Bournemouth Watersports - All Water Based Activities and Sports in the Region!

ORIGINAL LINK

By David Copeland

To top off the selection, Bournemouth and Poole have the very finest and sunniest beaches in the land, ideal if you wish to try one of the Watersports listed above! Most of the activities are in the town and some are very close by. I am particularly interested in Kite surfing myself and see it as one of the very best sports to emerge in the last ten years. I would relish the time, opportunity and motive to have a go. So if you are looking for something to try while on holiday then this is one for you!

All of the training in the area is amongst the finest in the land and all the schools are run by qualified and extremely competent instructors to ensure your safety and rapid advancement. You can even go all the way up to hiring a luxury powerboat to cruise the beautiful seas and harbours in the area or if your budget does not stretch enough, you can enjoy one of the many cruises offered throughout the year. Anything related to water is available in the town and beyond as this is one of the most established seaside resorts in the whole of the land. The Watersports section here is second to none in the UK

According to the tourist management Board the Bournemouth and poole region is set to become the epicentre of the Uks Water based sporting centre and with the arrival of the new artificial surf reef near Boscombe pier it shows that the area is headed in the right direction. The tourist board has also said it will release information pertaining to tourism and encourage locals to partake in the new facilities available now!

The article was written by “david Copeland” with
http://www.1activity.com/watersports.html as a reference guide.

Bournemouth, Europe’s First Artificial Reef, Enhances Ecology and Surfing

ORIGINAL LINK

Europe’s first artificial reef, at Boscombe Seafront, is now officially open. Bournemouth Reef is part of a larger redevelopment scheme to regenerate and revitalize the area. A local Economic Impact Assessment has suggested that the reef will create a value of £10 million per year, generating a huge stimulus for equipment retailing, surf training schools, accommodation and board, and creating an estimated 60 full-time and 30 part-time jobs.

The reef takes up approximately one hectare (almost 2 1/2 acres), sits approximately 225 meters (246 yards) off shore, and is built with large sand-filled geo-textile bags. The artificial surfing reef resembles a “submerged breakwater”, and not only creates surfing opportunities but, because it dissipates wave energy before it strikes the shore, it creates safer swimming areas and reduces erosion along the coast.

Bournemouth reef has already become the underwater home to sea life such as spidercrabs and cuttlefish, creating new marine habitat and increasing the richness in marine ecology in the area. Construction of artificial surfing reefs is a relatively new technology, and as such, many nations are putting in place extensive regulations restricting the alteration of coastal ecosystems.

Environmentalists have argued against coastal modification on multiple grounds, including the idea that coastlines are best left in their natural state, but according to the Bournemouth Reef site:

“The environmental implications are at worst, neutral. It’s likely that marine life will thrive on the reef and there will be no damaging effects to the beach. Although our reason for building the reef is for regeneration and leisure, expert opinion says that it may also help with coastal defenses.”

Jack Sobel, a senior scientist at The Ocean Conservancy, says “There’s little evidence that artificial reefs have a net benefit.”

The company that built the reef disagrees:

“This is mimicking the way nature has protected coastlines for thousands of years. If you put a submerged reef offshore, it dissipates the wind energy that causes coastal erosion, and does a better job of protecting a beach than rocks or concrete seawalls.”  – Nick Behunin, managing director of multi-purpose reef company ASR Ltd.

Interview with Surfer Ben Mondy on the Bournemouth Surf Reef

Aussie surf hack Ben Mondy, an ex-editor of Tracks magazine and contributor to Surfer, Carve and Surf Europe, was one of the first to surf the new reef at Bournemouth. Here he gives his take on it in a video that is currently running on the Independent newspaper website.

Assessing the Energy Requirements and Carbon Footprint of Multi-Purpose Reefs

Summary:

In an effort to address the environmental impacts and sustainability of multipurpose reefs as a form of coastal protection, ASR Ltd. has compared key indicators of energy consumption and carbon output between the materials and construction methods used in multipurpose reefs to those used in traditional rock and armour breakwater construction.

The results of the study show that multipurpose reef construction using sand filled geotextile containers has an overall energy usage and carbon output 3 to 6 times lower than traditional rubble mound or concrete armour breakwaters per cubic meter of finished structure volume.

The study was based on methodologies published in the coastal engineering literature which explored the relative monetary costs of breakwater construction using different materials (Tutuarima and d'Angremond, 1998) and a more recent paper (Bruce and Chick, 2009) which assessed the energy usages and carbon output of the materials and methods discussed in Tutuarima and d'Angremond.

The key factor in low energy and carbon footprint of a multi-purpose reef is the use of sand as the primary construction material.  Based on published estimates, sand has an embodied energy (EE) content 10 to 100 times lower than that of stone and an embodied carbon (EC) content approximately 10 times lower per kg of material.

Further reductions in these quantities can be obtained through the optimization of construction methods and a reduction in the total transport distances for the sand fill and geotextile containers.

As a conscientious provider of sustainable coastal protection solutions ASR Ltd. will strive to minimise our impact on the environment while providing the most effective means of shoreline protection and ecological enhancement.