Pahonu wrote: ↑Sat May 09, 2020 12:46 amThe following link shows a 379 page report that had to be completed to allow the sea walls to be repaired and fore some, raised.
I’ve spent a stupid amount of time going through it, mostly for images and drawings to improve my model of the estate. I’ve had a little more time at home lately! I also looked through the demolition permits a couple of years ago. It was also a rigorous process, and look how long it’s taking. This report has some interesting stuff. They did an environmental impact assessment, a climate assessment, a cultural impact assessment, and included all kinds of historic documents and photos. There’s an aerial photo of the estate from 1949. It was only 16 years old!
I find this report depressing. Who knew seawall construction would be so elaborate and monstrously expensive? My house is 5 metres from the ocean - and getting closer every year. I wanted to build an "estate-like seawall". I thought you just had to put up the wall forms and dump some concrete. I can't even dump piles of rock because there are no hard rocks here and they'd have to be shipped in at huge expense.
Living along the coast certainly carries with it significant risk as sea level continues to rise. I also live on the coast, but in a marina not at the sand. Even still, at extreme high tides seawater percolates up through the parking structure floor causing large puddles. It’s partially below grade and this never happened 20 years ago when we bought here. An area nearby that has canals formed by sea walls has spent the last two years raising them about two feet at significant cost.
The primary issue with building sea walls along the beach is that it causes sand erosion. In time there will be just the wall, with all the sand below the water level and the beach is gone. That’s why there are such strict rules in many places today. Building sea walls protects private property, but the expense of publicly shared beaches.
Mad Kudu Buck wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 7:40 pm
I blame Magnum P.I. for my predicament . One of the reasons I bought my property is because it's so similar to the Robin Masters estate: house right by the ocean, extremely short walking distance to the beach without steps (easy to carry my small row catamaran to the water), square stone rock in the water (which I call "the Magnum rock" - exactly in the same location relative to the house as the Robin Masters estate), tall "palm-shaped" birch trees by the water (about as palm-like as you can get for Canada), unpaved curved driveway on which I always "down shift and accelerate" as I pass the "guest house", etc..
But Magnum P.I. never explained the horrors of erosion, the tediousness and expense of environmental regulations, the nightmare of 100kph winds which inexplicably always happen at high tide, chewing off land, causing giant trees to crash into the ocean.
Actually, I'm not a moron who bases everything I know on TV shows - but I had no idea that you can lose 2-3 metres of land every year from erosion. I thought that kind of erosion would happen at most during a decade. (...and even Canadian surveys said so. They were WAY WRONG!)
Sounds like a nice spot you have. Unfortunately, erosion from sea level rise and increasing numbers of extreme weather events seems to be accelerating at a rate faster than the climatologist’s predictions. I don’t think a lot of people realize that not only is sea level rising, they can see that, but that it is happening increasingly quickly. I don’t know how long you have lived there, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect that the amount of loss you have experienced since living there will continue, but in less time, perhaps far less. I expect increasing problems where I live also. In fact our association has begun to increase the reserve fund to deal with anticipated problems.
Do you mind if I ask where in Canada you’re located? My parents were Canadian. I’m in Long Beach CA in Alamitos Bay.
Mad Kudu Buck wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 8:31 pm
Magnum mania still can't upload images? Imgur is dead now. I can't upload.
Maybe this will work. I think I posted this before, but here's the "grounds of my estate". Those unsightly twigs on the beach are the remains of a forest. The river, which I call "The Rubicon" comes from my pond. The "Magnum rock" is in front of the branches, just covered by high tide.
Since this photo was taken, I've lost about 6 metres of coastline, a wood fence and 3 giant pines.
Call me "Magnum P.E.I".
Ah PEI, my parents were from Quebec. I recall seeing a picture of your cat on the sand in an older post. The beach looked wide in that photo if I’m remembering correctly. Must have been a low tide. Is there still much dry sand at high tides?
Pahonu wrote: ↑Thu Jan 21, 2021 9:41 pmI recall seeing a picture of your cat on the sand in an older post. The beach looked wide in that photo if I’m remembering correctly. Must have been a low tide. Is there still much dry sand at high tides?
At very high tide, there's only a few feet of sand near the cliff and about 12 feet wide on the low side. The waves have been scrubbing all my sand away lately, leaving piles of rocks. At very low tide, there's a bunch of large sand bars that go out for at least a kilometre. It's a pretty shallow area - but still gets surprisingly strong waves, enough to throw large boulders on my lawn. The icebergs also bring large embedded rocks and drop them off when they melt. (a problem not really seen in Hawaii )
I love seeing your PEI "Estate." If I recall correctly, there's another MM member "Erock" who also has a PEI Estate. Are you also a member of The Tiki Bar Association of PEI? I used to vacation with my family in Shediac when I was a kid, so I'm very familiar with the amazing beaches we have out east. You've got a really nice spot. I've got a committment to myself to live by the ocean at some point in my life...but I must admit that at this time of year it is King Kamehameha's island that is calling to me, rather than Prince Edward's.
"How fiendishly deceptive of you Magnum. I could have sworn I was hearing the emasculation of a large rodent."
Mad Kudu Buck wrote: ↑Fri Jan 22, 2021 10:37 pm
Ah, yes. I remember Erock. I'm not a member of any Tiki Bar Association. I've never had a Tiki Bar, you see. I've never had the opportunities. Besides, it would look a bit silly having a Tiki Bar in weather like this:
(My "front yard" in January. Thankfully, it's not as cold this year.)
Shediac is very close to Melmerby Beach. I had a great time there. Although I have plenty of beach here now, I was thinking of sailing across the channel to Nova Scotia. But I haven't been too enthusiastic about sailing after getting smashed on the rocks when caught in the beginnings of Hurricane Dorian - in the dark. I had to climb a cliff, barefoot, in shorts (yes, short shorts), then walk 25 km home in cold rain at 2:00am. It was a bit painful. At least I didn't get caught in the "Molokai Express". (but I'm sure it would have been warmer)
Sounds like a sailing story for the books! Sorry to hear and glad you weren’t seriously hurt. I hit a shoal with my Columbia 28 about 10 years ago but was quickly able to get off using the auxiliary. I also capsized a Hobie 18 cat with a buddy in the Sea of Cortez almost 30 years ago. We were both on the trapezes and we were flying a hull. I was more forward and landed in the mainsail and he got shot further leeward. We both let out yells anticipating the worst. Unbelievably, it happened in only about 5 feet of water even though we weren’t too close to shore. We were able to use one of the dagger boards and the main halyard attached to a jib sheet to right her. We worked for over an hour trying and got some help from two kayakers, but we did it. Needless to say we didn’t fly a hull for the rest of the trip! What happened to your boat?
Oh, and this was in about 75 degree water with none of your icebergs!
Wow! I’m really glad to know now that you weren’t seriously hurt. That could have gone so wrong. Thanks for taking the time to tell the story. I was only about 21 when that capsizing happened and after we realized we weren’t hurt, my buddy and I were more freaked out about damaging or losing the boat. It was his father’s and we had towed it all the way down there and camped for about 10 days and sailed every day. It happened just a couple of days before we were going to leave. We were young and stupid, but I think it’s been for the better as I’ve probably been a more cautious sailor since. I’m looking forward to the rest of the story.
. One of the reasons I bought my property is because it's so similar to the Robin Masters estate: house right by the ocean, extremely short walking distance to the beach without steps (easy to carry my small row catamaran to the water), square stone rock in the water (which I call "the Magnum rock" - exactly in the same location relative to the house as the Robin Masters estate), tall "palm-shaped" birch trees by the water (about as palm-like as you can get for Canada), unpaved curved driveway on which I always "down shift and accelerate" as I pass the "guest house", etc..
Unfortunately, erosion from sea level rise and increasing numbers of extreme weather events seems to be accelerating at a rate faster than the climatologist’s predictions. I don’t think a lot of people realize that not only is sea level rising, they can see that, but that it is happening increasingly quickly. I don’t know how long you have lived there, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable to expect that the amount of loss you have experienced since living there will continue, but in less time, perhaps far less. 
I expect increasing problems where I live also. In fact our association has begun to increase the reserve fund to deal with anticipated problems.
