The reef is a complete hoax, ive only seen it break 1 or 2 times in the last few years. The locals poured millions of dollars into this project, we have seen no return. I would not get too excited.

There is simply not one artificial reef on the planet that produces quality waves with any remote regularity-- we need to focus our attention on saving the natural ones and global sea level rise which will ruin most of the world's breaks in 100 years or less...

I'm hoping that anyone who reads this article and is interested in artificial reefs do their homework as they will find that the Mount Reef has been a dismal failure. Jose's company ASR have a lot of reef projects on the go and cannot afford to admit the very obvious fact that their first completed reef simply doesn't work.

"we have seen no return" ...apart from those that have been barrelled. What were you expecting ? Your pathetically sheltered coastline to start getting swells ? You may have no interest in short sucking slab waves , but the next generation of Mount surfers will, before they inevitably leave for more consistent locations. Bummer you got left behind with your fun board on Main Beach.

Mount local YOU have not seen any return. If you read the above properly you will see that they are still gathering research into the design of reefs. the return is only gonna happen in 20 years time after lots of trial and error. But what the scientists learnt is a great return

Hardin is wrong. Look at Hammerland, Sebastian inlet, Redondo Break Water, Huntington Beach pier...there are lots of man-made structures that have improved waves in their immediate vicinity. But it costs lots and lots of money and it is tough to justify spending that kind of money for a surf spot alone... building a pier, breakwater, or jetty has a better defined economic return on investment.

I mailed you last night regarding the failure of the mount Reef and you have chosen not to print my letter. I believe the public should know that ASR haven't managed to deliver on their promise especially when you run articles like this basically promoting their company. More importantly if you ask for "reader comments" you should have the balls to print them.

First you find a place whit a litle steap river and say a lake, then you make a dam in the river as high as possible over the lake, then a pipe from the dam to the lake, then you lett the water out in flushes. Then you may have to make a reef but anyway, you got waves everyday, and next start selling tickets.

Roaming, I don't understand your point. Why would the local surfers get behind the reef by raising a vast sum of money if they weren't able to get a return for 'twenty' years. And that 'return' if it happens will be at somebody elses beach when ASR have sorted their reef theory out. Sad.

I guess its all right, but when we spend a bunch of money on artificial reefs when we've got a beach that needs to cleaned up. Thats kind of irresponsible. So I think we should clean up our local break before we put sandbags in the water. But I wouldn't mind stopping beach erosion.

In most coastal cities theres an artificial reef, right? The piers, jetties, and other man made obastacles bend waves into perfy nugs... If someones gunna spend all day building a reef... ill surf it if its good. You can start at the closeout beachbreak out front of my house first.... k?

you can build whatever you like underneath the water's surface, if there ain't swell it ain't going to work kids...does not require a scientist to figure that out. What makes great waves? G R O U N D S W E L L ladies and gentlemen. and yes yes..also a proper bottom.

No way? Groundswell? Really? With this kind of insight I can't believe you weren't invited to the conference room.

More, more, more... ASR sez if we only had more money, we could drop more bags and get more results. ...reminds me of Cheney/Rumsfeld asking for more troops in Iraq. No thanks Jose. We've been down that road before and guess what - it leads nowhere.

There is a developed research alternative this is being overlooked. The failures of Pratt's was predicted by those that developed the technology for an advanced HDPE pipe design, the Stanley's Reef design. The non-profit consortium competed for that historic project but the design was not selected. The Stanley's Reef Foundation was instrumental to bring a project to the Oil Piers area in Ventura County, CA for... maybe now in 2010 but did not win the contract. The development of this technology continues beyond the what is shown on the web site of stanleysreef.org and anyone interested in this area should check it out.

I would like to see more thought on the repurpose of areas we have destroyed. Can we do nothing with the Long Beach breakwater, Dana Point breakwater etc? Big stupid structures with a single purpose. It seems to me we could build onto these structures to trap sand in an organized way. Developing surfspots and creating something more useful and possibly beautiful out of the uglyness we have created.

When I was a youngin they put tons of those plastic sand bags in front of the Venice Beach lifeguard headquarters. The bags got tore up and washed out after the first couple of big swells. Then they put big rocks in their place. The rocks are still there 20 years later. I didn't think the bags were going to work at Prattes reef. Rocks are the way to go. Any average kook knows plastic bags aren't good for the environment.

Keep trying artificial reefs ideas. They will improve. We have too many crowds at the point breaks, and miles of closed out beachbreak when a big swell hits. With increased demand from a growing surf population, and a limited supply of good surf spots, we need to keep investing in artificial reefs.

The Mount reef was built with the promise of a world class wave, locals fundraised while ASR did not deliver, its not up to surfers to fund ASR's research. Maybe if they were a voluntary organisation but they are in it for business and when business doesn't deliver they shouldn't be paid. I've surfed the reef and its a joke. As for "not a mount local" there is a big difference between a short sucking slab and a wave that does the equivilent of breaking on a small rock in the middle of the ocean. I bet the three people who have managed to get barrelled on it will cherish the memory. And yes the Mount isn't what you call a consistent swell magnet but it still gets enough swell to produce some of the NZ's best surfers so the issue isn't it lack of swell, its a design failure. Don't trust ASR with your money or your beaches, be happy with what you have.

I am not talking about accidental artificial reefs, and by the way HB was breaking good long before the pier.....but the manmade intentional kind. There is not ONE on the entire planet that produces a CONSISTANT good wave--- it aint even close! At this point only a fool would invest the huge sums of money required to build one of these white elephants--- I gotta laugh....let it go kids--- concentarate ond protecting the ones we have and mitigating global sea rise for our grandkids---- no offense Jose-- nice guy-- met him--- he is selling this bs----

Hey Chris where did the money raised locally go? To a bunch of incompetent overpriced LOCALS masquerading as an underwater construction team, Bay Underwater Services. These clowns look to have made off with most of the money while not actually doing their job. Go ask them for your money back! You can argue forever if what you got is what you dreamed it would be like, but the specifications of the ASR’s design and the waves that do happen on the reef do seem to mach, minus the f@$k ups made by the LOCAL construction team. While ASR certainly cheerlead this project, most of the hyperbole appeared to come from the LOCAL trust. I know a bunch of people, who have had a good time on the reef, yelling on the internet that this can’t possibly be true, is tiresome.

Tim: I agree, not one of the attempts so far has been as good as it could have been. But the reason is simply due to size and location. Look at the volumes again. The 'wedge' jetty is 100's of thousands of cubic meters. The Mount reef is 4,500. The 'Wedge' produces spectacular waves 10 - 20 times per year, max, hardly consistent. If you compare cost, jetties on that scale are US$ 10's - 100's of Millions, the Mount Reef, less than US$1 Million - far less than one beachfront house! It astounds me how surfers like you simply roll over to the powers that be and take it. I'm saying we can get back some of what has been lost over the past 50 years.

Scully: The bags used in the Venice situation are totally different. Much, much smaller, just a few hundred pounds. The bags used at Pratte's were also very small, only 1 or 2 tons . The largest rocks you can get are on the order of 10-20 tons and very expensive. 1 Mount Reef 'bag' is on the order of 100 - 300 tons, depending on the size. So again guys, please consider scale and orders of magnitude in your arguments.

I am happy to see that you are covering this topic. Thank you. However, I did not see mention of the Stanley Reef Foundation. This site is worth exploring stanleysreef.org

Having looked at the latest Mount Reef site update, I see the bags added in the forward position of the V, more like a Y. This will improve the performance, the more the better to help to capture longer period waves & set up a proper wave for smaller period waves. This design discovery was made almost 20 years ago in the Scripps wave tank with Yvon and Flecher Chiounard and lead to an important key aspect of the Stanley's Reef Y reef design. Swell energy will respond to the bottom but will need some distance that a forward section provides for a better result. Otherwise you will get a slab pouring over the reef or just a mush ball or nothing at all depending on the period of the wave. It is a challenge to be able to get a economical reef and Jose is right that the $ is relatively small for the size of the reef they have built at Mount. Stanley's Reef proposes to use different materials but ones that are inert & with a history in the ocean in a unique way but also using proven engineering meth

Lets put things in perspective. These reefs are designed primarily for flat sandy beaches near large populations. Such areas are typically devoid of marine life and lack consistent quality sand banks. The aim is to enhance a rel underused natural resource and aleviate some pressure on the growing surfing population. Not intended to replace existing reefs. There are genuine concerns regarding costs of any civil or public recreational structure and of course usgae as well as environmental concerns, but i think you'll find the good far outweigh the bad, coastal protection structures will go in anyway, hence they get my full backing in the right location if managed responsibly inline with the rest of our surfing culture.

Jose, its a good idea and a hugh challenge. What do we have to lose but money, if one of those projects pans out, the memories of surfing perfect manmade waves would be priceless!

El Porto, Ca, has a man made reef with real big rocks and that was built on a sandy beach with superior results, good rights but better lefts during a south swell. Easy paddle out too. Fairly long rides for that area of California. A good design.

Jose, I hear you , if you can get more money you will be able to build bigger and better reefs, good luck on that one as that will be the answer , Instead of one , five or 7 million tens and twenty millions will be required and then you will be able to get results. Every surfer hopes you suceed in this quest.

Philistine attitudes make no progress. The Mount is an experiment, or student project. A learning experience dude. tim hardin, Mount local, Frank, Chris and any of you other pessimists, I would love to see some of your credentials. I reckon you could only just construct a sand castle between you, but not to any specific design, it would off the cuff style; much like you uneducated remarks. If you dont have anything positive to say then why bother at all. Better off spending your time improving your surfing, that way you might be able to take some of this sucky numbers that whistle down the reef.