Promenade - Megathread

[WTF]

1 hour ago, ptarmigan said:

The new proposal for the sea wall and the mismatch of colours on the walkway doesn’t look amazing to be honest.  

NOTHING about the prom looks amazing in way shape or form , it's a shit show of epic proportions , about 2 miles long actually.

[De nada]

31 minutes ago, Amadeus said:

I'll have to read through the notes but safe to say Douglas beach has been a long time discussion point with various ideas and schemes being discussed to improve flow and thereby sand quality, and also fix the issue of sand buildup by the wall. 

Long time discussion? How about some action.

[monasqueen]

At least no-one has (yet) suggested that the beach should be filled with white sand from the Sahara, like one of the beaches on Tenerife.

"5 million bags of sand arrived in the ship Gopegui. It was used to fill the beach in the first half of 1973 to create the artificial beach of white sand, which opened on 15 June 1973, although with initial problems due to red ants and scorpions that were imported along with the sand."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playa_de_Las_Teresitas

[0bserver]

14 minutes ago, monasqueen said:

At least no-one has (yet) suggested that the beach should be filled with white sand from the Sahara, like one of the beaches on Tenerife.

"5 million bags of sand arrived in the ship Gopegui. It was used to fill the beach in the first half of 1973 to create the artificial beach of white sand, which opened on 15 June 1973, although with initial problems due to red ants and scorpions that were imported along with the sand."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playa_de_Las_Teresitas

We could catch the scorpions and stick them in a bottle of 'Manx' tequila.

[ellanvannin2010]

1 hour ago, Happier diner said:

They seemed to just disappear though. No news and I never saw anything happening. Just walking the dog on the beach one day and I thought, hang on, whee have all the groynes gone?

As the Welsh would say, "there they are, gone!"

The groynes were ripped out by a large digger a few years ago (2020?) over the course of a few weeks. 

[The Old Git]

23 minutes ago, ellanvannin2010 said:

The groynes were ripped out by a large digger a few years ago (2020?) over the course of a few weeks. 

July 2020 👍

[0bserver]

3 hours ago, ptarmigan said:

The new proposal for the sea wall and the mismatch of colours on the walkway doesn’t look amazing to be honest.  

The walkway just needs doing in one uniform colour all the way along. 

[cissolt]

52 minutes ago, The Old Git said:

July 2020 👍

I wonder what the justification for that was? And who approved it?

 

[The Phantom]

14 hours ago, Gladys said:

The extension to the breakwater stopped the natural scouring of the beach as I recall.  

More than likely. 

And generally most attempts to 'engineer' sea flow/currents/sand deposits generally fail and end up with unexpected outcomes. It's too dynamic an environment with too many intricately balanced variables.  God knows what the DOI would come up with when they can't even lay a railway track. 

However, I have seen regular dredging, moving and dumping of sand elsewhere, that has been successful in places.  But this is laborious and expensive and again probably not something we'd want to see undertaken. 

What's the perceived issue with Douglas beach nowadays?  Seems very similar to what it always has been. 

[Asthehills]

6 minutes ago, The Phantom said:

More than likely. 

And generally most attempts to 'engineer' sea flow/currents/sand deposits generally fail and end up with unexpected outcomes. It's too dynamic an environment with too many intricately balanced variables.  God knows what the DOI would come up with when they can't even lay a railway track. 

However, I have seen regular dredging, moving and dumping of sand elsewhere, that has been successful in places.  But this is laborious and expensive and again probably not something we'd want to see undertaken. 

What's the perceived issue with Douglas beach nowadays?  Seems very similar to what it always has been. 

The sand level is several feet higher than it was 30 years ago, which then stops the wave breaking effect of the seawall which is designed with a shape to break the waves up, but which is now buried under the sand which comes right to the level of the prom.

If you were to dig opposite the Empress by memory there are 10 or 15 steps down to the beach which are now completely buried.  I remember jumping down to the beach opposite the Palace.

We don’t need a new sea wall along there, we need to move all the sand so the wall that is already there can do what it was designed to do

Edited September 26, 2022 by Asthehills

[Non-Believer]

23 minutes ago, The Phantom said:

What's the perceived issue with Douglas beach nowadays?  Seems very similar to what it always has been. 

It's not a curved mile of pristine white coral sand which it should be to complement the new Promenade...

[The Phantom]

7 minutes ago, Asthehills said:

The sand level is several feet higher than it was 30 years ago, which then stops the wave breaking effect of the seawall which is designed with a shape to break the waves up, but which is now buried under the sand which comes right to the level of the prom.

If you were to dig opposite the Empress by memory there are 10 or 15 steps down to the beach which are now completely buried.  I remember jumping down to the beach opposite the Palace.

We don’t need a new sea wall along there, we need to move all the sand so the wall that is already there can do what it was designed to do

Understood, now that you mention it I do recall there being functional steps too. 

I know Laxey tends to vary year to year how steep the beach is and high the pebbles come to the sea wall. 

It's a similar story to Douglas, where the cliffs behind the apartments and hotels used to mark the end of the beach.  The whole prom has been 'reclaimed'. 

14 hours ago, Gladys said:

The extension to the breakwater stopped the natural scouring of the beach as I recall.  

Were the groynes removed or just allowed to be buried? 

 

16 minutes ago, cissolt said:

I wonder what the justification for that was? And who approved it?

 

Ok this makes sense then.

What seems to have happened is the Breakwater extension as @Gladys notes has hindered the scouring of the beach by the South to North tidal flow.  It will likely have been 'bounced' further offshore by the Breakwater.  The groynes would have been placed along the beach prior to the extension to slow the drift of the sand being scoured in the longshore drift caused by this now 're-directed' current.  

No scouring = higher beach level as @Asthehills notes.  Add the groynes to this = even higher beach level.  So removing them was probably actually a good idea, although this lowering the beach height doesn't seem to have worked (yet).  It might still after a couple of big storms... 

Although bear in mind that global sea levels have risen about 8 inches since the Victorians did the prom. 

 

[The Phantom]

2 minutes ago, Non-Believer said:

It's not a curved mile of pristine white coral sand which it should be to complement the new Promenade...

We've got palm trees though... 

[The Phantom]

2 hours ago, monasqueen said:

At least no-one has (yet) suggested that the beach should be filled with white sand from the Sahara, like one of the beaches on Tenerife.

"5 million bags of sand arrived in the ship Gopegui. It was used to fill the beach in the first half of 1973 to create the artificial beach of white sand, which opened on 15 June 1973, although with initial problems due to red ants and scorpions that were imported along with the sand."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playa_de_Las_Teresitas

They used to do this in Bali too, certainly around Kuta. 

I think they eventually stopped it and just accepted the volcanic black sand beach.

[Numbnuts]

58 minutes ago, Roxanne said:

 

Remember the 'accessibility' steps to the beach that were commissioned by the DOI? I think they lasted three months and were the subject of much hilarity and derision on social media.

Sometimes I think we'd be best governed by no-one and just ordinary people who know about stuff like this sort it out.

This wonderful construction designed and signed off by DOI . Outstanding really. I dont even think it lasted 3 months. And funny enough they have managed without ever since I think.

Edited September 26, 2022 by Numbnuts