Artificial Reefs

Definition:
"An artificial reef is a human-made underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, control erosion, block ship passage, or improve surfing." - Wikipedia

Artificial Reefs can help us create surfing hot spots where there are already over crowded beachs. They can promote a towns tourism and improve the way of life for everybody. The first attempt at one of these Reefs was in El Segundo near Los Angeles.
 The first Reef was constructed out of large granite blcoks formed into a pyramid. Another was made out of large sand bags (with each one nearly the size of a bus) counting 400 in total that formed a large reef that acted to both improve waves and also stabilize beach nourishment.
 Although a Artificial Reef can create a small town into a "Booming" centre for surfing it face very tough laws and regulations before they are created and will spend years weaving through all the departments and regulations to finally get to building them.
 Opposite to the popular belief that Artificial Reefs that create large waves actually help the beach and swimmers. By having a large Reef off the coast the waves break earlier that disperses the waves energy meaning that it is safer for swimmers to swim and also causes less erosion.
 There is huge cost to a Artificial Reef though and they can take up to a year to complete and if not planned well can take years to create when using sand bags, that is one of the reasons that if you are trying to make a artificial reef to promote marine life they will use boats usually military boats or carriers like the USS Spiegel Grove.

Google Map: Surfing Spots

As seen by the map below most of the big surfing spots are on the west cost. These are all natural. The West of Ireland mountainous in terrain and there is nto as many job prospects as the east of Ireland who's Dublin captital attracts most of the companys settling in Ireland. Where small towns maybe scraping for a living Surfing can give them another boost with Natural or Artificial reefs.

View Irish Surfing Spots in a larger map

Surfing in Ireland

Surfing is one of the fastest growing sports in Ireland. In total we have 5 blue flag beachs which are at a very high standard. Together the surfing and skateboarding industrie world wide is worth $7.2 Billion Dollars. Many costal villages whos main income of fishing can become booming  hubs for the surfers that come here every year. There is millions to be made and manny towns and villages are looking into the option of Artificial Reefs that will cause large enough waves to surf on and attract new business to a quite area.
 Ireland is actually one of the key surfing area's in europe but is sometimes overlooked due to the weather and cold water. Its waves can sometime be surprising. On the 13th December 2011 a bouy recorded the largest wave since records began. It measured an amazinf 20.4 Metres in height. This isn't just a freak occurance. This picture shows a man surfing a 15 Metre wave off the coast of clare (some of the best surfing spots are on the west coast.

Picture and Information: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2011/1213/breaking25.html

 You have to weigh up the odds though. Many towns are getting these new features and surfers will either go for the cheapest option or the place with biggest waves so even if you get a artificial reef there is no gaurentee that you will bring in enough tourists to break even. The average cost of a Artificial Reef is (depending on size and type) between $20000 to $60000

Locations In Ireland:

• Bundoran, Donegal Bay
• Carrownisky, Louisberg, County Mayo
• Keel Beach, Achill, County Mayo
• Rossnowlagh, Donegal Bay
• Portrush, Antrim
• Dingle Peninsula, Kerry
• Lahinch, Co. Clare
• Spanish Point, Co. Clare
• Doolin, Co. Clare
• Rosslare, Co. Wexford
• Easkey, Co Sligo
• Aughris, Co Sligo
• Dunmoran, Co Sligo
• Strandhill, Co Sligo
• Streedagh, Co Sligo
• Inniscrone, Co Sligo
• Mullaghmore, Co Sligo
• Dunlaughin, Co. Galway

(list from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_surfing_areas#Ireland)

Experiancing Surfing

Waves are the key to surfing. One of the first thing you learn when learning to surf is how to judge a wave. Although the concept seems simple there is a lot of small areas that if you do not focus on you will not be able to surf properly. This means there is a big market for lessons and can make a lot of money.

This is a video to give you just a small taste of what proffesional surfing is like:

Video From: Surfing Nias - Funny videos are here

Waves: Part 1

Waves are the main element to surfing. It's one reason that many find surfing competitions unreliable to judge the best surfer as it is nearly impossible to create a wave naturaly that are identical every time.

Three main factors contribute to the creation of waves. First is the moons gravitational pull pushs and drags the ocean's and seas around the world. When the water is pulled onto the shore the mixture of sand underneath will decide on the size of waves as seen below. As the wave comes close to the shore the water is pushed up and soon the water has to collaspe on itself which is the breaking of the wave. A large reef can create un imaginable waves that can be almost as big as a house. Also reef that is offshore can give surfers more time before it breaks. Many towns are now creating artifical reefs to attract surfing tourists

Image: http://goo.gl/gNfes

Wind also creates drag on the sea creating unrest on the surface which creates waves and can increase their size although this is not always desirable as they can upset your surfing

Introduction

Hello,
My names David and I'm going to try learn more about the geography of surfing and post what I find on this blog,

I will be Covering:

• Waves
• Artificial Reefs
• Surfing in Ireland