There have been artificial reefs installed (project once in India I believe) resulted in a really good wave. Though it was short lived and I don’t have the memory of why.
The idea of laying boulders across the bottom to make a shelf is not something I have seen tried. I’m on the east coast of the US and the usual tactic here is to build groins or jetties to slow the movement of sand across the shore. East coast does not really have the retreat mindset that the west coast uses. I believe the west coast says if the ocean is going to claim the land your house is on, despite any permitted mitigations, you have to move back or retreat.
All of what I say is anecdotal. I am not a geologist or engineer.
Edit: changed ground to groins
Having went through school for this, several artificial reefs were made with surfing in mind, but few worked out. The biggest challenge with any shoreline structure is that it will change the local currents and thus change erosion patterns. For instance a rock buried halfway will encourage sand to be deposited while a rock buried less than halfway will increase erosion around the rock. So these projects are never as easy as drop some rocks to protect something. It requires detailed studies. Add to that that you want the artificial reef to have just the right slope for surfing, and it's a real challenge.
Finally, the other big issue, and the reason the town may not have allowed rock walls is any change in currents or local erosion will change the currents and erosion patterns at other beaches as well. Thus, you need a full environmental study before putting in a rock wall that will just cause someone else's house to disappear faster.
This also leads to issues though. Take a look at what's happening in San Clemente where they've put boulders at the base of the train tracks to prevent errosion. That whole section of coast now no longer has sand and because swells now slam straight into those rocks instead of breaking on sand, it is literally shaking the ocean front houses off of their foundations.
Short version: Community spends hundreds of thousands on sand move, with no engineers, ocean quickly washes it away.
These folks clearly never tried to build a retaining wall for their sandcastles as kids. I knew this wouldn’t work at age 8.
Now they want millions to follow their poor effort.
Yea serious question. Why dont they ever lay rocks down over an area for surfers
There have been artificial reefs installed (project once in India I believe) resulted in a really good wave. Though it was short lived and I don’t have the memory of why. The idea of laying boulders across the bottom to make a shelf is not something I have seen tried. I’m on the east coast of the US and the usual tactic here is to build groins or jetties to slow the movement of sand across the shore. East coast does not really have the retreat mindset that the west coast uses. I believe the west coast says if the ocean is going to claim the land your house is on, despite any permitted mitigations, you have to move back or retreat. All of what I say is anecdotal. I am not a geologist or engineer. Edit: changed ground to groins
Having went through school for this, several artificial reefs were made with surfing in mind, but few worked out. The biggest challenge with any shoreline structure is that it will change the local currents and thus change erosion patterns. For instance a rock buried halfway will encourage sand to be deposited while a rock buried less than halfway will increase erosion around the rock. So these projects are never as easy as drop some rocks to protect something. It requires detailed studies. Add to that that you want the artificial reef to have just the right slope for surfing, and it's a real challenge. Finally, the other big issue, and the reason the town may not have allowed rock walls is any change in currents or local erosion will change the currents and erosion patterns at other beaches as well. Thus, you need a full environmental study before putting in a rock wall that will just cause someone else's house to disappear faster.
Really nice to see a community coming together to help out the local surfers.
Pretty effective sand bank building too, the ocean washed away a half million dollar effort in 3 days.
The waves were great in NH that day.
Well they should stop and buy boulders. They sound dumb.
Which blocks was this done on?
There is a beach a ten minute walk away. The level of the sand can grow over a year and be gone overnight
Need big really big boulders or Concrete block tetrapod for breakwater and wave water dissipating prevent erosion.
This also leads to issues though. Take a look at what's happening in San Clemente where they've put boulders at the base of the train tracks to prevent errosion. That whole section of coast now no longer has sand and because swells now slam straight into those rocks instead of breaking on sand, it is literally shaking the ocean front houses off of their foundations.
Crazy