Photos courtesy of Bournemouth Tourism

Bournemouth County Council have just placed orders for specialist bags and webbing base that will comprise an artificial surf reef 225 metres off the Dorset coast.  The components will be shipped from Australia and New Zealand – with the first of three consignments due to arrive at the end of May.

Construction is planned throughout the summer months (when surf conditions are regularly non-existent), with completion pencilled in for October.  If everything goes to plan, surfers will be able to enjoy a 75 metre right hander with two other shorter left-hand rides also created.  The reef will be the first of it's kind in the Northern hemisphere and only the fourth in existence in the World.  The other three being Narrowneck, Queensland; Cables, Western Australia and Mt Maunganui, New Zealand.

Environmentalists with raised eyebrows should be informed that the geotextile bags used as the reef will not cause any ill side effects for the ocean, instead the material used will encourage colonization of marine life.

What kind of wave will it produce?  Well, they say that it will double the size of the existing wave at Boscombe - reports of 13 feet neckbreakers have been (unfortunately) exaggerated by local media.  Doubling the height of the surf will also mean that the number of good surfing days will double. The reef at Boscombe is designed to provide a grade 5 wave on a day with good swell which is in the challenging range (Hawaii Pipeline is a grade 8).

The fact that Bournemouth Council are shelling out so much money for this facility is indicative of how much they stand to profit from it. Their research reveals that the direct income of the reef will be around £3 million a year, generate 60 full time and 30 part time jobs, as well as producing a £10 million image value for the area.

What are your thoughts on the artificial reef?  Would you like one where you live?  Are you concerned about it's environmental impact?  Let us know what you think about Europe's 'least secret spot' at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
(Tim Hill)