraphs, but the data is available on line. Mother nature bats last.

 

They did something similar in england but it didn't work.

 

Yes. Get a car or truck, the larger the better. Build a ramp, the larger the better. Go fast, the faster the better. Where you land you will have a reef.

I would mention the environmental impact but since we'll have oil wells lining the coast soon who cares.

 

There is a concrete slab dropped in the ocean on one of the most recognized reef breaks on Sunset Cliffs. After an earth quake in the late 60s, they used parts of housing foundations and asphault to maintain the cliff sides. You can still see to this day a lot of spots have huge concrete slabs mixed in with the rocks up and down the trails...

Point being, at some point, that concrete slab didn't drop into the ocean on it's own, about 80 yards offshore, and perfectly positioned right next to the natural reef. It didn't "just happened".... Someone probably gave the guy with the crane a 6 pack or $50, next thing you know, there is an artificial reef. Been sitting in the same place, and breaking very nicely for about 40 years now. They refer to this spot as one of the "summer reefs" and it's specific name is probably the most ironic and fitting name for any spot that is down there.

 

oh man, it would be such a disaster if a perfect A-Framing reef break was constructed in NJ. it would be the biggest doosh-canoe crowd, ever.

 

conversely, about 10 years ago, the Mexican military ruined popotla, the heaviest left handed freight train point in Baja Norte. They took down a building on the military base (by the giant movie set that you can't miss). Instead of hauling all the concrete out, they just took a crane and dumped it off the point onto the reef. The spot has been rendered useless ever since. Doesn't even break.... So there is that too.

 

yep, if it isn't done just right, it probably won't work.

The other thing is safety. Just dropping chunks of concrete or boulders is not like the worn and settled contours of a natural reef. Those numerous holes and caves between shifting and jagged chunks of haphazardly placed concrete is more of a hazard than one would imagine. Mexico is pretty bad about doing this. I tried to surf a wave in Puerto Vallarta where they had just dumped a bunch of concrete several yards out from the shore and just about killed myself just duck diving on the paddle out...didn't even catch a wave.

To say the least, it would be a massive amount of work and a huge team of people/equipment...all in hopes that it'll work and the first big storm doesn't wisk it all away.

 

Dis tread is good. Interesting stuff.

zach - can you elaborate a bit as to where that reef is at that location? PM if you want to not post publicly. I surfed at N* S*rf B*ach there a few weeks ago.

 

there's all sorts of stuff at 2nd light in florida

concrete, rebar, rocks .... i don't really know if that has anything to do with this thread but whatever

 

Did you look down at the reef?

 

When it sucked dry? Na brah. It was a bit choppy and I was just looking to get into the wave. Try not to make a habit of looking down in the trough as that's where I'll end up if I do lol

 

Back in the 50's and 60's there used to be a few piers in the Cocoa Beach and Satellite Beach area, right there at Canova Beach there used to be a huge pier, I believe a storm knocked it down, that might be some of the debris.

 

Well, the swell that was going when you were there really would not have made the concrete slab work, however, I will tell you. The beach that you mentioned has 5 breaks on it. And one of them is the one in question. 3 out of the 5 are deep enough that you will never see the reef. On of the others ends in dry reef where you have to hope over at the end to save your board, so you would have known if you were surfing that one, doubt you did, super fickle. The other one where the reef is readily visible and you pretty much go right over top of it, at low tide, there is about 6 inches of water on it. You can see it clear as day. Based on the swell though, I can guarantee you that there was enough water moving in and out of that cove that unless you were barrel hunting on the inside the whole time, you would not have noticed it. However, I am sure you DID notice all the broken concrete on the way down. I am assume you took the "beginner trail" =) There are much better ways to get in and out of there, but I am most certain that you walked right over concrete chunks your whole way down....

Also, it takes a huge WNW swell to open it up, but almost 3/4 of a mile straight out from there is the best big wave surf spot in all of SoCal, in my opinion anyway. "The 4th Reef" jacks up but once every few years, and boy, it gets plenty freaking big. One day, when I actually get all my DV video copied to digital, I will post a clip of the biggest waves SoCal has seen in a few decades. When I got out, I rolled film for about 20 minutes because it just got too big and too crazy. But I was lucky enough to catch the most devistating set I have ever seen from right above that beach. You could see it from about 2 minutes out. You can hear me narrating, like "holy sh**, holy sh**, they don't see it. They dont see it" But sure enough man, me and hundreds of onlookers watcedh the ocean swallow the entire lineup into 3 story building sized walls and canyons. Craziest thing I have ever caught on film was right there.

 

If you are in the cove and standing on the sand looking out to the ocean, the rip on the right end is where I paddled out from. Total conveyor belt of a rip like at S*aside C*ve. I was out back in a jiff. I surfed straight out back from there, a couple hundred yards out with about a dozen others. Not sure which break you'd consider that there.

There were some serious rocks pretty close to shore right about where that rip was, maybe a bit more towards the centre. Are those the ones you're talking about?

I think there was some S and SSW in a secondary swell at the time I was out there that was messing with the cleanliness of the primary WNW swell. Takeoff spots weren't the widest as a result of lines getting broken up some. I got some rides, and definitely fun ones, but stayed way in the high line on them and kicked out over the top. No trough or bottom turns. Was kinda creeped out in general with it being a new break to me, and one to certainly be respected, and close to sundown. Wasn't exactly taking big risks.

I'm used to water that's not the most translucent here on the EC. Maybe I'm guilty of a bad habit, but I don't often open eyes underwater while DD'ing. I am, however, as cognizant as can be of the depths below otherwise, and taking note of tides and such and what is where.

 

Ever surfed maine?