THE man who pioneered Bournemouth’s surf reef is urging councillors to tweak its design, claiming it is currently unusable by the vast majority of surfers.

David Weight, who first proposed the reef back in 1993, believes a few modifications could dramatically improve the reef’s performance.

He will attend a full council meeting on Tuesday to appeal to councillors to use the money they have withheld from ASR to make the alterations.

Mr Weight, a leading member of the Wessex Surf Club, worked closely with ASR and the council to develop the reef but has no commercial interest in the project. His involvement is such that members of the surfing community refer to the Boscombe reef as Weight’s Reef.

He will tell councillors on Tuesday that the reef is neither an outstanding success nor a white elephant, but something in between.

“The positives are that it appears to be providing good coast protection and it’s good on the habitat side, there’s a lot of growth on it,” he said.

“But on the surfing side of things, it was smoother and more ride-able when I first surfed it in July. There’s been some uneven settlement, the reef is kind of lumpy.”

He said there was no doubt that boogie boarders were loving the reef but said it was “near impossible” for stand-up surfers to surf it.

“On certain days, a few people can get the odd ride but it’s simply too quick. It’s quite shallow to the point where a couple of people have lost the fins on their boards.

“It’s pretty good for some – a minority – and not much good for the majority but not far off being pretty good.”

He added it should not prove too difficult or expensive to remove the lumps and provide a smoother platform for breaking waves.

“I don’t think it would take a lot to make a big difference,” he said. “Having had four metre high waves and winds of force 10 and 11 recently, the reef has had all the bedding in it needs. It’s now time to think about what we’re going to do about it.”

A spokesman for Bournemouth Tourism said they did not wish to comment until after Tuesday’s council meeting.