INDIA'S FIRST ARTIFICIAL REEF
Artificial Reef Hopes to Bring "Surf" Back to India
Artificial surfing reefs have both sunk and soared in the past: Pratte's Reef in El Segundo, California was a flop, but many consider Narrowneck, Australia’s human-born reef a great triumph. ASR, the company that built Narrowneck, just completed another successful reef in Bournemouth, England and is now working on a new project: India. The proposed artificial reef will be located in Kovalam on the Arabian Sea, and will mark India’s first artificial reef.
While Kovalam’s numerous charms have been drawing tourists for decades, reckless development has caused severe coastal erosion in the southern Indian town. As a result, the Kerala Department of Tourism commissioned ASR (Amalgamate Solutions and Research) to build the “multi-purpose reef” with visions of restoring the fading beach and hopefully amping up the waves.
“If building a reef for surfing, we would look closely at the existing tides, wind and ground swell direction,” says ASR. “Once we have the data we need, we design the reef to create optimal waves.”
Multi-purpose reefs are made from über high-tech sandbags that are secured to the ocean’s floor, diverting wave energy from the shoreline. In addition to bolstering waves and beaches, MPRs make great homes for a variety of sea life: “200 species have been found living on or around the reef built in Narrowneck,” says ASR.
The recently completed reef in England is Europe’s first MPR, and the local stoke is palpable. “The waves at Boscombe are generally small and break close to the beach, so rides are short. Now that the reef is in place, the waves are more powerful,” says Jo O’Connell of Bournemouth Tourism. “On days with good swell, decent-sized waves will peel down the right of the reef, creating a longer ride.” Ed Chipperfield of The Sunday Times says, “British surfers finally have a patch of water to be proud of.”
India, like England, is not exactly known as an epicenter of surf. “In a country with more than 1.2 billion people, there are only about twelve Indian guys who surf,” say representatives from the INDIA Surf Club, which was created by two Florida transplants in 2006. Interest in surfing seems to be growing; however, as it turns out that India has some pretty spectacular waves in Kovalam and other spots like those featured in Taylor Steele’s upcoming Castles in the Sky. The government of Kerala is hoping that their reef will be as effective as Bournemouth’s, and that improved surfing conditions will boost tourism.
According to Surfing India and the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word “surf” is actually derived from the word “suffe,” which was originally used in reference to the coast of, ironically, India. Maybe Kovalam’s reef will bring the surf home.
RELATED STORIES
|
READER COMMENTS
Wed Feb 3, 2010, 3:23 PM
Some points of clarification: 1) This particular beach at Kovalam does not have an erosion problem. The reef is for surfing. 2) Both the Narrowneck and Bournemouth reefs are failures - they dont produce good waves as promised - read the surfer forums not the ASR propaganda. 3) Opunake and Mt Maunganui Reefs in NZ dont provide quality surf waves either and most of the locals want them removed. 4) ASR reef bags are made from woven plastic, and the NZ reef bags are now tearing and generally breaking up. There is a marine pollution hazard looming. 5) If you placed old car bodies in the ocean you would get way more than 200 species colonising them. By comparison the plastic bag reefs are homogeneous and just create an ugly monoculture, hardly the ecological enhancement that ASR promote. 6)ASR's reefs have been oversold and they just dont work.
Wed Feb 3, 2010, 4:06 PM
Please India do a little more research other than simply reading ASR's media spin. They have yet to build a reef that works. just start looking on Google and the real picture becomes clear. Mt Maunganui reef doesn't work, Narrowneck (I live on the Gold Coast now) doesn't work and is pieces. From what I have seen of Bournemouth it doesn't work.
Wed Feb 3, 2010, 9:28 PM
clarifying the clarifier: 1)Kovalam Beach does have an erosion problem. The Kovalam Reef is primarily a shore protection structure. 2)ASR did not build Narrowneck. ASR designed Narrowneck and the reef was never built to full design specifications due primarily to the construction method used. The Narrowneck issue is complicated by the hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of sand fill that was also placed on that beach. Narrowneck is primarily an erosion control and beach stabilization structure and it has performed well in that capacity. Search the scientific literature on that, it exists. 3)As for The Mount Reef, contractors were unable to build to the design specified by ASR. That is the primary reason that it does not work as good as it should. However it does work at time and it is ridden when it does. 4)The geotextile containers used for most marine applications, including submerged reefs and breakwaters is a non-woven material. A woven material was used on Pratte's Reef and it disinte
Wed Feb 3, 2010, 9:32 PM
clarifying the clarifier 2: 4) (continued) No containers on the Mount, Boscombe or Narrowneck have split or are otherwise breaking up. Go have a look for yourself. 5) Do you have any supporting evidence that rusting car bodies underwater will support more than 200 new species? The colonization aspect is a fortunate by product of this particular type of construction. Other designs can optimize this aspect if desired, i.e. ReefBalls, which are way better than rusty cars. 6)Reefs work better with larger volumes and sizes. The reefs that have been built so far have been approximately 1/10 the size of traditional coastal structures such as jetties, groynes or other breakwaters. When one is permitted and funded at a different size and scale, the results will be much better.
Thu Feb 4, 2010, 3:00 PM
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/152029/Artificial-reef-3m-surf-reef-creates-wrong-sort-of-waves- is a link to a story on the bournemouth reef. you look for yourself There is a number of webcams at sorted surf http://www.sortedsurfshop.co.uk/weather.asp and one only for the reef at urbanreef http://www.urbanreef.com/surf-reef-webcam.html and a there also is a timeline of stories at the echo with the latest at http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/4865749.Boscombe_surf_reef_report_due_in_February/ and the entire set of stories at the newspaper http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/search/?search=surf+reef
Thu Feb 4, 2010, 5:48 PM
An important multi-disciplanary study was completed in Brevard County (yes it included ASR). The results are quite suprising and clarify the issues very well. All should be encouraged to read it and find flaws if they can? http://www.brevardcounty.us/environmental_management/ArtificialSurfingReef.cfm
Sat Feb 6, 2010, 11:21 AM
I dont know why they keep trying to build them on sandy beaches, Its fairly obvious that putting a structure on a sandy shore is going create an unpredictable change in the seabed around the artificial reef area, impossible to accurately predict or model, If it turns out good then its just down to chance. They should just place large fixed structures somewhere around a rocky shore in deeper water, then it might actually result in a wave that they plan in there test tanks.
Sat Feb 6, 2010, 9:31 PM
Regarding the response by jocabo from ASR: 1) the actual location of the Kovalam reef does not have an erosion problem that requires a solution such as an MPR. My point is that this reef is solely for surfing/tourism, but the coastal protection benefits and ecologial enhancement will be talked up as soon as it is evident that the reef doesnt produce decent surfing waves 2) Sure, ASR designed Narrowneck, and that design has been soundly discredited in every report to date 3) The Mt design was also flawed and bags have sunk unevenly plus the position and scale of the reef was wrong from the start. Also, the scour hole next to the beach was never predicted from in design, and reef has caused one drowning due to a swimmer getting caught in the rip that the reef generates 4) I have seen the state of the Opunake reef bags 5) The science literature is full of such reports 6) We all know that ASR reefs dont produce good surf - are you now saying that they need to be much bigger to work? Kovalam will be ASR failure #5
Sun Feb 7, 2010, 4:10 PM
we got a beer here in nz that has a great ad campaign going, if they did one on this subject it would read................. "ASR BUILDS QUALITY SURF REEFS" YEAH RIGHT! someday, someone may get it right and build reefs that work but at the moment these clowns are experimenting with other peoples money promising the world but only giving excuses.
Mon Feb 8, 2010, 3:17 PM
India is the most poor country in the world. Thousands of people died per year, because they dont have food, or even water. Puting things in perspective, is this, the artificial reef proyect, what this country really need? In wich head fits this idea while people are dying? Please someone tell me if im confused.
Tue Feb 9, 2010, 12:54 PM
Bournemouth reef but doesn't work..the wave is crap...not even close to what was promised. Don't be fooled by ASR!
Wed Mar 3, 2010, 2:22 PM
@second if the reef in question works as well as they say it will (not gonna get into that whole discussion), then it will generate tourism for the locals. This provides them with income that (unlike charity) will allow the locals to be more selfreliant. To me, creating stable reoccurring revenue is a stronger more effective option than just straight up handing people money.
Fri Apr30, 2010, 2:44 PM
What is ASR's success rate? How many projects went over budget? How many projects were late? How many were left unfinished? How many surfers and residents were satisfied with ASR after completion? There is a trail of unhappiness all over the world from these people. Didnt they pay for the India project with funds that were to be used to aid Tsunami victims? Classy!
Tue May 4, 2010, 10:30 AM
If the video footage i just watched isn't a hoax - looks like they got this one right. I'll be checking it for myself in 2 weeks. Was planning a trip to kovalum and was tossing up about whether to take my boards.now I'm kinda excited...
Wed May26, 2010, 3:51 AM
It appears that not all the locals agree with the ASR hype on this reef; check out this guy - reckons that the reef only worked one day out of a 10-day swell, and they picked out a few waves that peeled and slowed them down in the video to make it look longer ..... Time will tell. http://blogs.surfermag.com/office-blog/india%E2%80%99s-first-artificial-reef%E2%80%A6works/
Thu Jun 3, 2010, 2:48 PM
@Dennis you really need to educate yourself. Kovalam beach does have an erosion issue as does the rest of Kerala. The Multi-Purpose Reef in Kovalam will provide substancial beach erosion protection, and the wave it creates is an added bonus. There are serious coastal issues globally. Every year, BILLIONS of dollars are spent building breakwaters and jetties. How can you dog artificial reefs that provide multiple benefits at a tiny fraction of the cost Narrow Neck is in excellent condition and has provided amazing marine habitat and coastal protection. http://bit.ly/amNQjI Boscombe produces an excellent wave with swell. Just look at images on the internet. Its amazing considering the weak, short period wind swell in the channel. NZ reefs are unfinished were botched by the contractors. How can you unfinished reefs. Denis and the naysayers need to get their heads out of the sand and recognize that our communities and governments are being fleeced by tradition coastal protection firms. Sad
Mon Jun21, 2010, 9:15 AM
I just spent a week in Kovalam and the monsoon swell had already ripped the reef apart a few weeks back. Some ripped up material on the beach is all that is left of it. If it was designed to stop erosion they seriously underestimated the power of the monsoon swells that hit that coastline. It was angry 12+ plus storm swell every day for a week.
Thu Aug26, 2010, 4:30 PM
hey guys, how wuld be the waves at the begining of november at kovalam beach. will it be ok for surfing...just want experience the break (frm maldives)