Not so long ago, Snapper Rocks would have been a rather ordinary Gold Coast point break surviving in the shadow of it's celebrated cousin Kirra. Actually it had been better known being a fishing position (hence the name) than it was to be a surf break.
Nevertheless, on April 1995 the Tweed River Entrance Fine sand Bypassing Project (TRESBP) started pumping sand from the river mouth and throwing it just east of Snapper Rocks. In a short time a brilliant sand bank had formed in Rainbow Bay just as soon as the swells began striking, local surfers realized that they had one of the world's longest, and most constant point breaks on their front door.
One particular wave along at the The Superbank has apparently been ridden for a distance of 1.97 km, completely from Snapper Rocks to Kirra, although with this to occur on a single wave is extremely unusual.
At present the Snapper Rocks superbank is probably the most crowded wave in Australia, but on any given day you will notice some of the best surfers on earth tearing it up like there is no tomorrow. When the swell and wind combine together, one can possibly ride the wave all the way down to Kirra - approximately a kilometre away, and for the blessed few who manage such a journey, it is just a personalized part of surfing past. The sheer excellence of the man-made wave has significantly increased the amount of surf tourism in the region, which has also resulted in extreme crowding of the wave. On a good day, anything up to 200 surfers can be counted over the 2 km distance, with multiple drop-ins, and an aggressive atmosphere.
In 1956 Jack Evans built the Snapper Rocks Sea Baths, with an adjacent shark pool for public viewing. Later that year the Boyd brothers, local fishermen, caught two bottlenose dolphins in the Terranora Creek which Evans took and put in the pool for the Jack Evans Porpoise Show (which moved around to Duranbah in 1961). Only remnants of the pools remain today.
Nevertheless, on April 1995 the Tweed River Entrance Fine sand Bypassing Project (TRESBP) started pumping sand from the river mouth and throwing it just east of Snapper Rocks. In a short time a brilliant sand bank had formed in Rainbow Bay just as soon as the swells began striking, local surfers realized that they had one of the world's longest, and most constant point breaks on their front door.
One particular wave along at the The Superbank has apparently been ridden for a distance of 1.97 km, completely from Snapper Rocks to Kirra, although with this to occur on a single wave is extremely unusual.
At present the Snapper Rocks superbank is probably the most crowded wave in Australia, but on any given day you will notice some of the best surfers on earth tearing it up like there is no tomorrow. When the swell and wind combine together, one can possibly ride the wave all the way down to Kirra - approximately a kilometre away, and for the blessed few who manage such a journey, it is just a personalized part of surfing past. The sheer excellence of the man-made wave has significantly increased the amount of surf tourism in the region, which has also resulted in extreme crowding of the wave. On a good day, anything up to 200 surfers can be counted over the 2 km distance, with multiple drop-ins, and an aggressive atmosphere.
In 1956 Jack Evans built the Snapper Rocks Sea Baths, with an adjacent shark pool for public viewing. Later that year the Boyd brothers, local fishermen, caught two bottlenose dolphins in the Terranora Creek which Evans took and put in the pool for the Jack Evans Porpoise Show (which moved around to Duranbah in 1961). Only remnants of the pools remain today.
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