South Australia's (sort of) Superbank
"We've had a couple of storms recently," said Dick Olinsky in a classic piece of understatement. Dick is a longtime Mid Coast surfer and member of South Port SLSC. Last week one of those storms dumped damfulls of rain across South Australia, stranding people in cars and catching emergency services on the hop.
At the height of last week's storm, usually benign creeks turned into raging torrents. At the mouth of the Onkaparinga River, the largest river on the Mid Coast, the coastline was reshaped by the surge of rainwater heading for the sea.
Aerial view of the new bank (Photo Jan Stankiewicz Photography)
When the storm cleared and the river settled, locals were astounded by what they saw. The torrent of water had stripped bare the dunes that locals had meticulously rejuvenated, grass and fences were gone, and the sand had found a new resting place at the rivermouth.
"We were dissappointed with what happened to the dunes," says Dick, before adding, "but as a community we're quite excited with the new sandbank."
The new bank extends far out beyond the exisiting rivermouth and has created a long left sand point. Dick casts his mind back but can't recall anything like it. "I joined the surf club in '82 but had been around here even longer than that. I can't ever remember it happening before."
And though the swell was small as we spoke, Dick, with barely concelaed excitement, said that it's going to be "be very interesting when the next swell arrives."
Swellnet surf cam shot of the new bank. Note erosion of sand dune in the foreground.
Andy Hancock lives up above the rivermouth and he shares Dick's thoughts. "It extends out twice as far as any bank I've seen there before. It's also twice as good as any bank I've seen there."
Though it hasn't had a swell on it yet, Andy thinks it might just work like a proper pointbreak. "A longboarder might be able to jag a wave for 150 metres perhaps. That's linking the flat spots. Shortboarders a bit less." It'll be a leg burner all the same.
Just waiting for a swell (Photo Jan Stankiewicz Photography)
Like a lot of Mid Coast waves the bank will be tide dependent, and Andy reckons he knows which part of the cycle will be best (and no, he ain't sharing it here). He'll get a chance to test his theory when the next clean swell arrives.
Even if the bank doesn't prove quite as good as imagined the excess of sand will be a boon for the nearby waves. "The Hump is at its best when there's sand," says Andy, "and it hasn't broken well for a few years."
It's a win/win for Mid Coast surfers. All they need now is swell.
Comments
And once again to the Internet, everyone will know. But I do hope the hump will be rejuvenated by this shift in sand.
Famous last words, "all they need now is swell"
Lots of nasties in the flood water, some syringes seen on the shoreline today.
What's with this 'ain't sharing'. The location is out there. No brotherly love here ?
Big difference between knowing where it is and when to arrive, TB.
Lol, it ha a dedicated surf cam, how can anyone not know when to arrive :P
Whoa....... I'm on my way............soon as I can find my trousers.
I miss the gippy lefthand super bank that seemed to disappear about 6-7 years ago. Any chance of a return?
Tell you about it when I get back from southport.
id Gary had a dollar for every time he'd thought THAT!
if Gary had a dollar for every time he'd thought THAT!
Pretty funny if someone went to the trouble of flying to radelaide hiring a car driving down there and .......missed the tide.
Creek vs river. With all that SA rain, another early 90s style 'superbank' in the offing? MMmmmm, bait 'em up.
Mmmmm that was good
MMmmmm that was good
On a tangent, how is it that people generally, and more specifically surfers, are still "disappointed" regarding processes in the littoral zone?
Why would you try to (re) vegetate loose sand on the beach near a river mouth?
What are they expecting?
Wow, what a surprise for the locals!......got to love a rivermouth setup. Goodbye sand dunes, hello sandbank!
The right looks better, quite fast was watching two out on the cam, despicable conditions but seen one guy get a wave and it looked fun.
You get paid for every advert I have to watch don't you stu.
:-))
Yeah right is looking better to me.
THat right would be standing up nicely against the outflow of the river creating a nice wall
i'm not seeing a super bank anywhere in the photos
It's the mid. You need to lower your expectations.
I don't see it either, looks like just another unorganised shitty bank to my eyes to Mr Diddy, giddyup !!!!!!!!
I think the technical term for this is a naturally occurring eustary breakout. Interesting for surfers because a rare and sudden surge of water punches a heap of sand into the line up.
Don't want to be a party-pooper but - rivermouth ? SA? Think I'll pass.
It' s a similar sich to when an ICOLL breaks it's banks.
Just watched this bloke get a long, long wave on what appears to be some kind of modified aircraft carrier.
https://www.swellnet.com/surfcams/southport
4 guys out now, probably more to come...
Reminds me of the elwha river mouth in Washington state. I'd heard so many good things about the wave when I moved over there. Seen great photos from happy surfers coming back from weekend missions. I couldn't get out there for ages. It only works in big Pacific swells cos it's deep inside the strait of Juan de fuca.
You're looking north at Vancouver island, Olympic mountains looking down at you from the south.
Anyway first time I went out there it was too small. So much potential on this cobble stone point of sorts, that apparently had been the same for years. A steep but mellow left and a rifling fast right that closed out on dry cobbles. But it was two small to be surfable on the day. Ended up surfing a little bay further west called twins. Small but clean and good vibes. Lake flat during lulls and then every 10 mins a little set would dribble in by way of explanation of the bobbing surfers who were otherwise staring into the mist.
In the next 12 months they'd pull down the two dams on the elwha to restore the salmon runs and basically bring back a wild river. I watched a live stream of one coming down and almost 100 years of sediment restarted its stalled journey to the sea. The next time I went out there, must have been a good 12 months at least, around Feb the following year, that cobble point was buried under acres of black sand that stretched out for a good couple of hundred metres. Now it was a mellow right that broke more like a beach break and a rifling left that needed more size than what was on offer that day to wrap into something surfable.
Paddled out for some waist high crumblers and chatted to a local fella who said even though they'd lost a consistent bank (though fickle wave with its swell needs) he and his mates were excited to see what the new sediment regime would bring. Basically excited for the possibilities of a changing wave. They'd had some good days on the new left he reckoned but weren't sure how long it would last.
It was a cool yarn in an otherwise disappointing surf. I never could deal with hours of driving to miss a tide and have to layer up in so much rubber and poly pro to surf leftovers. Easier to head upstream to the powdery water.
Yeah, i reckon keep your eyes on the right,didn't it used to be called rincon in the old days?
@winks Alzheimer's ? Rincon is the gutless peak about 50 m south of the normal mouth right hander,
I went for a paddle at the new bank yesterday just for the novelty, a few glassy chest high sets came through and reeled off down the sand point, pretty soft but long , This is probably the best form I've seen this bank in since that famous day in the 70's that everyone remembers so well. Hopefully we get a half decent swell before it disperses. If so it will be on for young and old and probably not worth the effort. Cheers.
Got the swell. Just need an offshore now?!
More of the dune and river mouth washed away..
I looked at the cam expecting to see more carnage as a result of the storm but it appears to have changed very little from yesterday.
Yeah the eye of the low went close to Adelaide so they missed out on most of the strongest winds luckily.
Good flow coming out of the onkapastinki so the sand will end up back on the supa bank just pray for swell.......but as John Ogden once said
'the magic mid is like a magician pulling rabbits out of a hat...you can see it happening but you know youre being fooled' ?
This photo posted on FB by Mark Arbon shows how the spit and dune looked in 1968, looks like it may be returning to that state..
No sand left at Moana..
Incredible NASA satellite image taken yesterday showing large amounts of silt flowing into Gulf St Vincent after the floods.
Wow, for the Mid this is incredible. Why is there no-one in the water?
Three blokes out now.
Watched it for 5minutes bloody tiny and another 5 paddled out.
Like to see it with a bit of swell
That looks good but is it worth the drive ?
Depends how you define 'drive'. Worth it from Adelaide I reckon but that's about it.
Three people paddled out at 7am, and an hour and half later - right now - there's nine crew in the lineup. Mid-morning on a clear, sunny, offshore Saturday - I am very surprised. Sure, the sets are inconsistent and it's not very big but this would be super fun on a fish.
compared to whats been on offer here lately that looks awesome ,nice bank.
Log and sup nirvana
watched it for about 5 minutes yesterday myself ..better options elsewhere on that tide.having said that at two foot plus it could be everything.hope the sand hangs in there
Looks good for a 11"0 glider too