I'm confused, I would have thought there were laws against this sort of thing...

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/274/nation/Nation_s_first_artificial_wave:.shtml

Nation's first artificial wave-producing reef is mostly a wash off the California coast

By Andrew Bridges, Associated Press, 10/1/2001 04:33

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. (AP) Jose Borrero paddled out into the Pacific Ocean on a recent afternoon and found out that $500,000 won't buy a wave big enough to surf on.

The graduate student at the University of Southern California and tsunami expert knows a thing or two about big waves; what he doesn't know yet is exactly how to make them.

Borrero and two assistants are working to build the nation's first artificial wave-generating reef for the nonprofit Surfrider Foundation, but early results indicate the $500,000 project south of Los Angeles could be a wash.

''For over 70 years of surfing, we have collectively checked every nook and cranny of the state's coastline and around the world and found very few places perfect for surfing,'' said Chad Nelsen, Surfrider's environmental director.

''Now we're trying to create one of those, and it's a tough business,'' he said.

One thing does seem clear: bigger could be better.

The only other artificial surfing reefs in the world are in Australia, where the Narrowneck reef in Gold Neck roughly 100 times larger than the Surfrider project draws raves.

The El Segundo reef is composed of roughly 1,800 cubic yards of sandbags arrayed in a submerged, blunt-nosed ''V'' formation. But even after it was boosted in size last spring, the reef has failed to consistently produce large waves.

Most waves wash over the reef and are sapped by the deep trough between the reef and shore. That could change this winter.

Designers of the reef hope it will trap enough sand washing from the beach to form a shelf from the shoreline to the reef. That way, waves would hit the reef and continue to break as they roll through shallow water.

Nelsen conceded the Surfrider Foundation's goal of generating perfect waves may be elusive. The group now focuses on preserving rather than enhancing existing surf sites.

On the Net: http://www.surfrider.org/index.html

-- Anonymous, October 01, 2001