again. But they
have exclusions.
When they bring
those cruise ships in
they will shut down the
seaway for about an hour
either side, so no one could
go to Straddie, or if you were
surfing the seaway they’d have to
get you out of the water.”
And what about Straddie? We’ve got
those amazing A-Frame waves, the
clean waters and world-class surfing
amenity there - what would happen if
they dredged out those outer shoals that
create the wave shape there, removed them
for a shipping channel?
“Oh straight away it would just silt up and go
straight, like a Main Beach or Mermaid bank,
you know where you get just straighthanders
out the back with a gutter - it’ll just do that. The
reason they had to do the seaway was because
the spit was getting longer and South Straddie
was getting smaller. The natural southerly drift
(of sand) and the Gold Coast current was eroding
South Straddie. That’s why they had to put it
there, but if the surf went missing there, more so
South Straddie, it would be a real bummer for
the rate-paying surfers, the local surfers.”