Why Dbah and TOS have such good waves

[zingomar]

Reading surf magazines and listening to people suggests that few understand why Dbah and TOS get such great peaky waves. Banks help and Dbah has a bit of a rebound off the groyne, but one of the keys is the tidal rip out of the river and the seaway - you can stand on the hill at dbah and see it cutting the swell lines into bumpy lines out to sea. The outside banks at dbah also bend and warp the swell. A straight swell turns into peaks which hit shallow sand bars - so banks and swelldirection dont matter as much as the other beaches.

[craig]

yeah that makes a bit of sense zingo. thanks

[xfactor]

hmm well, what do you think about all the sand thats present in all the southern beaches/points? I personally think there's way too much sand at the moment. is there any way to get rid of it?
kirra used to be good till all the sand drifted in

however d-bah/greenmount probably at its peak! Unlimited barrel supply there.. Burleigh not too bad either..

and whats with the mega-high tide these days? points dont like breaking on some days.

Your theory on TOS/D-bah should apply to burleigh too as there's tallebudgera creek. anyways, i hope d-bah/tos stay the way they are.

[zingomar]

Basically anything that warps, twists and breaks up swell helps create good beach break peaks (where there are no rip channel set ups). Offshore islands, outside reefs, outside sandbars, two swells at once or as I said with Dbah the tweed river powering out to sea (especially on outgoing tides). Tullebudgera near Burleigh just does not have much flow that gets out beyond the surf zone. Dbah and TOS are fortunate in that the waves come out of the zone that breaks up the swells into a protected zone away from rip action - so clean waves result. Apparently before the groynes and Dbah it was a rip torn mess. At TOS the beach angle helps with SE swells, but these have been warped out to sea as well. Interesting stuff - for some people - like me

[yewwww!]

to the 1st question to the amount of sand on the southen points. as a wave breaks, its deposits sand as well as taking it away again. up here the long shore drift (the directoin the sand drifts) go's north, so our sand is constantly moving north. so when it reach's the wall at the tweed mouth, there is a build up of sand. so on the other side of the wall (snapper) the sand is being taken away and there is nothing coming in to replace it. meaning the point is being eaten away. this is what happened when they 1st made the artificial rock wall at the mouth, which was when snapper was in its prime. but now they have got the new sand pumping jetty in which takes the sand from the southen end of the wall over to the other side. so snapper/Kirra has been slowly building up more and more sand because the jetty pumps just that little bit to much. so there IS a way that they could get rid of it, but i very much doubt they will.

[SBL]

Another fact maybe that they both have sand pumps that make the beach alot shallower and they are sort of ledgy where it is deep then a shallow sandbar..


anyway thats my 5 cents

[SBL]

Another fact maybe that they both have sand pumps that make the beach alot shallower and they are sort of ledgy where it is deep then a shallow sandbar..


anyway thats my 5 cents

[northathegoldy]

I reckon the reason sth Strads and Dbah have larger and heavier waves consistantly is due to a few things. As mentioned they both have sand pumps giving them consistant banks, they both have the seaways warping the well into peaky goodness, but none of this really explains the bigger wave heights and and heaviness. Perhapys it has to do with the fact that both of the beaches are positioned optimally so that they face the incoming swell and that the swell is coming in from deeper water (then the rest of the coast) and cranking out over these more consistant and shallow sandbanks (kinda hawaii style, although nothing like the famed island).

[yewwww!]

yeah they both have those nice peaky waves because of the river mouths right next door. but the other thing you have bought into consideration is write on. when u look at aussie breaks like shark island and other nuts reefs, they suck so hard and are so much bigger because of how fast the wave comes from deeper water into shallower water. when u look at shark island, its this wave energy coming in from deep ocean and just getting pushed up onto this insanely shallow rock ledge. which is what makes it so heavy. so yes that is KINDA what happenes at strad/d-bah but not quite that dramatic.

[slicktrigger]

Same reason why the banks on Moreton Island are so mental. However, the marine life kicking around there is a bit creepy. It's very deep close to shore, hence heavy sucky waves and big nasty bitey things.

[northathegoldy]

slicktrigger,
Mate just wondering if you could tell us about morten is? Like its only a par 5 from nth strads, is it just mental uncrowded heavy beachies or what? Sounds ooright. WHen you say its a bit sharky is that just cause its remote and you think it is or it definitley is?

[yewwww!]

morton isent a mental uncrowed beachie. our family actully has a house on morton which i spent most of the hosidays of my childhood at. when he says there is the odd shark around, he is right on bout it. there is some nice breaks there but its not all that much differant to the average goldy beachie.

the days spent on morton were good times though. as a kid i remember my dad telling me to go steal some more toilet paper from the toilets at tangaloomer and just other wierd shit like that. the old house isent looking to good these days though. the wood on the floor is getting a bit soft and the spiders are getting a bit off the hook. but otherwise a great place to spend your holidays. we found an orsome lake kinda thing once, dug it out, and make the best still wave ever. looking forwad to going back soon. havent been for a while.....

[cynic]

And a warning

a few years ago a palmy surfers board was tombstoning over there for about 10 minutes rather scary to those watching from the rocks - guess what was on the other end with him

RIP

[slicktrigger]

There are more sharks there and it has nothing to do with the remoteness. The edge of the Continental Shelf is closer to the shore on Moreton than it is on the Goldy. That's where your pelagics live such as Marlin, sail fish, and yeah big tigers, bronzies and the rest of the nasties. So while the waves rip, it's still a little bit riskier.
However, I've surfed there a few times at midday with no worries. Dawn and dusk are just plain stupid times to surf.