Beach Replenishment Poll

have fun with that Don Quixote

 

Do you realize that beach renourishment projects actually help some spots? If you dont have sand, then you dont have sand bars, and if the local bathymetry is too deep (lack of sand), waves will just roll through and become a shore break. Not saying beach renourishment is right for every beach, but its definitely beneficial to some.

 

diggin' the literary reference!

 

No trust me the beach replenishment does nothing but ruin every break around here. There were many spots that used to be really fun and due to the replenishment they just arn't the same, like bethany, i miss those jetties so much, now its only starting to get surfable like 3 years after the replenishment, and is still nowhere near as good as it used to be.

 

actually in south jersey it made some breaks much better.

 

I agree with you about Delaware except one notable exception where beach nourishment made two areas way better for years. I'm guessing you havent been surfing delaware that long or you would know where i mean. So my answer to the poll would be "it depends, but generally it wrecks it"

 

By the way..this bias kind of ruins your poll...just saying...

 

i was at 70th street and surrounding area in OCMD twice this summer and it was an absolute horrible shorebreak, (like a lot of streets there) but when i went back from 9/25-26th (after earl and igor), even though it was small, it was still pretty good. and i know its just gonna suck again after this round of replenishment
(just thought id give my input)

 

beach replenishment ruined some spots but has created others its bad and good and ur poll is extremely bias and you wont get an accurate response

 

Thats FO SHO

 

Ur right ive only been surfing the Del a couple years, but i could take a guess to where you are talking of, but still, i really miss them jetties in Bethany

 

beach replenishment has screwed over every have decent break on the island I surf, but i must say, on the perfect day at perfect conditions it is amazing, but that only happened twice last summer and a few times last fall/winter. Other than that it has messed everything up

 

Sea Bright hasn't been the same since the first replenishment. Monmouth Beach took years to come back to any decent form, and it's still not what it was. Long Branch has bounced back, but for a while it was unrideable.

Overall, I'd have to say most surfers in Northern Monmouth agree that the replenishment had an adverse effect. But it's hard to distinguish between the effects of the sand pumping vs. the effect of notching the jetties. Maybe they should have pumped and kept the jetties.

But overdevelopment started it all, and you can never go back. So the issue is, what do we do now?

 

It's money from a federal agency, a fedeal agency also will be leading the project. Sending a letter to a state agency on the matter will be used for writing notes concerning bad DELDOT management of things like the IRI bridge.

Having a few surfers complain about waves compared to the millions of taxpayers who come & spend money on bigger beaches is hardly a concern for those that make the decision to pump beaches. Most taxpayers, would see the letter as a joke as do most of us do concerning the closure of miles or entire areas of beaches for 15 nesting birds. We would be looked @ as the selfish fanatics & any future concerns or benefits for surfers would be dismissed.

Except for the couple of areas Mitchell mentioned concerning beach replenishment, it definitely sucks for us on Delmarva. Most of the times it's @ least a year & sometimes a break is gone for good. Those that used to ride in front of the Carousel, 81st, 60st, etc. many years ago know what beach replenishment did for those fun breaks.

I hate the fact that most of our beaches are going to be crap after replenishment, but the money has been approved & contracts signed. Just hope Mother Nature does some tidying up this winter & deposits some of the sand as she intended with the new replenished sand.

 

i don't know for sure,but the bechbreak in Hatteras seems purer than my beach.i
remember when they started this in monmouth county the dirty sand started washing up down here right away.
the north side of the pier is totally ruined,but jenks is better,now.
that being said,jenks is garbage compared to the way the north side of the pier used to be.
it's a shame.
i think Hatteras beachbreak is better than here.
i think every time we mess with the natural shape by pumping sand or bulldozing beaches flat for summer it ruins good sandbars.

 

I am not sure what the property owners along the DelMarVa need a Federal bailout for beach replenishment. All funding for these beaches should be paid 100 percent by the local authorities via a property tax surcharge - a risk-based assessment.

 

Many beaches I surf at are effected in a bad way by beach replenishment. However I understand that without this replenishment the beaches would be ruined in many places, and without beaches there are no tourists. Therefore no money for much of NJ.

I don't have a picture of this chart I saw last year, however I was reading Cape May Magazine(since i live here) and it went into details how without replenishment that much of Cape May will be swept away by the sea in a decade or so. This is due to the jettys ruining the natural flow of sand around the cape, forcing us to dump sand to keep the beaches from washing away especially near the coast guard base/poverty beach.

Without replenishment the sand will erode fastest in that location and create a large "cove" that will sweep behind the sand dunes, and if anyone has ever been to poverty during a storm you know that the beach is literally 10 feet from the road and the water level is equal if not higher than the road.

 

Chuck is right both counts. Delaware's ocean beaches are federal Army Corp of Engineers projects. The decision makers are your US Senators and Representatives who provide money to the Corps to build and maintain these beaches.

Second, like he said, sheer numbers of users: next time you go to Bethany, Dewey or Rehoboth on a summer day count the number of people on the beach. Oh and the waves are 18 inches high. Then try to construct a convincing argument (that the majority of people including non surfing business owners would support) for NOT pumping sand on that beach in favor of some other strategy you can think of that will restore good surfing.

Thats what we're up against.