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Yesterday was Australia Day, and I joined 1300-odd people in protest against the continued pumping of sand from Tweed to Kirra. The sand pumping was initially envisioned to solve the problem of sand-buildup in Tweed due to the north Tweed training walls, and to preserve the ailing beach at Kirra (I’ve been told that 10-15 years ago, the waves would crash against the Pizza Hut next to the Kirra surfclub in cyclonic swells). It was a unique joint initiative of both the NSW and QLD governments. Unfortunately, due to what appears to be a lack of planning, or ownership of responsibilty, what was once an amazing surf break and natural reef is now a barren and surfless zone. The sand has built up over the natural reef, killing it. It has filled in the sand banks, with only a ’superbank’ that works of the biggest of swells. It has also deposited so much sand in Kirra and north Coolangatta that you almost need a camel and a compass to find your way to the water’s edge.

But onto the paddle out. As I mentioned, over 1300 people turned up to paddle out to the former site of the Kirra break. There were a few big name surfers there (or at least, I think they were big names, I’m not very up-to-date with the whole pro-surfer thing). It wasn’t until everybody was marshalling on the shore for the paddle out that I realised how big this was going to be: 1300+ people at a single break is a fair few people! Once out there, all the surfers coordinated to form the outline of Australia. It didn’t really work out fantastically, but I guess we gave it a go! Perhaps we just need to live in a country with a simpler border.

Many people are campaigning for the government to reverse its actions, and pump sand back where it came from. My opinion is that perhaps we should leave it all alone. The sand-movement of coastal systems is dynamic and should be left to its own devices. Sand generally shifts from one location and builds up in another -  natural events such as cyclones and storm swells come along from time to time and reset the counter.

There was a fair bit of press coverage of the paddle-out too, including:

The Courier Mail
Australian Longboarding
Surfer Magazine

If you want to help save Kirra, there are heaps of groups out that are fighting to save the once world-class break in its current plight.

KirraPoint.org (SurfRider Foundation sub-committee)
Surfrider Foundation
Coastal Alliance
Save Kirra Myspace Profile

Anyway, click on more below for a few more pictures of the paddleout, some of the water images really give an idea to the scale of this thing!

Filed under: surfing by Chris