Hi Guys, i'm posting this here on the advice of someone in the windsurfing (Queensland) section of these forums who told me that there's a fair bit of kiting at the Narrowneck artificial reef.

I'm writing a story for a UK windsurfing magazine about a surf reef being built over here at Boscombe. It's a geo-textile sandbag reef much like the one at Narrowneck, and built by the same people. It's being put into a location that gets some, but not that much, swell, and it's nearly completed. I'm was trying to find out if the reef in Narrowneck is regularly, or ever windsurfed, but if it's good for kiting then I would like to hear about that as well. So anything you can tell me about what's it's like, whether it works well, is any better or worse than it was before would be really useful. It's just so I can get an idea if there's any precedent of these things working well for windsurfing or kiting.

If anyone on here could either reply and let me know it would be most appreciated. Or contact me direct if you prefer (gregg(at)freenet.co.uk - replace the (at) with the @ symbol).

Cheers guys

“Jacko”, not sure where you are getting your information from but you are way off the mark.

The primary objective of the Narrowneck reef was to widen the beach and dunes along Main Beach and Narrowneck beach to as a step to accommodate storm erosion. The reef is essentially a navigational channel constructed to guide some of the 500,000m3 of sand that passes along our coastline every year and was constructed using submerged sand filled geosynthetic containers. It still works today! After the recent storms you will notice barges dropping sand on the southern side of the reef allowing it to be channelled back on to the beach.
Although the reef was constructed primarily for beach protection, it did represent a major step forward in the goal of constructing an artificial surf reef from user friendly and cost effective materials.

Check out what Narrowneck looked like in 1996, prior to the reef going in.



Compared to the beach we all get to enjoy today.



I’m not sure about you, but I like having plenty of beach to launch and land my kite. The reef provides this!

the reef wasn't designed for surfing, it was designed to protect the beach against erosion.

circa early 1980's narrowneck wasn't a real good place to launch even for windsurfers.

but the reef has allowed it to be a great access point for kiters.

if it was an a-frame perfect break it would be crowded with surfers or god forbid goatboaters and standing goatboaters.

I think most people are under the misinformation that it was primarily intended as a surfing reef.

It was part of GCCC North Gold Cast Beach Protection Strategy to protect Narrowneck. Yep, it got some scarping last storm, would have been much worse had it not been there. There is no way to prevent erosion during large storm cycles but increased sand build-up in normal conditions allows for a buffer zone to be eroded in storms.

It was intended to have secondary benefits for surfing and diving, of which it hit the mark on diving (www.divingthegoldcoast.com.au), but unfortunately not on surfing. 2 out of 3 is alright.