On the radio today (abc) they mentioned an artificial reef being created at the newly reopened shoalhaven heads. Anyone know anything about it. Sounded awesome.

It was just on the news. Sounds awesome!!

yup... my thought too. If they plan to set it up as a diving location they will probably dump it in 12 to 18 meters of water. That said you just need a big enough swell for it to work. Just look at Jaws. Apparently they have done some modelling and the wave peaks in 10 meters water depth.

Now I am not suggesting this will be another Jaws. I don't think it will have the right shape for that but it might offer some short rides. Another possibility is that sand starts building either north or south of the reef and creates a break in that spot.

On a negative note, when they attract little fish with a reef that usually is followed by bigger fish looking to eat the little fish. When I lived in Gerroa and used to sail in SWer I'd been followed by sharks a couple of times. I'd say there were about 3 meters in length.

Does anyone know who is doing the build? Perhaps it might be possible for NSW Wave sailing to approach them and propose a dual use reef. One what suits both above and below water sports activities.

anyone got any further info regarding the placement and the type of reef they are attempting to build ?
Was involved in the monitoring and reporting of the construction of an artificial reef in a previous life. It was established as a wave producing reef not just an underwater habitat.
From what I remember there is a fair bit of design and construction cost involved in the modelling and then creation of an artificial reef for surfing.
Given the ballot system involved for the region to win the right to have the reef, I'd be surprised if there's been coin assigned for the required research not to mention controlled construction ?

Dumping concrete into the water is one thing, aligning them to work with local currents, swell direction, depths and tides is another thing altogether in order to produce a breaking wave.

Might be worthwhile trying to get a bit more info and then start some lobbying happening from here on in ?

Anyone interested ?

So will this reef be good enough to elevate Shoalhaven Heads from being the most sh1t spot to wave sail to being the 2nd most sh1t spot to wave sail?