Boscombe surf reef

[Jamin84]

Hey guys n gals,

I realise that this subject may have had its day but please bear with me!

I’m in my final year of adventure education at Chichester uni and my final project is based on a performance assessment of the reef at Boscombe. I have lots of very boring wave buoy data to trall through and some video footage of the wave that is there but I need some 'interview' style data from surfers to add to my assessment.

So...... if any of you out there have experience of the wave and would like to state your position as someone from the surfing community that would be very much appreciated. Comment on anything that you consider important regarding the wave (size, shape, peel, consistency, etc).

Thank you for your time

Ben

[kitesurfer]

Try doing a search there are masses of opinions from surfers on this forum re the boscombe reef and the other one asr did in new zealand. Some of which have even surfed on it. And your right it has been discussed many, many times already.
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14620&hilit=boscombe+surf+reef

KS

[billie_morini]

Jamin84's first post is a doozy. Wonder who he/she/it really is and what they really want. He/She/It has proven not to be very resourceful, but they've proven more than capable of flogging a dead horse.

Have you ever noticed how many students make their first and only post to this forum requesting help with their home work, paper, thesis, dissertation, etc.? At least Jamin84's post is coherent. So many of these alleged students seem to have no grasp on grammar and spelling; let alone how to properly present themselves.

[Jamin84]

Ha!

Well Billie, he (Ben) is indeed a student and really does want informative opinions on the wave at Boscombe, if that upsets you then feel free to comment on other threads.

Thanks tho Kitesurfer, I have looked through the posts and taken some of the info to look into further. The problem is alot of the posts end up talking about the socio-economic reasons behind the reef and the problems with ASR which is a whole different study- I'm just after opinions on the wave (size, shape, peel, consistency, etc) from a surfing aspect which seems to be lacking.

Please get involved if you have any opinions......

Ben

[xswind]

On the news and in the local paper yesterday there was a storey reporting the gossip surrounding a "secret" council report into the effectiveness of this expensive white horse that only a few “selected” councillors have been given access to, oh I wonder what it says?

Google is your friend as ever, searching for opinion is a simple as a few keywords.

[kitesurfer]

I'm just after opinions on the wave (size, shape, peel, consistency, etc) from a surfing aspect which seems to be lacking.

Please get involved if you have any opinions......

Ben

Well if i was doing a project on the reef then i would have been down to boscombe to check it out for myself so that i would know how it breaks and what it looks like. I assume you've already done this?
So come on tell us what you think of the reef and we can tell you if it compares to our experiences of it.

KS

[Jamin84]

Well I am meant to remain as impartial as possible so as not to affect any results but clearly this is a test of my knowledge so from what i see (although i havent surfed it yet).....

The wave itself has good peel angle, although the ride is fairly short due to the width of the reef. It can be fairly hollow and heavy at times due to the gradient from beach floor to reef which can mean it is quite a rapid and steep takeoff which lends itself to bodyboarding and the more advanced surfers. The prevailing south-westerly and lack of wind protection can quite often cause a messy wave, and unfortunately the general lack of well organised ground swell means that the good days are limited although there is obviously more waves than pre-reef days!

So what do you guys think? am I in the right ball park?

Ben

[essex sucks]

noo your not there is not more days of surf than prereef days it is the same there is alot more days surfing on the peirs than there is on this new waste of time and cash reef

[billie_morini]

Ben: "So what do you guys think? am I in the right ball park?"
billie: "No. Still not convinced about who you are or what your agenda is."

[kitesurfer]

Ben: "So what do you guys think? am I in the right ball park?"
billie: "No. Still not convinced about who you are or what your agenda is."

Hmmm tricky one isn't it? Well a quick look at the uni's website http://www.chiuni.ac.uk/aded/ reveals the course does actually exist so that might be a point in Ben's favour.
Also Ben your assesment with the reef seems pretty accurate and i agree with most of it aside from the fact that it definately does not provide more surfable days which was one of its biggest selling points.
You only need to go down there on a wind swell day (which is what we get most of) and you will see surfers at both piers catching and riding waves. Head to the reef and it will be unrideable mush.
In my opinion it does provide a good wave for body boarding on when there is a descent groundswell but on these days that the reef works all the breaks along the seafront from sandbanks all the way to milford on sea work and that doesn't include all the other reef breaks that are in the area. We have effectively paid millions just to get a few spongers/shark biscuits off the pier breaks. Probably not the best use of the councils money.

KS

[billie_morini]

KS and Ben:
thanks!
billie

[Jamin84]

Thanks KS/essex,
Im yet to get my surfable days data processed but I think your right (I was just being optimistic i guess!!) Im trying to get some more video footage of the reef but its not really done anything for a few weeks now... lets see what happens this weekend for the sorted competition!

[market-research]

It seems the reef is to be fixed on a saturday morning soon

"woolamai, christchurch says...
8:21pm Thu 8 Apr 10

Apparently the 'tweak' has been defined.

All that is needed is to rotate the reef anticlockwise 10 degrees and increase the width of the ramp along the ocean facing length of the reef by 10m or so.

ASR and the council are in final discussions about which weekend to make the changes."

halalloooya?

[kitesurfer]

It seems the reef is to be fixed on a saturday morning soon

"woolamai, christchurch says...
8:21pm Thu 8 Apr 10

Apparently the 'tweak' has been defined.

All that is needed is to rotate the reef anticlockwise 10 degrees and increase the width of the ramp along the ocean facing length of the reef by 10m or so.

ASR and the council are in final discussions about which weekend to make the changes."

halalloooya?

*yawn*
KS

[essex sucks]

It seems the reef is to be fixed on a saturday morning soon

"woolamai, christchurch says...
8:21pm Thu 8 Apr 10

Apparently the 'tweak' has been defined.

All that is needed is to rotate the reef anticlockwise 10 degrees and increase the width of the ramp along the ocean facing length of the reef by 10m or so.

ASR and the council are in final discussions about which weekend to make the changes."

halalloooya?

lol give up it failed like we all knew it would

[surf patrol]

BBC News had a feature on the reef this morning. Anyone see it?
The report being done by Plymouth Uni is now complete and it has concluded that it fails in 3 areas: consistency, length of ride and wave shape.
I can't seem to find the report conclusions anywhere, or the report on bbc.co.uk but I'll keep looking.

[kitesurfer]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/8688693.stm

The report in my opinion is pretty much spot on.

KS

[Hang11]

it fails in 3 areas: consistency, length of ride and wave shape.

Another winner for ASR there

[Jimi]

Just saw last night in the local aussie trash paper ("Mx" - free on the train home) a journo has written a piece bagging boscombe council and ASR. Basically they say the council spent a LOT of money to build a reef that only works some times and is too advanced for the majority of surfers - thereby precluding the target audience (a lot of surfers).
Glad this is still making global headlines!

[kitesurfer]

Funny thing is though and i may have already said this so please forgive if i am repeating myself. Obviously as surfers we are bound to assess the reef on its performance and as the report says not great.
However living in the area it is clear that as a PR exercise it has been a huge success. I chat to many people on the beach when i've been out kiting or surfing and they frequently ask about the reef and say they have been upto see it (holiday makers these are). It clearly does bring people into boscombe, not necessarily to surf but they do spend money. Its frequently in the news too and you know what they say about publicity, its usually all good.
Also boscombe is being re-developed and the car park i used to hate leaving my van in (when i went kiting) due to the amount of un savoury characters that would be hanging around there has been revamped and is now a safe place to leave your vehicle.
So its not all bad and its easier to just focus on the performance of the reef as somewhere to surf. Personally whilst i won't be surfing on it i do think its having a good effect in its local area.

KS