Ripe Surfing

Imagine having an artificial reef put in at your local beach, providing perfect lefts and rights anytime you have swell. Some New Zealand locals are lucky enough to actually have this and the god father of such technology sees it becoming more and more prevalent over the next 20 years. Are you excited?

Ripe Surfing: Whats the latest update on the Mt Reef artificial wave (is it totally finished, how often does it break)?
Kerry Black: Finished about 3 weeks ago after a long haul with the contractors. First swell last week so check out here. The contractors left under a cloud (with some pressure from the Mt Reef Trust) and then ASR took over construction. We finished it quickly … as soon as the weather was good. The region is going into the annual long flat spell up to December. But some swells should come through and so far we’ve had one that gave a day full of heavy and barreling waves. It is best on mid-tide with waves of around 2 m – which is what we designed. The wave is challenging … definitely not a soft floater wave.

We are building now in Boscombe England and starting construction in Kovalam India at the end of the year

Is it more viable to use the oceans swell when creating artificial waves ( and what other ocean reefs are in the pipeworks)?
We are building now in Boscombe England and starting construction in Kovalam India at the end of the year. We have 80-90% of the really good reef in Opunake on the west coast of NZ finished. So lots going forward now. The really good results on the Mt Reef and ASR’s construction success have overcome most of the skepticism about reefs. We run our own construction team now because we wanted to make the reefs with quality control and to precise specifications.

What is the most suitable environment for an ocean artificial wave?
Good swells is number one. Best is around a headland which gives better protection of wind and helps to filter out some of the short period waves that tend to ruin the wave quality on some days.

What are the costs involved with a project like Mount Reef?
$NZ 2 million for the Mt Reef but the costs vary from country to country, and with the size of the reef. Boscombe Reef is over twice the size of the Mt Reef. The cost is pretty cheap for an ocean construction, given that it has to last and the sea is a difficult place to build.

How are the surf-park projects coming along?
Ron Jon has been hammered by American liquidity problems … the USA has turned to melted butter a bit. So the park is not yet open but the technology is all completed and we are fully ready to move. We are waiting on the Surfparks team to get the funding finalized.

I remember reading about a circle pool design that Kelly Slater thought might work well - are you at all involved with that design or do you know about the developments on it?
Yes, I know about that project and members of team are keeping in touch with Kelly. It is a big project and I know the many challenges they will confront. As far as I know, they have taken a holiday to rethink. We have our own design which is a continuous pool of endless waves shaped like a racetrack. The waves don’t break for the full length … only some of the pool … but they are steep and nice waves to ride. The first one is being built in Auckland and early next year is the current plan.

What will we see in the next 10 years in terms of artificial waves?
Heaps of them because they are a really good idea, not only for surfing, but the multi-purpose reefs that we design and build are good for coastal protection, fish and people. The popularity is going upwards all the time because people are tired of having rocks and concrete all over their beaches and it is so easy to take all that crap off the beach and then use sand bags offshore and underwater, that are environmentally friendly, to do a much better job.

If you want to find out more about Kerry and his work, check out these links:
ASR Limited
Mt Reef