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Despite delays, surf reef construction gets underway
by Jason Dietrich
Wave-riders usually send their out their prayers for good surf and favorable tides, but for the past week local surfers and bodyboarders have been crossing their fingers, hoping the swells pass them by.
Surfers wanted tamer waves this week so that the construction of Surfrider's Pratte's Reef, the nation's first artificial surfing reef, could begin this at Dockweiler State Beach. Equipment delays and heavy traffic pushed back the construction by several days.
Crews started dropping the 12-ton sandbags Wednesday, Sept. 20, and plan on working through Monday, Sept. 25 to place the 120 bags North of Grand Avenue in El Segundo. The sandbags should cause waves to break in a rideable shape and may aid in preventing coastal erosion.
Plans to start construction Monday, Sept. 18 were scrapped, said Dave Skelly, the reef's designer, after workers had difficulty trucking the 12-ton sandbags to the Port of Los Angeles Harbor.
Traffic accidents and congested freeways partially resulting from the transit worker strike made the trip to the port too long for the project to start on time. The tugboat that planners had rented was also undergoing repairs, Skelly said.
But clear freeways and clearer weather has allowed removed the final obstacles blocking the project's start.
The Surfrider Foundation spent the last 12 years pushing for the reef after the Chevron Oil Corporation built a groin on Dockweiler beach to protect equipment at their El Segundo refinery. Surfrider members said the construction of the groin destroyed the surf in the area. After years of wrangling permits from governmental agencies and negotiations with Chevron, Surfrider managed to get both the cash and the government's green light to build the nation's first artificial surfing reef.
"This is a very promising thing for the future of surfing in California. After all, the first ski runs were natural and then they figured out how to make them better. Now you have skiing in places where there was no skiing before," Skelly said.
Redondo Beach surf reef theorist Brook Hayes sees a big future for these submerged breakwaters. The structures cause high-energy waves to break offshore, softening the wave's blow when it finally hits the beach. In addition to becoming the surfing hotspots of the future they could also help create safer places to swim, provide a prime habitat for marine life, reduce beach erosion without the aesthetic impact of groins of above-water breakwalls.
Hayes takes his inspiration from the natural reefs he's been studying over the past 20 years. He says multiple chevron-shaped reefs stacked like the bars of a sergeant's insignia would both mimic the best natural surf spots and dissipate the better part of a wave's energy before it reaches the shore.
Australia is home to the world's first two artificial surf reefs, but the Pratte's Reef project is the first to be built with the right design to withstand the rigors of the surfzone and still make the waves break properly, says Hayes. He believes the reef will have a dramatic effect on the waves in the area.
"It'll go from a spot where I wouldn't bother to surf -- and I surf a crumbly break like Topaz -- to a spot where people won't believe their eyes," Hayes said.
Skelly also has high hopes for the reef, but cautions surfers not to expect killer waves from a less-than-perfect surf spot.
"You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, but we can make the surf better than it is now," he said.ER