By SIMON COLLINS
Tales of dismal weather, knotted hankies and sandals with socks
may become a faded memory as British beaches turn "cool" thanks to a
couple of Raglan surfers who create artificial reefs.
Kerry Black and Shaw Mead's company has been hailed as the
saviour that can provide British beaches the class - although maybe
not the weather - to take on top surfing spots in Australia and
Hawaii.
Artificial Surfing Reefs has designed a reef for Britain's
Cornish coast which pundits say could deliver the country a surfing
windfall.
At Newquay Bay, on Cornwall's northwest coast, British tourism
chiefs predict boom times from the US$9 million ($18 million)
project to turn the area into a surfers' paradise.
They say a reliable, world-class wave would attract not only the
250,000 British surfers, but international prestige and contests.
Artificial Surfing Reefs is also designing reefs across
Australasia, Indonesia and India.
Dr Black, a former professor at Waikato University, his former
student Dr Mead and their associates at the Raglan-based company are
the world's undisputed experts in the science of how waves break.
"No one else in the world is doing it," Dr Mead said yesterday.
The company builds submerged reefs out of huge sandbags up to 20m
long by 5m in diameter, using synthetic bags that are guaranteed for
25 years.
Its first reef, 1km north of Surfers Paradise in Queensland and
costing $2.3 million, was covered by marine life within two weeks.
A key part of the company's advantage is a detailed database of
the sea floor at 42 of the world's leading surf breaks, built up by
Dr Mead for his doctorate.
"The most important factor for good surfing waves is the seabed,"
he said. "It affects the way they shape and how hard they break.
"A system was developed with a global positioning system and
sonar, and I basically went around in an inflatable kayak in most
places. I went backwards and forwards on the surf break to record
what the bottom was, and taking photos of the shape of the wave, the
curl and so on."
Dr Black, who then headed Waikato University's coastal
oceanography centre of excellence, used the data to design undersea
reefs, initially as an alternative for councils planning rock walls
and groynes to protect eroding coasts.
