Most south coast surfers will all be aware that the construction of the reef is planned for this summer. It was due to start in May 2007, but there seems to have been some delay, and a Southampton-based company, Emu, has carried out a review. I think that this will be OK, but it takes a while to design, sort out tenders and make all the geo-textile material. Hopefully, we will see a start in June. Dr Kerry Black will be here before Easter, so we should soon have a better idea. Placing and anchoring the geo-textile compartments to the seabed and filling them up with sand are the very last stages. I'm hopeful that it will be ready for the autumn.

Before that, they will be taking the end off the pier, and forming a "T" section at the end. Goodness knows how this will affect the surf. A shortened pier can't be helpful though.

Kerry's latest design brought the reef inshore a bit, and we are hopeful that this will create some "harmonic" effects. This means that one or two banks to the side and inshore at high tide should have good waves at times.

We did have a few disagreements with the council. It seems that they had initially imagined that surf-coaching companies would be invited to tender for licenses based on having the use of the reef. Their draft document for Surf School Licensing even said, "To control and manage the use of the Artificial Surf Reef"! We hope that this has been sorted out now, but remain concerned.

The Council are negotiating all year-round lifeguarding for the reef area with the RNLI. They say that will not include policing of the surfing, but we'll have to wait and see.

We have proposed that signs indicating the "Rules of the road" be put up, plus a notice saying something like "Advanced surfers only".

The reef group, who met council staff a number of times, had proposed months ago that the reef be called "Weight's reef". This was approved at the last two club meetings and ratified at a recent committee meeting. It was a close call though, with the name "Weight's - Wessex Reef" being preferred by some, but it was felt by others that this would be bound to be shortened in practice. So thanks for the support of members and committee members on that.

In appreciation, I have agreed that if Wessex S.C. support me in successfully gaining title to the reef, I would not sell it other than for the benefit of Wessex S.C. Specifically, this means that if we get another opportunity to get a reef at, say, Southbourne, then I would be willing to sell the name, with the money going into a charitable trust to help fund future reefs.

David Weight

March 2007