Unless you’re a surfer with a peculiar fetish for landing on jagged reef and getting sea urchins stuffed up your arse, you’ll no doubt prefer the flawed idea of a soft, sandy bottom during the time you waste riding waves. I say flawed, as sand is not soft at all. As anyone who’s dealt with a nasty shorebreak can attest – it can be pretty hard, as it’s essentially compacted on the sea floor – and quite a lot of it is made up of tiny granules of rock after all. We’ve all seen those beautiful images of grains of sand under a microscope; tiny little polygonal shapes crafted by nature, sorta trippy like you’ve inhaled too much resin fumes at your local shaper. And of course, the part sand has to play in helping waves break – not to mention result in the kind of wave perfection that would make grown men cry – cannot be overstated.
Sand is not unlike a frothing grom – it moves about the whole time, settling into place for only short periods of time. Unlike a grom however, sand cannot be chained to a lamppost to keep it still. And also, significantly unlike a grom, the movement of sand is not erratic. The sea’s currents and tides displace and rearrange it on a regular basis, wantonly creating and destroying surf spots like the US does democratic states. But it doesn’t all happen underwater. Wind obviously plays its part too, scouring sand off beaches to send it hurtling off to sea – or the other way round to create dunes.
“Why should I care?” You may say.
“I’m a surfer, not a damn sand sculptor!” Fair enough.
“Will the sand disappearing from the beaches unearth all those bodies I buried there?” Wait, what?!
I hear you though. You want to know how all of this affects your surfing beyond waxing up on a windy day at the beach, only to discover your the deck of your board now resembles coarse grade sand paper. Sand creates sandbanks. It fills in nooks and crannies on reefs. It can create shallower areas, where waves will tend to break and hopefully form into cylindrical tubes of sheer magnificence. Unfortunately however, sand can just as easily form into straight banks which can close out waves out like a limp wristed slap. Beachbreaks are clearly particularly susceptible to the movements of sand, especially the areas exposed to the open ocean. Perfect banks can form and disappear quicker than Scrooge when it’s his round at the bar. Here today, gone later today. The bank at Plettenberg Bay was a fine example, and the famed everlasting lefts of the Donkey is sadly set to be another example of sand – or lack thereof – ruining the party.
Sand may get in your eye, in your wetsuit, in your surf wax, in your beach ice cream, in your unmentionable areas – but for such a small particle; it has a massive role to play in the enjoyment of our favourite pastime. So consider that the next time you bury your car keys in the dunes away from prying eyes and potential thieves.
I see where you’ve put your Golf’s keys Trevor.
