Nantasket's Leaky Hull

Ideal Nantasket Sandbars. Courtesy: John Mac, northeastsurfing.com

LF: Everybody loves the sand. But with the cobble berm, the whole town is up in arms because they don't want cobble in general, they know that berm is going to act like an unstable seawall and spread out everywhere and the current and littoral shifts and sediment transport will carry the cobble to their portion of the beach.

So the town wrote really great letters but the conservation commission has been really adamant about the composition of the materials. First what they were proposing was like, 70 percent cobble and then they would top it with sand. All in an effort to stabilize the failing seawall.

CD: So was the point of view of the townspeople all the sudden, wait a minute, you're giving us this solution when there's been a problem for a long time, but you haven't consulted us.

LF: Right. You haven't even asked us what we want and all the sudden you're concerned with your seawall. Why weren't you concerned ten years ago when we first told you it was in trouble?

CD: Why wouldn't they just pump sand instead of cobbles?

LF: More sand costs more money and you need much more sand to provide the kind of weight that the seawall needs. But our point of view is, if the seawall's falling down isn't it time to take it out?

CD: What are the concerns with taking it out? That people will lose houses?

LF: There are no houses, there are condos that are near the wall, but we haven't really heard a lot of commotion from them. And there's a fence that's currently blocking parking. And where they have it fenced off -- that would be the optimal point to take the wall back to. There are already two seawalls behind this one that’s falling. Every time the seawall needs repair, they just put something in front of it.

CD: So rather than retreating, they're advancing.

LF: Right and with an 11 foot high storm tide, it comes over the wall. And it brings rock and other beach debris over the wall all the way to the other side of the street. So they're concerned with larger sized cobbles flying over the wall in a storm too.

A Pretty Town, a Big Wall. Photo: nantasketbeach.com

CD: So what from your perspective would be a good solution?

LF: Managed retreat where it's appropriate. In some instances I think the wall probably should stay where it is, because there is a large hotel and a road in some spots there's really no room to move back. There are also places where it's a parking lot and you could move back. One alternative raised has also been to raise the elevation of the buildings there to above the FEMA flood stage line. One person in town works for the state and he thinks they should put properties on a pier. That was how they used to do it. There is a viable concern about flooding and that if the ocean breaks through for some reason, then you have the whole town underwater.

CD: What about beach renourishment?

LF: That's the long term plan.

LF: Right and the cobbles are not going to be the same composition as the rest of the beach.

CD: What are the threats to the surfing areas from all this?

LF: Well, that's one thing I learned -- is that we don't really know. We haven't figured that out yet. That's why I've been talking with Chad Nelson and Mark Rauscher (from Surfrider National) about enlisting a qualified engineer to develop our own plan and use their study, but also study the surf and offshore areas. What they used to do to cover the cobble up was to dig at the low tide mark --take sand from the lower par of the beach and put it on the upper part. So essentially they created an offshore sandbar. They did this continuously and the surfers around here were like, omigod, it used to break consistently here, and now it doesn't.

CD: So due to this ongoing process, you got better waves back then.

LF: Right but due to wetlands laws and that sort of thing, they stopped doing that.

CD: So you're also saying, wait, we don't know what's going to happen to the surf. Slow down with this.

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LF: Right. If you're going to do something to the seawall, why not at least do something so that it makes the waves break.

Placid Now, Hammered on a Nor'easter. Photo: nantasketbeach.com

CD: So the Corps and the MDC, you said they backed off and decided to listen and hold off for awhile?

LF: Right. I think that the short term project really came to the forefront and got everybody riled up. And it brought a lot of attention to this. They're trying to compromise now.

CD: So if you're a Massachusetts Surfer concerned about this, what should you do?

LF: There was a public comment period to the Army Corps that ended on March 30^th. And we encouraged people to write letters and we had an action alert to write letters to the appropriate people. If people want to get involved, we're starting a south shore affiliate of Surfrider. We're going to hold a meeting soon and they're setting a task force for this issue. If people want to get involved, come in to Wear and Tear Surf Shop. Even if it's just me taking down a name and number, we need people. The townspeople were threatening to stand in front of trucks to stop the cobble. A seaward revetment is not good. We're definitely pushing for managed retreat and moving the seawall back in areas where it's appropriate.

Wear &Tear
528 Nantasket Ave
Hull MA  02045
Phone: 781-925-3666 
http://www.wear-tear.com/