Sports planned at Boscombe beach following surf reef opening

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A RANGE of sports-related activities are being lined up for Boscombe sea front following the opening of the artificial surf reef, a meeting heard.

Cabinet member for leisure and tourism, Cllr Anne Filer, said that a government-funded council sports development officer will be organising an activity programme of events and competitions including paddle boarding and volleyball as well as surfing.

The council is also hoping to get permanent volleyball facilities on Boscombe beach and is talking to Volleyball England, the Bournemouth council meeting heard on Tuesday.

Cllr Filer said that on a recent visit to Boscombe beach she noticed that it was “absolutely packed with young people enjoying sports and all sorts of people walking along the beach”.

She added: “The reef has completely revitalised the beach and regenerated the area.”

Cllr Filer added that the reef was unlikely to play a part in the 2012 Olympics as surfing is not an Olympic sport.

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.

Surf reef on track to open in September

Friday 14th August 2009

 By Melanie Vass »

BOSCOMBE’S long-awaited surf reef will enter its final construction phase next week and is on track to be completed in September.

Now that the reef is in place, workers from ASR are fine-tuning the underwater structure, including topping up the bags and checking that the reef complies exactly with the original design.

ASR will also remove temporary anchors and red buoys and undertake a final survey of the completed reef.

Shaw Mead, ASR’s technical director, said: “Like any major construction project, there are extensive checks to be undertaken before we can say the project is complete.

“We are now starting to make all those checks thoroughly and according to the agreed specification, and I remain confident that we will finish in September as scheduled.”

The problematic reef project has been beset with delays, caused by poor weather conditions.

The confirmation that it will meet its September deadline will have left many councillors and officers relieved.

Cllr Beverley Dunlop, cabinet member for leisure and tourism, said: “I am very pleased that the construction of Europe’s innovative first artificial surf reef is progressing according to plan.

“I look forward to hearing that the project can be officially declared complete next month – that’s when I’ll be booking my surf lessons.”

The team has also begun to shut down the land-based construction site, dismantling their pipelines and equipment into containers, removing containers from the beach and flattening the surplus mound of sand.

This means that much of the beach area used for construction should be back in use for next week’s air festival.

Let's move to: Boscombe, Dorset

Make your turf next to the surf, says Tom Dyckhoff

Boscombe Dorset: The closest place to the capital for guaranteed surfing. Photograph: Joel Redman

What's going for it? Sun (sometimes), sea, sand and now surf – and lots of it. Once the poor relation of its overbearing neighbour Bournemouth, Boscombe is being reborn as a surfers' paradise. Its artificial surf reef – thefirst in Europe, triv nerds – completes in autumn, and there's asurfing academy opening at Bournemouth & Poole College in September, making Boscombe theclosest place to the capital for guaranteed surfing. Mr Red Or Dead, Wayne Hemingway, has made-over the modernist Overstrand building on the seafront, turning it from pee-stained eyesore to kool-kat retrosurf shack. The beach pods (nothing so common as a hut here, darling) certainly are cool – a cool £65,000 for a single and £90,000 fora double, thank you very much, and for only a 25-year lease: ambitious pricing in a credit crunch. Personally? Give me a Styrofoam cuppa on the Victorian pier any day.

The case against Bondi Beach it ain't. A strange place: half of it is super-posh, the other half's a bit skanky.

Well connected? From the local railstation, Pokesdown, it's four minutes to Bournemouth (twice hourly), with hourly direct services to Southampton (53 minutes) and London Waterloo (around two hours). Youcan walk to the centre ofBournemouth in 25 minutes, or drive there in 10.

 Schools Primaries: the "good and improving" St James' CofE is the pick of the locals, says Ofsted, though King's Park and Bethany CofE are both "satisfactory" with "good" features. Secondaries: Avonbourne is "good".

Hang out at… The really rather cool Urban Reef in the revamped Overstrand: a nicely done deli, cafeand bar, with an open fire forwhen the weather turns.

Where to buy The poshest area is Boscombe Manor, closest to the cliffs and sea – especially the Portman Estate. Older Victorians line the streets farther back off the maindrag, Christchurch Road; they're nicest on the south (iebeach) side.

Market values Super-posh seven-bedroom piles and swanky penthouses, £750,000-£900,000. Good-sized detacheds, £230,000 (three beds, Victorian, north of Christchurch Road) up to £750,000. Semis,£150,000-£400,000. Terraces, £140,000-£200,000. Loadsof flats, from £90,000 for a one-bed, around £140,000-£270,000 for a two-bed, and up to £500,000 for a posh three-bedder.

Bargain of the week Four-bedroom detached, close to Pokesdown station, £229,950, with Slades (01202428555).

From the streets of Boscombe 

Ros Lovett "Plenty of reasons for moving here: it's affordable, buzzy and definitely regenerating. For proof, visit Cafe Boscanova in the pedestrian precinct – great food, drinks and atmosphere, plus a gallery of work by local artists."

Mike Chalkley "Chaplin's Bar has a really good open mic night on a Wednesday. Downstairs is the Cellar Bar. And connecting them is a huge garden with covered bits and sofas."

Harold Le Roy "The high streetis a little ropey, but it has more of a community vibe than most parts of Bournemouth."

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