Shore Wars

Our Adversary... The Wave

• Storm waves six feet high and six hundred feet from crest to crest would contain approximately 173,000 pounds of force per linear foot of wave crest…
• Each wave crashing against a 100 foot wide beachfront property would expend over 17,000,000 pounds of force…

The cost of not protecting your property against this adversary is catastrophic.

So, the solution is to understand and prepare, and we have to do both. To first understand, we focus on the shore structure. Our most recognized shore component, the beach, is a dynamic system, and changes all the time. Sand comes and goes, and sand moves.  The concern for uncontrolled erosion, and the economic dynamics of the coast, is the sand dune. A healthy beach stretches landward from the offshore and nearshore water location, up to one or more berms, continuing landward to one or more dunes. The coastal issue is now that the beach and the berm have diminished or disappeared, leaving the primary dune, or what’s left of it, to fend for itself.