ASR update 2007
By Dr Shaw Mead at 2:59pm on 28th Dec, 2007Another great year has almost gone by, so it’s time for a quick catch-up with the progress of the various reef projects – as always, we only have space for updates on a selection of reef projects currently in progress. Following an internal re-structuring of ASR a little over 2 years ago, the company (along with its sister company Surf Pools Ltd) has flourished. One result of our continued growth is the development of a construction arm to ASR.

We have recently gained new specialist staff and a range of equipment so that we can provide a turnkey multi-purpose reef service (design-build). This is a very exciting development that allows us to be involved in every aspect of reef projects from the initiation to completion of construction. We’re looking forward to another big year ahead, and wish you all the best for 2008. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Team at ASR!
Boscombe, UK – After permitting hold-ups throughout this year, 2 weeks ago, the final permit for Boscombe Reef in Bournemouth was granted and construction was officially announced “The Council is on course to start construction in spring 2008, with the reef anticipated to be completed in time for the October 2008 swell.” This reef is designed to enhance the surfing amenity at Boscombe, which has particular requirements with respect to the type of swell that hits this part of the English South coast, i.e. mostly generated by local winds. This led to a design that dampens out the wave chop to provide a cleaner ride on the 120 m long right-hander.
Video showing scale testing of Boscombe Reef
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I32YYoH2Ig0&feature=related
Orewa, NZ – At Orewa just north of Auckland, the 2.4 km long stretch of coast has little to no dry beach at high tide. There are a variety of historical reasons behind this situation, all due to human activities (e.g. sand-mining, re-alignment of the estuary entrance, building too close to the beach, etc). The beach is considered the Rodney District’s most important coastal asset, and as such they have been looking at ways to provide a wide high-tide beach to improve the amenity for several decades. Following on from earlier work by the University of Auckland, which showed that offshore reefs were the most successful structures for retaining sand, ASR is currently designing a system of multi-purpose reefs for the length of the beach – as is the case in many situations, re- nourishing the beach is only successful in the short-term and methods to maintain the new sand in place for longer periods of time is necessary to make it cost effective and sustainable in the long-term. Orewa is a special case, with a fairly benign wave climate (except during extra-tropical storms), a tide range of some 3 m and a gently sloping gradient (>1:100). The development of a new modelling tool, NGENIUS, has been extremely useful to the design of the Orewa Beach structures, with this simple-to-use N- line model predicting the beach dynamics and shoreline adjustments due to the presence structures extremely fast (in comparison to other morphological models). Following the ‘fast’ investigation with NGENIUS, other tools in the 3DD modelling suite can be used to finalise the design. The modelling has been running in parallel with field investigations, with an aim to complete the design work for Resource Consent application in the New Year. The reef structures primary aim is beach protection, however, the reefs will also incorporate surfing breaks for the large local surfing population, which includes probably NZ’s largest long-boarding club.
Borth, Wales – This project has some similarities to the Orewa project, i.e. fairly low gradient beach and a relatively small wave climate, and a primary aim of beach protection (surfing as a secondary aspect). As such, a lot of valuable information has been learned between the 2 projects that is applicable to both. Unlike Orewa, the high tide beach at Borth is shingle, with a gentle gradient sand beach below this. At present, sediment dynamics are being investigated, with interactions between reefs and other structures (e.g. groynes) and the extent of beach widening being investigated – a single reef has been shown to widen the beach along some 480 m and up to 75 m wider in its lee.
Mount Maunganui, NZ – Progress to complete the Mount reef has been slow due to weather and the Port of Tauranga’s work load. However, the Port’s construction crew have been out and completed the large containers on the righthand side. In addition, additional funds have been made available to fill some of the other containers and ASR will lead another construction group to undertake these works. Check out www.mountreef.co.nz for the latest.
Ron Jon’s Surfpark, Orlando – Scale model testing has continued throughout the last part of the year on the pro-pool (100 m x 36 m). With the development of fully automated wave generators, a great number of tests have been carried out. This has led to some innovative solutions – reducing reflection and wave driven currents in a pool when you are firing 2.4 m waves (energy!) into it at 12 second intervals takes some thinking outside of the box. The last set of tests prior to shutting down for the Xmas break were incredible and were a great reward for all the time and effort that SPL and Surfparks have put into it. While we can’t yet disclose the results, they will be coming out soon – check out www.surfparks.com for a run down on the site and latest news.
ASR America LLC – Another new development is the incorporation of ASR America. Based at Cocoa Beach in Florida and managed by John Hearin (Company President), ASR America is focused solely on the US coastline and is supported by ASR’s ‘modelling house’ to provide added expertise and experience to address a wide range of coastal projects. Several reef projects are currently in progress in the US, including Ventura Oil Piers, New Jersey and the preliminary design for the Cocoa Beach multi-purpose reef.
Always Offshore
Dr. Shaw Mead and Dr. Kerry Black







