Surfing
Is this boat going to change the Superbank?
Or, is it simply spending $14 million of taxpayers’ money… for nothing?
As you’re reading this, the City of the Gold Coast is in the first few weeks of one of the largest ocean and marine life projects ever undertaken in the area.
The project is called the Gold Coast Beach Nourishment Project (GCBNP) and it aims to “increase the volume of sand available along vulnerable sections of the coastline, to buffer against future storms and coastal erosion.”
This particular project is part of a larger strategy put in place back in 2013, the Ocean Beaches Strategy, which intended to look after beaches in their current state and the future. One of its main goals was and is to ensure that the beaches on the Gold Coast are in the best possible condition for the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
A fair goal, as the city is investing such an enormous amount of funds into hosting the Games.
Quite the spectacle for a day at the beach
© Andrew Shield
The investment? $14 million in taxpayer funding. $14 million spent on the vessel you see pictured here, working from the southern end of the Gold Coast to Miami all the way up to Main Beach, dredging sand from miles offshore and pumping it up, into the vessel, then spouting that same sand out about 50 metres offshore.
The Council’s goal is to rebuild the beaches. Surfers hope it’ll build the banks and, somehow, it might keep miracles like the Superbank alive and well.
After four weeks of non-stop work, reports are coming in from locals on the progress… and, well, there doesn’t seem to be any.
Andrew Shield, the man who shot the photos you see here, reported back to Red Bull. “We’ve seen absolutely no difference in the amount of sand on the beaches or the banks since they started working. And if there actually was any progress, unbeknownst to us, all of their efforts would have been wiped out in the past few days with the swell we’ve seen.”
Upon finishing the phone call, it was clear that Shieldsy wasn’t impressed by the spend on such a vast amount of taxpayer dollars. “I’ve also heard that the vessel they’re using dumps sand just as effectively out of its hull, where they’re dredging from. Seems to me they’re just trying to put on a show.”
The Gold Coast Council has responded to Shieldsy's comments saying... "Sand is being collected from our offshore sand supplies and being distributed it around the wave breaking zone by both bottom dumping (from the hull of the vessel) and rainbowing (projected from the bow of the vessel). Although rainbowing is quite a ‘spectacle’, it is essential in enabling the sand to be deposited closer to the shore than the dredge is able to get."
However, That same sentiment that Andrew Shield gave rings true throughout the surf community. 18 Second Magazine’s Andy Morris posted this recently as well…
So, what does $14 million in taxpayer dollars get you? It could get you a whole bunch of good banks up and down the surf capital of Australia. Or, it could get you… absolutely nothing.
The Council gives this statement in response to the question around coastal storm erosion... "Following storm events beaches typically experience erosion, where sand is moved from the top of the beach (dry beach) into deeper water. This sand is not lost, and moves slowly back to the top of the beach under calmer conditions. This project is adding extra sand to this system to protect our coast from future storms."
But will, as Andy Morris so correctly put it, Huey will have the last say?
Lets give it a few more storm swells, aye?