Beach Pumping

i surf in long branch. ruined my favorite wave (the pit, rip), as well as many others in the area. the sand just keeps moving and slowly taking over other breaks and ruining them. **** just breaks right on the beach.

the worst part is now taht there are like 5-6 less spots in the area, everyone is being concentrated into remaining breaks which has resulted in considerable crowding.

sucks soooo f*cking bad. i miss the pit

 

Oh man, don't get me started on this subject. Personally I have never seen beach pumping do any good for the surfing in the immediate area of the pumping. Maybe there is potential for improvement in the direction of the drift but if there are jetties or anything to stop the sand say goodbye (sorry to say).The Wildwood of my childhood had the widest beaches I have every seen, like sahara desert wide. Is that Wildwood and not N.Wildwood?

 

say goodbye to all of your favorite spots.

just think of all those barrels you had coming off that one jetty/pipe/sandbar during the winter on those s-se swells that you will NEVER EVER get again. ugh

 

I hate to beat the Sandy Hook horse to death but that is absolutely the worst case of destruction due to beach pumping that I have ever seen. Long Branch and the beaches further south are a disaster as well. I have a Friend who still lives in Jersey who gave up surfing because he couldn't find a good wave without 100 guys on it most of the time. Everybody is crammed together at "good" spots that are mere shadows of what they were.

 

I live in long branch and have surfed there for a long time. yes, the replenishment screwed things up royally but thats just plain false that it will never break again. Look what happend last time they did replenishment in long branch. It took a couple of years but the breaks eventually came back... theres a few spots that a few weeks ago wouldnt break at all and after the past two significant swells they are already showing signs of comming back... Lets see what happens this winter when some storms move some of that sand around

 

ok maybe i exaggerated about it NEVER breaking again. some spots will prob break again in a while. but, even after some of these swells, it pretty much looked the same. if anything, maybe worse. all that sand from the pit seems like it's making its way north.

one big noreaster this winter def can change things though

 

I wonder if you asked people who live south of LBI through Cape May about beach nourishment, if their viewpoint is a little different.
In the southern part of the state, the grainsize of the sand, the slope of the nearshore and offshore region, the elevation of the native beach, the design of the fills in this area, and the overall dynamics of the region are different than that of Monmouth County and northern Ocean County.
I am wondering if it reacts differently and the results are less 'drastic' than Monmouth County and northern Ocean County.

 

I do know that some breaks that didn't break/broke less often before some of these fills, woke up afterward; some were pretty good too..but I do understand/have witnessed the demise (albeit temporary) of some breaks as well.

I'm hearing that the frequency of 'new' breaks was higher in in the southern reaches of the NJ coast than in the northern reaches, but I personally know that some 'new' breaks have been the result of added sand/changed break contour/etc.

But it is also in the eye of the beholder, as some bodyboarders like different waves than surfers do...some have definitely suffered though...

 

in delmarva, the sand pumping almost always destroys break... but mostly temporary.

 

temporary is a relative term, anything north of dewey, save one spot, has been nigh unrideable for multiple years now...

 

skimboarders are loving LB now. sweet.

 

I have often wondered if the incidence of neck injuries from the shorebreak goes up after beach replenishment. It would seem that it would almost have to, given the dumping waves that you get after sand is pumped.

I have never understood why they don't find a way to construct a sand bar when they do the replenishment. It would seem that the existence of a bar would protect the investment in the replenishment, enhance the safety of swimmers and preserve a break for surfers.

A win, win, win.

 

they don't care nearly enough about surfers. that's why.

 

Because there is no feasible way to pump/shape sand below the low water area. To physically get the equipment in the area where we would need a bar to be placed is next to (if not completely) impossible. They tried to pump a 'pointbreak' in Long Branch that would shed sand and possibly taper bars off of the end; but pumping sand into 30 feet of water proved that to be a very short term enhancement to the surfing break. To actually raise the seafloor elevation enough to support a sand point and its bars proved to be an costly/timely investment that was well beyond the scope and cost benefit of the shore protection aspect of the project. The best it did was act as a feeder beach for the downdrift beaches...which is a positive for the shore protection portion

But agreed that a bar would provide a wave tripping mechanism that could 1) preserve the replenishment/investment and 2) enhance/preserve a surf break.

 

very informative. apparently the pit and some close by breaks totally lit up the first swell that came through. that was short lived though.

why not some sort of artificial reef?