Surveys conducted on ‘two or three’ rocks that may be causing surfer injuries on Southern Ocean surf reef

Minor safety adjustments are being considered for the Southern Ocean surf reef, with the City of Albany employing a contractor to survey “two or three” rocks after reports of injuries when the reef was at low tide. Mayor Greg Stocks said the surveys would be sent to Bluecoast Consulting Engineers, who will look at the data and assess the structure before deciding on the next steps. “We do think that we’ll probably move a couple of rocks to make it a bit safer,” Mr Stocks said. “But I think the general consensus is that it’s not difficult to fix. “You simply just crack the rocks and move them — there’s two or three and they don’t form part of the actual wave itself — it’s part of the structure, but it’s not a critical part of the structure. “When that advice comes back, we’ll go to council and tell them what we’re up to (but) we do think there’s probably some small remedy, nothing major and nothing particularly expensive.” The $13 million artificial reef was officially opened at Middleton Beach in July this year after more than 30 years of the local surfing community advocating for the waves to return. However, recent reports of injuries to surfers during low tide sparked concern. Mr Stocks acknowledged the injuries and suggested that, as well as the low tide, contributing factors may be “inexperienced surfers taking on quite elite waves”. “(The surf reef) does perform very well at different times, and the temptation to go there above your skill level is probably contributing to some of that,” he said. “But having said that, surfers acknowledge that there’s risk, and all the surfing community that I’ve spoken to are delighted with the surf reef and accept that risk when they go there. “If you don’t want to accept that risk, you can go and surf on the inside breaks which have formed, and you can get a very good experience out of the surf reef by surfing the inside breaks.”