Bringing Sand to the Beach.

Xenophile

As a young lad 60 years ago we often went to the seaside in Tramore. I remember there was plenty of sand up against the prom wall. It is some years ago since I was there and at that time there was no sand near the wall.

In Gran Canaria I have seen how they send out a fleet of JCB loaders at low tide to bring in the sand that had been washed out, I think this would work well in Ireland especially in Tramore as low tide is always a very long way out.

blankAs

the new beach is all thanks to the inland engineers that were working for the county council. the new prom and the awful job that was done on the ladies slip has caused new currents and water flow patterns that are removing the sand and exposing the rocks. thanks mrs. engineer.....

Sully

Xenophile wrote: »

As a young lad 60 years ago we often went to the seaside in Tramore. I remember there was plenty of sand up against the prom wall. It is some years ago since I was there and at that time there was no sand near the wall.

In Gran Canaria I have seen how they send out a fleet of JCB loaders at low tide to bring in the sand that had been washed out, I think this would work well in Ireland especially in Tramore as low tide is always a very long way out.

Think we used to have something similar but for insurance reasons it was stopped (bottles / glass was being broken and hidden in the sand by machinery).

tbayers

blankAs wrote: »

the new beach is all thanks to the inland engineers that were working for the county council. the new prom and the awful job that was done on the ladies slip has caused new currents and water flow patterns that are removing the sand and exposing the rocks. thanks mrs. engineer.....

A new prom was a necessity or else it would have simply "rotted" away! As regards the ladies slip, the same applies. Work HAD to be done to simple keep it there. Regarding the new currents and water flow patterns, whats the alternative, stay in the 19th Century?? Something a lot of people want to do in Tramore!

blankAs

little bit of hole talking here. we didnt have a 'sand mover' in years gone by, there was a beach cleaner, that cleaned the sand that was readily available on the beach at all times.
the alternitive: do the work in a more natural manner, take note of the exsisting water flow, currents tides ect and create a design that would not impact so greatly upon the beach.
there is no denying that the beach has been changed from a sandy one into a more stoney beach and all this began happening when the extra concrete and rocks were added to the slip and the curve of the prom wall was changed. the design doesnt work, how many times has the prom walkway had to be fixed in the past ten years, them patio stones on top of it?
where is TT on this one, this will affect them as we can no longer boast a 3 km long sandy strand soon, or will there be a new campaign to celebrate the stones of the beach mabey we could make up some history that the local fishermen threw all the beach stones back into the sea at the end of the season and create a festival around it.........just an idea.

Xenophile

Sully wrote: »

Think we used to have something similar but for insurance reasons it was stopped (bottles / glass was being broken and hidden in the sand by machinery).

Bringing sand to the beach is probably something that would only need to done once a year. If there was sand on the beach for the months of June, July, August this would be great, is it possible that the sand would stay there for the high summer months being washed in and out by the more gentler tides. Of course winter gales would play havoc. Would be a good idea to take the stones away?

As regards insurance claims you will probably find that the authorities are well covered legally on this otherwise you would have a queue of nuisance and bogus claimants.

Imagine a group going down to the beach to have a night party and afterwords claiming for injuries sustained from broken bottles. I don't think it would wash (excuse the pun).

Tramore was once on of the finest sandy beaches in Ireland and a lot more could be done to restore it to that status.

blankAs

where would you propose this sand comes from?
i think cahills has a special on play sand at the moment......

dermo909

Doing this would be a disaster on a few counts:

The tide changes twice a day and any sand that you could move up the beach at low tide would be either washed back out or distributed across the beach. You would be fighting a losing battle especially when you consider how many windy/stormy days we get in Tramore!

Removing sand at low tide will create hollows and depressions in the sand. The water that is brought in by waves has to go back out again and it does so by these depressions. This is typically known as a rip and they are extremely dangerous to swimmers and water users. Water travelling out in a rip often gouges out more sand which effectively makes the hollows deeper. This in turn exposes more rocks etc. Have a look at the low tide rip in front of the lifeguard tower after a stormy swell. You'll see nothing but boulders and rocks as all the sand has been ripped out.

Tramore is a surfing town and numerous businesses count on this pastime to make a living. When you remove sand from a beach you are affecting the natural formation of sand banks which create waves. No sand banks means no waves which will kill off the surf industry in Tramore.

Xenophile

blankAs wrote: »

where would you propose this sand comes from?
i think cahills has a special on play sand at the moment......

Your question is answered on my first post.

Xenophile

dermo909 wrote: »

Tramore is a surfing town and numerous businesses count on this pastime to make a living. When you remove sand from a beach you are affecting the natural formation of sand banks which create waves. No sand banks means no waves which will kill off the surf industry in Tramore.

My guess is that surfers would account for no more than 1% or 2% of all the tourist money spent in Tramore, South East Tourism could I'm sure give a better guesstimate.

tbayers

blankAs wrote: »

little bit of hole talking here. we didnt have a 'sand mover' in years gone by, there was a beach cleaner, that cleaned the sand that was readily available on the beach at all times.
the alternitive: do the work in a more natural manner, take note of the exsisting water flow, currents tides ect and create a design that would not impact so greatly upon the beach.
there is no denying that the beach has been changed from a sandy one into a more stoney beach and all this began happening when the extra concrete and rocks were added to the slip and the curve of the prom wall was changed. the design doesnt work, how many times has the prom walkway had to be fixed in the past ten years, them patio stones on top of it?
where is TT on this one, this will affect them as we can no longer boast a 3 km long sandy strand soon, or will there be a new campaign to celebrate the stones of the beach mabey we could make up some history that the local fishermen threw all the beach stones back into the sea at the end of the season and create a festival around it.........just an idea.

I think you are exaggerating a little bit. Yes sand has been "washed" away but no more than a metre at the point under the prom. It really depends on the time of year you look at it too. Sand moves around a lot, some weeks its there, other times its not. We are hardly losing sand at a crazy rate that we wont have a beach in a few years? Although Strandhill in Sligo have recently lost all their sand, only attributed to one thing only though, mother nature!

tbayers

Xenophile wrote: »

My guess is that surfers would account for no more than 1% or 2% of all the tourist money spent in Tramore, South East Tourism could I'm sure give a better guesstimate.

Add a zero to those figures and you might be getting closer. Example. There are 4 surf schools in Tramore. Each one of them on any given day in June could have 50 odd people each in the water at the same time. The majority of these people go have there lunch at a local chipper. Then perhaps 50% go to Splashworld. Thats a lot of money being spent in Tramore due to surfers.

Dont forget to check the water on your average weekend too. The place is packed with beginner surfers in the water. The majority of which buy a least a hot chocolate/coffee in Tbay.

Again I don't have the figures either but you would be very surprised with the amount of money surfers bring into Tramore.

allthedoyles

It would certainly help to leave your footprints in the sand here

Xenophile

allthedoyles wrote: »

It would certainly help to leave your footprints in the sand here

Ideal project for people sentenced to do community work instead of a prison sentence, put a skip or two on the beach to be filled with stones only, these may be useful as trunking or road making in a farm. I know that these stones will fill an awful lot of skips.

blankAs

Or, use them to make the new roundabout. its only laughable how they brought in bags of stones when they could walk a few metres and pick up some stones!

Sully

blankAs wrote: »

Or, use them to make the new roundabout. its only laughable how they brought in bags of stones when they could walk a few metres and pick up some stones!

Your not allowed, by law.

Xenophile

allthedoyles wrote: »

It would certainly help to leave your footprints in the sand here

Must congratulate you on publishing such a wonderful photo on this site !