But in 1995 the unstoppable force of progress that normally shuts down and destroys surf breaks intervened and history was made. The Tweed River Entrance Sand Bypassing Project sucked sand from the river mouth keep the area safe for boaters and fisherman and deposited it right there at Snapper, creating what has become known in the surfing world as the Superbank.
The resulting point wave has made Rainbow Bay and Snapper Rocks the stuff of surf legend, honing the skills of some the best surfers on the planet like Mick Fanning, Joel Parkinson, and Dean “Dingo” Morrison and creating the most insanely long, perfect and most crowded stretch of waves in the world.
History of Snapper Rocks
In 1770, Captain Cook termed the Tweed River area “Point Danger” for its notoriously treacherous currents and sandbars and local officials have been dredging and clearing the Tweed River mouth for decades to make the area safer for boaters. The only problem is that ocean is unstoppable and the processes of erosion and deposition are in everlasting flux, and by the mid-90’s, the Tweed River had again developed a large sand bar that wreaked havoc on sea farers. So local authorities proposed a plan to dredge more that 3 million meters of sand from the sand bar and deposit it over the Snapper Rocks and Kirra area in a two-fold effect to replenish Rainbow Bay beaches for tourists and beach goers while making the surrounding waters less difficult and dangerous.But the greater result was both historic and unintended. To their delight, surfers found that an ensuing Superbank provided world class waves like nowhere else in the world. Quality North and East swells would light the stretch from Snapper to Greenmount to Kirra. In Autumn 2002, local Damon Harvey rode one world record wave the entire way (a 4 minute wave) some 1.97 kilometers.
Surfing Snapper Rocks
Snapper is a classic right point in that the swells hit the point from the North and East and then bend along the beach and break over the shallow sand bar anywhere from fifty to several hundred meters.The first section of the Superbank that starts off at the point at Snapper Rocks sucks up and barrels and extends into several more tube sections that alternate with shouldering areas for quick cut backs and re-entries. The final Kirra section has suffered due to the dredging, and many have disapproved of the new set up, instead wanting the return to Kirra’s golden age. Most surfers, however, like local and global legend Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew, would rather the Superbank remain in its present state, regardless of Kirra’s historical significance.
But the new wave isn’t without some negative effects. The incredible quality of the new set up draws hundreds of surfers to the Snapper Rocks area (and has put Snapper on the destination list of surfers from all over the planet).The resulting over-crowding has caused issues with aggressive confrontations in both the water and car park. Some estimate that on a good day, anywhere from 200 to 500 surfers pack the lineup. The influx of surfers brings huge money to the area but may also harm the tourist experience already affected by the overly wide expanse of beach created by the replenishment of the sand. Some tourists complain that the walk from the apartments and condos to the water is much too far.
The bank is ever-changing and in constant flux and some seasons see the wand washed away and as a result the waves wax and wane as new sand is replenished by dredging and old sand is washed away by nature. Regardless, when the Snapper Rocks and the Superbank are on fire, there are few waves that compare.
